Recently, it was announced that the rate of growth in the skilled nursing facility sector has been slowing.
The year over year growth from February of 2023 to February 2024 dropped from 4.4 percent to 4.0 percent. Likewise, the rate of growth for home health care also fell during this same period. It dropped from 3.4 percent down to 3.1 percent.
This is surprising news on one hand. The number of seniors in our country has been growing at a rapid pace. The people that were born in the time period immediately following World War Two–the Baby Boomer Generation–are aging. This was the biggest population explosion to ever occur in the U.S. And this is the population that is currently beginning to see a need for some sort of senior care. At a time where the need for more senior care professionals and services is quickly growing, we would expect the rate of growth to increase.
But it might also be a sign that things are becoming more manageable. The data that was measured in this study was a one year timeframe. It also took place after the pandemic. The fact that 2024 is a year further removed from the pandemic than 2023 might have something to do with this slowdown.
Another thing to note is the fact that small ups and downs in trends are not necessarily indicative of what the overall trend is. Just because the rate of growth has gone down a little in the year over year doesn’t mean that the overall trend has started to slow down. These metrics still need to be observed over a period of time to try and figure out what is needed when it comes to care in our society.
Finally, it is worth pointing out something really obvious. A slow down in the rate of growth does not mean that growth is stopping. There is still a bigger need for care professionals in 2024 than there was in 2023. We still need to worry about hiring more people and getting more seniors access to higher quality care.
This particular study comes from Altarum, a company that measures health trends.
Slower growth for a bit is good. It gives the industry time to get to where it needs to be.
These numbers attempt to take a huge amount of data and encapsulate it in a small piece of datum. It’s a big picture understanding of what’s happening in the country when it comes to senior care.
That’s why we do what we do here at Paradise In-Home Care. We focus on the individual and all of the things that make your family who you are. We focus on the needs that are present and focus on meeting them. Nationwide trends are important, but they don’t impact what you and your family need out of care right now. We’re here to help you with that. Please feel free to give us a call to talk more about senior care and how we can help you get pointed to the right resources for your needs.
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