Change is everywhere… and it’s a good thing!

By Steve Moran

It is kind hard to know what to make of it, but the senior living industry seems to be in the midst of a tidal wave of changes . . .

  • Argentum (ALFA) got a new leader

  • ALFA became Argentum

  • Larry Minix retiring and Katie Smith Sloan is stepping in as the new CEO

  • Healthcare REIT is now Welltower

  • And now . . .

The new name being offered up to replace CCRC is Life Plan Community.

And I like it a lot.

Here is why it makes a lot of sense:

  • CCRC makes no sense unless you are deeply invested in the senior living space either as a consumer or industry insider.

  • When CCRC is explained to consumers as Continuing Care Retirement Community it conjures up nursing home, dying, feeding tubes . . .  unhealthy and dying in the minds of consumers.  It is not a good way to make seniors look at CCRC’s or or senior living as a fantastic life choice.

  • It is a name that epitomizes what CCRC’s are all about.  They are the perfect last chapters, living option for seniors who are planners.  These seniors represent today a relatively small slice of the senior population who are both savers and planners.  they are looking to have great certainty about their future, they often don’t want to burden their children with care duties. They want to make sure their financial resources will last to their last breath.

  • These Life Plan Community seniors are all about living the fullest life possible.  About having the right balance of structure and freedom.

  • Perhaps the biggest potential win will be that it will help to reframe all of senior living in the eyes of the public. . . . a way of saying senior living is about living not dying, it is about living the best chapters of your life, not the worst chapters.  

Implementation

Implementation issues are complex.  First for it to be a success, it takes by the senior living community and the early indication is that there is a high level of support for the new name.  It mean rewriting, signs, contracts, marketing materials, websites and even laws, where the term CCRC is used in the regulatory process.

You can find more details on the name and how to use it at lifeplancommunity.org.

You can also listen to the interview I did with Brenda Schreiber, VP of Marketing for Mather Lifeways and Sharon Brooks, President/CEO SB&A, Partner Brooks Adams Research two members of the committee that developed the new name here: