Baby boomers are about to be the most important generation in American history to hit the long-term care space. Born between 1946 and 1964, as defined by Pew Research, the oldest baby boomers are turning 80 next yr. The group is ready to flood a senior care space that’s already understaffed, underfunded and facing political uncertainty.
“This space is totally underprepared for the variety of older adults which might be going to wish long run care and end of life care,” said David Grabowski, professor of health care policy at Harvard Medical School. “We have historically relied heavily on families. There’s not going to be the variety of relations that we have had up to now.”
Now private equity is increasingly seeking to get in in the marketplace. A recent study found between 2015 to 2022, 47 private equity firms bought 124 U.S. hospice agencies. Today an estimated 75% of U.S. hospice agencies are for-profit, in line with a study out of the University of Pennsylvania.
“Hospice was began as a grassroots, nonprofit movement where the vast majority of care, a pair a long time back, was provided by strictly non-profits,” said Robert Tyler Braun, assistant professor within the division of health policy and economics at Weill Cornell Medicine. “On this current landscape now, the vast majority of hospice providers are for profit.”
Nursing homes and long-term care facilities have long been an acquisition goal for personal equity and publicly traded firms. Data provided to CNBC by Coherent Market Insights shows those self same trends within the hospice care space have picked up significantly for the reason that 2010s.
Watch the video above to learn the way these investments are impacting the space, who’s investing in it, and what it means for seniors and their families.
