SNF Occupancy ‘Slowly But Surely’ Picks Up in Q1

Occupancy recovery is picking up for the nursing home sector after a slight fall to begin 2022, according to a new data analysis from the data service affiliated with the National Investment Center for Seniors Housing & Care (NIC).

Skilled nursing occupancy reached 77.6% in the first quarter of 2022, according to a NIC MAP Data report released by NIC MAP Vision on Thursday. That’s an increase of 0.4% from the previous quarter, but is still well below the industry’s pre-pandemic level of 86.6%.

“It’s been increasing, but it hasn’t been increasing at the level many thought in the year 2021,” NIC Senior Principal Bill Kauffman told Skilled Nursing News. “Part of that was because of the delta variant. Part was because of the continued staffing shortages.”

The sector hit its pandemic low of 74.1% in the first quarter of 2021, according to the data.

“It’s up 3.6% from the low so it’s steadily, slowly but surely, coming back,” Kauffman said.

After reaching a 19-month high of 76.1% in December 2021, skilled nursing property occupancy fell 27 basis points to start the 2022 new year at 75.8%, according to a recent NIC report.

The omicron variant caused COVID-19 cases around the country to spike toward the end of 2021 and continuing into the beginning of 2022, and Kauffman said that combined with staffing shortages challenged continued recovery activity.

“Occupancy certainly held up well when you compare it to the initial shot with the pandemic,” he said.

A similar interruption occurred last fall when the delta variant was first reported, however, it appears recovery from omicron has been quicker for the nursing home sector.

“We gained 6% of [our occupancy] back in the first six months of 2021,” American Health Care Association President and CEO Mark Parkinson recently told SNN. “We were making a nice steady recovery and were on a trajectory that looked like we were going to be recovered by the end of 2021 before the delta hit.”

He said that being stuck at 73% for seven months was “really painful” for operators and stagnated the sector’s Covid recovery to 2022.

Increased employee absences associated with omicron was suggested as the reason for the slow recovery in 2022, causing many operators to limit patient admissions as they did not have sufficient staffing to care for patients, Kauffman said in a report released last week.

“With a national unemployment rate of 3.8% in February 2022 and the number of skilled nursing workers at the national level remaining 15% below pre-pandemic levels, the labor crisis is unlikely to abate anytime soon,” he wrote.