Occupancy rates at many skilled nursing facilities are improving. The National Investment Center for Seniors Housing and Care (NIC) reported that occupancy at SNFs in its NIC Map Data Service report was 71.2% in February 2021, up from 70.7% in January.
The report drew from 29 contributors representing a total of 1,454 properties in January and 1,469 properties in February. Contributors hailed from a variety of states, with Texas featuring the highest concentration of properties owned by contributors.
“February’s NIC MAP data underscores what some skilled nursing facility operators have been saying the past few months: they are starting to see occupancy stabilization,” Beth Burnham Mace, NIC’s chief economist, said in a press release announcing the news. “Data from the next few months will be extremely important, as it will signal whether this is the start of a longer trend toward recovery.”
NIC noted in the report that the findings should not be considered a census survey for SNFs within the U.S., but a representation of the property count and state count in the report itself.
“There is cautious optimism that occupancy will continue to inch higher and stabilize in 2021 but questions remain of how consistent and how fast these month-to-month improvements will be,” NIC said in the February report.
Medicare revenue per patient day was $555, though the share of Medicare revenue fell from 25.1% in January to 23.4% in February, according to the NIC MAP data.
Occupancy still lags below pre-pandemic levels, 13.7 percentage points below the levels of February 2020, NIC said, but the increase from January to February was the largest of just three monthly occupancy increases recorded by NIC from its contributors.
The findings add to other reports suggesting that occupancy, at least through February, may be starting to stabilize.
The professional services firm CliftonLarsonAllen (CLA) found that occupancy was showing slight signs of recovery by the end of February. Its report drew from data reported to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
In addition, the real estate investment trusts Omega Healthcare Investors (NYSE: OHI) and LTC Properties, Inc. (NYSE: LTC) both reported that occupancy is showing signs of recovery, albeit with variations by market.
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