Overview
Over the past several years, there has been a significant uptick in the number of senior care and living organizations struggling with economic viability and sustainability that require a turnaround. The recent COVID-19 pandemic only magnified the issues for those organizations that were already on the brink. Some organizations saw short-term relief with the infusion of cash that came from various COVID-19-related funding mechanisms, but that lifeline has dried up for most and now poor performing organizations are faced with looming uncertainty. All is not lost, but the focused and intentional actions senior care providers take today may spell the difference between survival or despair.
External and Internal Factors that Lead to Underperformance
| External | Internal |
| Unforeseen events (i.e., COVID-19) | Management/leadership problems |
| Universal economic changes | Blind governance |
| Market saturation | Leadership instability |
| Debt/deal structure | Poor financial/cash management |
| Technological changes | Regulatory performance |
| Social changes | Weak sales and marketing infrastructure |
| Governmental/regulatory challenges | Agency/overtime extremes |
| Declining labor market | Lack of focus; too many priorities |
| Evolving consumer expectations | No sense of urgency |
Heed the Warning Signs
Data does not lie! No truer words have been spoken when it comes to “reading the gauges” on your organization’s financial health. In working on several turnarounds over the years, it is always eye opening to see the lack of action when governance and leadership fail to recognize the clear story that data and negative outcomes are telling them. The factors noted above are but a small sampling of key factors that organizations need to monitor and measure on a consistent basis. When the numbers and data are continuously trending in an adverse direction, heed the warning signs and take action.
Take Action—Deploy a Turnaround Strategy
In short, a senior care or living turnaround strategy is quite simply an action-oriented and specific plan to transform a loss-making company into a profit-making one by solving root cause failures and purposefully dealing with the specific issues that are hindering your business. When constructing and implementing a turnaround plan, we typically deploy a five-stage process:
- Secure/engage a turnaround expert. Most organizations aren’t equipped with the skills and experience to execute on a true turnaround initiative.
- Management/governance change. This is not always the case, but typically, leadership and weak governance are at the core of poor performing organizations.
- Situational analysis. Quickly determine if the organization can survive and determine the specific turnaround strategy.
- Emergency action. Take charge. Get people’s attention. Take whatever action is necessary to enable the organization to survive.
- Business restructuring. Restructure the business for sustainable management and operations and increased profitability and sustainability.
Contact Us
Health Dimensions Group is an industry leading senior care and living management and consulting company. We have decades of experience in working with organizations through a myriad of senior care or living turnaround projects. To learn more about the specific turnaround matrix strategy and approach, or if you’d like more information on HDG’s turnaround capabilities, please contact us at info@hdgi1.com or 763.537.5700, and watch our recent webinar in partnership with Senior Housing News, “Managing a Successful Senior Living Turnaround in a COVID-19 Era and Beyond.“
