Senior living providers across the country gathered for the annual Ziegler Greystone Executive Symposium 2023 – a two-day event where senior living leaders discussed key strategies for strengthening operations, improving market positioning, and advancing expansion and redevelopment opportunities.

Thursday and Friday featured a variety of educational sessions and networking opportunities. Attendees gathered insights on a variety of topics, including how to redefine your business through repositioning and expansion, the next generation of senior living communities and how to navigate the ongoing effects of inflation.

Key takeaways included:

1. 88% of attendees are either undergoing or in the planning state of an expansion or redevelopment project.

In fact, most attendees stated they are actively looking for growth opportunities and considering expansion opportunities within the next three years. Another 55% of attendees are also looking to add new service lines to their communities to increase revenues.

2. Many providers are re-evaluating their skilled nursing beds.

Many providers are evaluating the need to downsize or right-size their skilled nursing beds; 33% of conference attendees are currently planning a downsizing. This strategy is part of a larger plan to reposition an existing community to maximize cost efficiency and improve the operating margin of the community.

3. Workforce challenges are not new and they’re not going away.

Whether it be finding the right staffing balance or the right compensation scale for operations team members, our organizations are never without challenges to address and overcome in the workforce arena. The latest workforce challenges, labor shortages and the forced increase in wage rates, are not going away any time soon. Wage rates and recruiting/retention of talent were the top two concerns of conference attendees. To quote one attendee, “There are only three things influencing business decisions today: staffing, staffing, and staffing.”

4. The cost of a single lead is increasing on par with construction costs.

It is easy to think of marketing as an expense, but it is really an investment similar to the cost of placing any new product in service. Properly funding marketing budgets to achieve higher occupancy in your expansion or existing campus is critical to future success.  

Now in its twentieth year, the Ziegler Greystone Executive Symposium provides industry leaders with an opportunity to collaborate and learn from others in the ever-changing senior living industry.