As hospitals and insurers focus more on wellness, new options are likely to become available to savvy senior living operators, experts say. New offerings could range from home-delivered meals to gym use to apartment cleaning during hospital stays, to name just a few.
What’s driving the newfound largesse is healthcare’s gradual shift away from recovery care toward wellness services. Incorporating the adage that a stitch in time can save nine, many insurers and health networks are increasingly opting to cover preventive-type care — or at least lend a helping hand.
Experts predict that senior living communities increasingly will offer wellness options that align with health challenges facing seniors inside and outside their walls. These might include mood disorders, reduced mobility, loss of independence and memory loss, and more.
Insurers and government payers are going to increasingly look for lower cost ways to care for covered populations. Delaying and limiting the effects of diseases, frailty and other age-related problems will likely translate to fewer dollars spent overall, observers note. And for senior living operators who can fit into that emerging puzzle, the result will likely be new opportunity, they add.
