As nursing homes continue to face debilitating staffing shortages, Monarch Healthcare Management wants to be more proactive about how its facilities handle customer and employee engagement as it looks to grow in 2022.

“The biggest thing is that we need some more operational help. In Minnesota we have 40 facilities and acquired another one over the past weekend,” said Marc Halpert, who was recently announced as the company’s new CEO, moving from chief operating officer. “I’m going to be focusing on what I started to do seven years ago and that’s customer service, taking care of the staff and making sure they are all happy.”

Monarch Healthcare has also brought in Mark Morley as the new chief operating officer as former CEO Josh Legum moves to the role of president.

Halpert admitted that over the course of COVID prioritizing staff satisfaction has become increasingly more difficult.

“It really just became reactive instead of proactive so now we’re getting back to where it is [proactive],” Halpert said. “I’m going to focus on being proactive and developing relationships with our current staff and by enhancing our reputation, hopefully getting others to come over to our side.”

One way Halpert plans to improve Monarch’s service is by bringing more of a hotel-like philosophy to its facilities.

“I’m bringing my executive team down to the Ritz-Carlton Leadership Program and we’re really going to try to bring the Ritz-Carlton mentality to our facilities over 2022,” he explained.

Halpert added that 2021 was a year of “maintaining” for Monarch as the company took a cautious approach to the SNF market.

“It was actually our first year since we acquired Monarch that we did not purchase any buildings in the year so we’re starting 2022 with a new acquisition and are excited to continue growing,” he said. “We see a lot of opportunities in Minnesota and want to continue tapping the market.”

Still, high prices may hold back Monarch’s mergers-and-acquisitions activity.

“If people are willing to pay it, we’ll see what happens but it’s very overpriced right now,” Halpert added.