Stormy risk issues dominate annual
Seniors Housing Leadership Forum

The darker sides of Mother Nature and human nature – and their potential impact on unprepared seniors housing operators – were key topics at a conference of risk managers and clinical leaders late last year in Chicago.

Although it was scheduled months beforehand, the timing of the Seniors Housing Leadership Forum proved uncanny. As participants from across the country met on October 5th and 6th, headlines were still dominated by the recent hurricane-related deaths and failed evacuations at nursing homes in Louisiana and Texas.

At an intensive Emergency Preparedness roundtable session, expert panelists stressed the importance of developing exhaustive what-if checklists, emergency "mutual-aid" agreements between local competitors and first-priority evacuation/transportation stipulations in contractor agreements.

Participants noted that in the logistical chaos preceding Katrina, according to the Louisiana Nursing Home Association, only 21 of some 60 seniors housing facilities in New Orleans were safely evacuated.

"The critical thing is to have a flexible and workable emergency plan that will survive first-contact with reality," said John Atkinson, partner at Thilman Filippini, which hosted the conference.

Along with Katrina and Rita, another name on the minds of Forum attendees was Megan – as in Megan's Law, and the potential for a "liability surge" of previously-convicted sex offenders residing in seniors housing facilities.

Recent independent surveys have uncovered hundreds of registered sex offenders in nursing homes in nearly 40 states. Many are seniors. But a significant number are under 60, with chronic conditions or disabilities, who've found their way to these facilities via hospital discharge referrals.

Understandably, individual states are now rushing to enact Megan's Law-type legislation specifically targeted to seniors housing. Some new laws also require criminal background checks for employees. But the identification and reporting aspects vary from state to state.

Illinois, for example, uniquely places the burden on the individual facility itself to conduct criminal background checks.

"This is a new trend with serious implications for seniors housing operators," said Alice Kush, an attorney specializing in seniors housing and risk management, who led a presentation to Forum participants.

"Just like everybody else, criminals do get older," said Ms. Kush, but operators should be alert for "red flags" in applications, such as age, and establish effective in-house procedures for identification, notification and threat assessment.

Forum participants also heard an upbeat analysis of the industry's near-term future from keynote speaker David Schless, President of the American Seniors Housing Association.

Citing "enormous potential" based on demographic trends, more "sophisticated ownership and management," and continuing efforts toward "professionalism in the work force," the industry's outlook is "brighter than anyone can imagine," Schless said.

By way of congratulating TF and participants, Schless remarked that "forums such as this are something we need more of."