I spent the last three days at the Aging Services of California (not-for-profit owners and operators) annual conference. What’s hot and what’s not for California not for profits will not be exactly the same for as for other parts of the country or for profit based organizations:

WHAT’S HOT

MISHMASH: Traditionally “senior housing” means independent living, assisted living, memory care and skilled nursing. Then there were other senior services that were something else. Even where multiple levels of care are provided on a single campus, they tended to be seen as very discrete distinct options. There is a growing recognition that in real life the what seniors need is not that clean cut. This means seniors in independent living may receive services that look more like assisted living or even skilled nursing services.

Making the landscape even more interesting is the idea that there is a real opportunity and need to provide services to seniors outside the brick and mortar of traditional senior housing communities. From a marketing perspective it becomes a way to tie prospective residents to the community and more broadly it fulfills the mission of the not-for-profits to holistically meet the needs of seniors.

PACE: The Pace Programs take a more holistic approach to providing for the healthcare needs of the most frail and often difficult low income dual eligible (Medicare / Medicaid) residents. At this point PACE services a relatively narrow slice of the senior population. There is still some question about the overall viability of PACE and how the PACE programs interact with senior housing is still evolving.
NETWORKING: There was a lot of discussion about the need to develop interdependent relationships among those organizations that provide services and products to seniors. These relationships might include senior housing, acute hospitals, home health, DME and other entities. It is an interesting concept that presents some benefits and some risks.

NEW CONCEPTS: There is a fear that senior housing of today will not be adequate for future seniors.  This concern is driven by at least three realities:

1. Money – Traditional governmental funding sources are drying up.

2. Seniors of today are not the same as seniors of the past – Aging Boomers will expect different services delivered in new and better ways that reflect the world view of that generation.

3. Senior finances – There will be a huge number of seniors who will receive maximum, social security benefits (whatever that will turn out to be) plus just a few hundred dollars per month from small personal retirement plans. The open question is how to provide them an affordable quality lifestyle with little or no additional government funding.

WHAT’S NOT SO HOT

Marketing – There were a few marketing sessions and the attendance at those sessions was modest.

Occupancy – There was little talk about occupancy problems, with some exceptions.

Software – There were only a handful of software exhibitors and they had minimal traffic at their booths.

Look Me Up at ALFA next week.  You can find me at the Vigil Booth during exhibit hours and knocking around the general and break-out sessions the rest of the time.

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Finally: If you know anyone who is looking at emergency call systems I would appreciate the opportunity to talk with them about Vigil Health Solutions.