Senior living residents — particularly residents of continuing care retirement / life plan communities — experience the same or better health outcomes compared with their peers living in the greater community, according to the results of a new research study released Thursday.
The National Investment Center for Seniors Housing & Care partnered with NORC at the University of Chicago to complete a four-part research series analyzing the health and well-being of senior living and care residents. In the latest report of the series on health outcomes, researchers compared older adults who moved into senior housing communities in 2017 with a similar group of older adults who lived in the greater community.
What they found was that senior living residents in independent living, assisted living, memory care and CCRC settings experienced the same or better outcomes across several preventive care measures compared with their peers living in the greater community, despite higher use of emergency departments.
The research outcomes also highlight the value of senior living to entities that cover healthcare costs, including the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ Medicare and Medicaid programs as well as private Medicare Advantage programs and other payers, according to NIC Senior Principal Ryan Brooks.
“We want to raise awareness of the value of senior housing beyond owners, operators and investors, who already know this,” Brooks told McKnight’s Senior Living. “Part of the reason we want to do that is, senior housing operators often are not financially rewarded for the value they provide in reducing healthcare costs to payers. We want to further quantify the cost savings and reductions to the total cost of healthcare spending for residents in senior housing settings.”
CCRCs stand out
CCRC residents, in particular, had more favorable outcomes than their counterparts who lived in the greater community, as well as residents in other senior living property segments. CCRC residents had 11% fewer emergency department visits compared with residents of all settings.
Overall, senior living residents had 18% fewer hospitalizations from the emergency department compared with their peers living in the greater community.
When looking at specific conditions, CCRC residents had 24% fewer hospitalizations for physical injuries and 21% fewer hospitalizations for dehydration compared with their counterparts in the greater community, independent living residents had 15% fewer hospitalizations for hip fractures, and assisted living residents had 26% fewer hospitalizations for wounds and 15% fewer hospitalizations for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. And overall, senior living residents had 20% fewer hospitalizations for urinary tract infections compared with their community-dwelling counterparts.
Although there were no meaningful differences in rates of inpatient admissions due to falls, hypertension, community-acquired pneumonia or uncontrolled diabetes, CCRC residents had 18% fewer hospitalizations due to falls compared with their peers living in the greater community.
‘Opportunity to learn more’
The findings, according to the researchers, reinforce the notion that senior living enables improved access to safe, high-quality care for older adults.
“Senior housing operators effectively manage residents’ health and lower adverse patient safety events, particularly when older adults move in and are more vulnerable, but more can be done to keep residents healthy while reducing healthcare spending,” Lisa McCracken, NIC head of research and analytics, said in a statement. “Emergency department utilization is higher among senior housing residents, which may be driven by regulatory requirements or being overly cautious in response to an incident such as a fall. There is an opportunity to learn more from these results to potentially avoid an unnecessary ED visit.”
The health outcomes study findings supplement prior NIC/NORC research that focused on frailty, access to physicians and longevity. The first three studies in the series found that older adults residing in senior living communities were less frail shortly after moving into senior living, received more care from specialty providers, received healthcare services in their place of residence, and lived longer and experienced a lower mortality rate in the first two years in senior living.
“Senior housing residences can be a center for wellness and healthy aging for older adults, with positive outcomes for those who call it home,” NIC President and CEO Ray Braun said in a statement. “With thousands of aging older adults expected to move into senior housing in the near future, there is a substantial opportunity for senior housing to partner with healthcare payers and providers to improve the lives of older adults.”
NIC has launched another study with NORC to quantify the cost savings and reduction of the total cost of healthcare spending for senior living residents. Results of that study, which is underway, will be shared at the 2024 NIC Fall Conference in September in Washington, DC.
