How to prepare for the Middle Market Tsunami

Let’s start by defining the ‘Middle Market’ senior care consumers as those who are too well off for government subsidy, but not wealthy enough to afford, or perhaps don’t want to pay for, the premium ‘resort’ style facilities. Is there currently such a market? Yes, certainly there is. It is a clearly defined segment that is more often than not, served by smaller group homes. However, it is the expectation that this market is going to exponentially increase in size over the next few years as the ‘Baby Boomers’ retire.

We often hear the statistic that ’10,000 baby boomers are retiring every day’ and we tend to equate that with a massive tide of seniors looking for life in Assisted Living facilities. However, there is a lot more nuance to this. Typically, while a large portion of these retirees are middle market consumers, these retirees are in their mid to late sixties and they are nowhere near ready to look for assisted living today. The vast majority are still active seniors, and want to enjoy the next decade or so of their life as active retirees before they really start needing assistance for their daily activities. It will be in the range of another 8 years, perhaps a decade, before this tide really hits. It will build up gradually to that massive wave that everyone is expecting.

In the meantime, we have the operators and owners with the foresight to prepare for this wave. Most recognize that the currently dominant senior care living models do not serve this population well. Operators and owners are on the lookout for new models that will not only reduce cost, recruit and retain employees, but also provide good quality care and lifestyle for their residents. However, the primary driver of serving the middle market is keeping the monthly cost low, the cost of operation low, so the property remains profitable and viable to serve this segment.

A cornerstone of this approach, without a doubt, will be technology, which has been our singular focus over the last decade plus. We believe that the current fragmented environment of using different technology for different functions will add to the complexity of the work environment, leading to worker turnover and also lead to significantly higher operating costs. Any interruption to the smooth operation of the property, such as employee turnover or operational inefficiency, is a hidden cost that bleeds the bottom line. It is our goal to provide a single platform that pulls together all the different functions, aggregates the data and gives you insight into improving your operations and your bottom line. And it is our goal to provide this middle market senior care software at a very affordable cost so both the hard costs of paying for software, and the soft costs of operational inefficiencies, are minimized.

Now is the time to prepare for the continued, massive, emergence of this segment of the market. Talk to us today to learn more and position your offering to thrive in this market.