Growing Skilled Nursing Operator Sees New Hospital as ‘Beachfront’ Property

Seizing the opportunity to stake out a spot adjacent to a major hospital project, one provider in Maryland decided to build the first new standalone skilled nursing facility that a Washington, D.C. suburb had seen in more than 20 years.

The $30 million FutureCare Capital Region facility in Landover, Md. — a town primarily known as the home of Washington’s football team — marks the return of new SNF development in Prince George’s County, according to its developers and operators.

The decision to build the 150-bed skilled nursing and rehabilitation facility largely rested on the concurrent construction of the University of Maryland — Capital Region Health medical center, a $545 million project that broke ground in November 2017 with a slated grand-opening date in March 2021.

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“We kind of view this as beachfront nursing home property in that sense, right across from the hospital,” FutureCare Health and Management Corp. president Gary Attman told Skilled Nursing News.

Once completed, the area will be a “whole health neighborhood, a health-focused town center,” with access to both the Washington Metro rapid-transit system and Interstate 495 — two key selling points for the team at the Pasadena, Md.-based FutureCare, which plans to target the larger D.C. metropolitan area. The immediate area surrounding the new SNF will eventually have a children’s hospital, as well as offices for the Prince George’s County health department.

“This was a unique opportunity,” Attman said. “We’re not building facilities wherever we can get a certificate of need.”

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Founded in 1986, FutureCare operates 14 facilities around the Baltimore and Washington metropolitan areas, with a focus on short-stay rehabilitation services provided under the “VitalStrong” brand name. The Capital Region facility will serve as a hub for the company’s post-acute cardiac rehabilitation offerings, vice president of business development Diane Vernon told Skilled Nursing News.

“It’s taking cardiac rehab to the next level, where when the person’s ready to be discharged from the hospital, bringing them in and providing all those necessary services for them,” Vernon said.

In addition to ventilator and dialysis services, FutureCare will focus primarily on the short-term patient, outfitting the new Capital Region facility with the kinds of amenities that have become increasingly familiar in the higher-end rehab space: private rooms, on-demand foodservice programs, Wi-Fi-, and 40-inch televisions.

“In general, the market is challenging,” Attman said. “We believe that if we stick to the things that we do so well, that we will differentiate ourselves as a high-quality provider.”

Written by Alex Spanko

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