Senior dwelling operators in 2026 should adapt to a brand new working atmosphere and expertise, expertise, assembly buyer expectations and discovering methods to develop are the important thing to doing so.
Six developments specifically may influence the trade in 2026, in line with Well being Dimensions Group executives: sweeping Medicaid cuts, states embracing different care fashions, the continued progress of AI, altering staffing dynamics, robust capital market exercise and managing strategic progress throughout a interval of decreased improvement exercise.
Within the 12 months forward, operators in a position to handle staffing challenges, adapt staffing ratios and assist groups with expertise will set themselves as much as seize incoming demand, in line with HDG Senior Vice President of Recruitment Companies Sarah Friede.
“Workforce has now turn into an operational, strategic crucial,” Friede stated throughout a webinar Thursday. “It’s the single-biggest issue driving resident expertise, workers stability and monetary sustainability.”
To make headway on staffing challenges, senior dwelling suppliers should rethink staffing methods, from recruitment to retention reasonably than “posting the identical jobs and providing the identical advantages.”
HDG has experimented with completely different scheduling amid the rise of four-hour “micro-shifts” that higher align with an worker’s work-life steadiness. To do this, HDG communities create an “inner staffing pool” of accessible shifts for workers that wish to tackle further shifts at sister communities, Friede stated.
To convey workers onboard rapidly and enhance retention, operators can outsource some administrative features or use AI-supported scheduling and digital interviews to streamline the hiring and onboarding course of. Offering tuition assist or mentorship pathways for workers to advance of their careers, for instance, a licensed nursing assistant incomes their licensed sensible nursing certification, may also assist, Friede added.
“The important thing takeaway right here is flexibility. It’s now not a perk, it’s a retention technique, rethinking worker expertise,” Friede stated. “Suppliers who spend money on individuals, creativity and expertise at present will outline the following decade of care.”
Operators like HDG are utilizing AI-supported instruments to forecast well being modifications, triage scientific wants and mixture resident information.
The operator’s communities use AI instruments to convey extra customized engagement, with HDG interviewing incoming residents to kind customized engagement and programming plans that considers life historical past and pursuits, in line with HDG CEO Erin Shvetzoff Hennessey.
Within the near-term, operators ought to deal with AI and software program platforms that combine AI like a software to cut back time consuming duties for workers to allow them to spend extra time with residents, whereas defining clear objectives for workers in what AI instruments needs to be used for. To handle AI rollout and AI use, HDG has fashioned an AI job power to watch AI use throughout its communities, Shvetzoff Hennessey stated.
“We by no means need expertise to exchange the care and companies that we offer which might be customized and interesting human-to-human,” Shvetzoff Hennessey added.
Whereas suppliers adapt to those modifications, the capital markets proceed to stay robust, fueled by three Federal Reserve rate of interest cuts in 2025 that might arrange this 12 months anticipating to see “one other document 12 months” in senior dwelling M&A, in line with HDG Govt Vice President of Progress Paul Branin, led by a “decrease degree of threat” for M&A over new improvement.
Growth exercise may stay muted in 2026, Branin added, noting challenges round entitlements, debt financing and rising development prices, together with the time it takes to get a brand new mission out of the bottom and open for move-ins.
“We must always begin to see new improvement no less than turn into a subject of great curiosity within the subsequent few years,” Branin stated. “The demographics actually level in that course as the danger of latest improvement can be mitigated by the continued occupancy features and quickly getting old inhabitants.”
The child boomer era began turning 65 in 2011 and 10,000 boomers flip 65 day-after-day till 2030, over 4 million turning 65 yearly, in line with the Alliance for Lifetime Revenue cited by AARP, with peak years of demand from 2024 to 2027, Branin stated. As a result of boomer demand inflow, the trade has reported impartial dwelling occupancy charges of over 90% within the fourth quarter of final 12 months—the primary time since 2019, in line with the Nationwide Funding Heart for Seniors Housing and Care (NIC).
The boomers proceed to convey “generational shifts” demanding independence and selection, and within the coming years, the trade will grapple with affordability challenges that might influence assisted dwelling. Whereas these impacts stay to be felt, Branin stated getting old, classic AL properties “are usually not proving to be an interesting choice” for private-pay child boomer older adults.
However the trade can not merely “construct it and they’re going to come” as seen in pre-pandemic years, Branin stated. These enterprise new initiatives should perceive native market dynamics, figuring out what facilities are well-liked as all initiatives ought to begin with a feasibility research. Some developments to look at in improvement embody the recognition of two-bedroom models, smaller eating areas, parking availability and a number of gathering areas, he stated.
“It will likely be essential to be strategic in pursuit of progress and to remain disciplined, Branin stated. “Worth escalations are occurring and can proceed and progress into new markets or exterior current geographic boundaries is at all times a temptation.”
In 2026, profitable organizations are planning forward, enthusiastic about strategic progress able to capturing incoming boomer-driven demand, Shvetzoff Hennessey stated.
“It is advisable to be diligent in ensuring you execute on issues and be sure that technique is the lens that you just’re trying by means of,” Shvetzoff Hennessey stated.
