SAN DIEGO — Breaking down the silos between the traditional real-estate-based seniors housing providers and the growing number of health, wellness and supportive services providers will lead to better health outcomes for residents and slow the long-term growth of medical costs. But it’s a shift that won’t happen overnight. That’s one of the key messages Bob Kramer, founder and CEO of the National Investment Center for Seniors Housing & Care (NIC), aims to deliver. The 2017 NIC Spring Investment Forum, which happened March 22 through March 24 at the Hilton San Diego Bayfront, drew more than 1,600 industry professionals, a record number for the show, including more than 350 first-time attendees. The title of this year’s program was “Unlocking New Value Through Senior Care Collaboration.” Industry leaders are feeling a sense of urgency to tackle this issue. Five percent of Medicare recipients consume half of the federal program’s total expenditures, or about $60,000 per beneficiary, according to Kramer. By comparison, the bottom 20 percent account of Medicare recipients account for under $1,000 per beneficiary. “In terms of bending the cost curve — a favorite phrase in healthcare reform — the initial target is very much understandably on the high-need, high-cost population. They …
