In the Fall of 2022, the NIC Board of Directors adopted a Strategic Plan which included objectives to “expand the tent” into five Focus Areas over the next five years. These Focus Areas were becoming increasingly important for the senior housing and care industry to understand because of their impact and influence on our customers, operations, and capital structure.
Active Adult: an emerging property type targeting our older adult residents. What can the senior housing industry learn from Active Adult and how can we best engage with this growing property type to better serve our customers?
AgeTech: innovative technologies present an opportunity to improve health outcomes of older adults, modernize operational systems, and optimize staffing effectiveness and efficiency. NIC stakeholders need to be familiar with these technologies and develop strategies for adoption.
Capital for Operations: the senior housing industry has been reliant upon real estate secured capital to grow. High leverage and capital costs have contributed to distress in the industry. Can we access unsecured capital as part of the capital structure to fuel growth, especially to support operational investments such as technology and staffing?
Middle Market: NIC identified the “forgotten middle” in seminal research in 2019. These older adults do not qualify for social subsidies and lack the income and wealth to afford traditional private pay senior housing. Can the senior housing industry develop sustainable models to serve this group?
Partnering For Health: the growing importance of wellness and health care to our customers impacts senior housing operations. How can we effectively incorporate wellness and value-based care to meet our customers’ needs?
In 2024, Focus Area Committees (FACs) were created to help answer these questions. They are led by Chairs Mitch Brown and Jane Arthur Roslovic (Active Adult), Michael Kurliand and Sarah Thomas (AgeTech), Fee Stubblefield and Madisen Medley (Capital for Operations), Matt Ruark and Sophia Lukas (Middle Market), and Jim Lydiard and Joelle Poe (Partnering for Health).
Thanks to the initial efforts of all the volunteer leaders on the FACs, we have made considerable headway into incorporating the focus areas into everything NIC does including conference sessions, case studies, industry definitions, and new educational offerings like our NIC Academy Value-Based Care Course and upcoming Active Adult Boot Camp.
This year, the FACs are focused on helping NIC engage with target audiences. Our goal is to develop engagement strategies to interact with stakeholders in each area to inform them of the opportunities available in senior housing and care, as well as learn about their view and understanding of our industry.
The FACs met in Annapolis, MD on April 23-24th. NIC hosted a boat tour, reception and dinner on day one. On day two, the committee members took part in a general session and then participated in individual committee meetings. To conclude the day, all attendees reconvened and reported highlights from individual FAC discussions and also took part in a brainstorming session on the intersection between FACs. The FACs are now working with their Staff Liaisons to finalize engagement plans which will be implemented throughout 2025.
NIC thanks all the FAC volunteers for providing their insight and expertise as we work together to accomplish the strategic objective of “expanding the tent” to each of the focus areas.