Leaders in senior living will navigate a future full of opportunities and challenges. At the Argentum Senior Living Leadership Summit, being held November 18 to 20 in Austin, Texas, industry leaders will gather to examine how they can prepare for what’s ahead.
In one of the sessions, “Empowering Advocacy: Unveiling the Priorities of Federal Policies for Senior Living,” Argentum’s Maggie Elehwany, Senior Vice President of Public Policy, will be joined by Diane Munevar, Vice President, Health Care Strategy at NORC for a deep dive on the importance and role of advocacy for senior living leaders.
The session, which takes place two weeks after the 2024 General Election, will discuss the federal legislative issues that Argentum members should be prepared to encounter.
Until recently, Senior Living kept “a fairly low profile on the federal level, because we’re regulated at the state level,” Elehwany says, “but COVID changed everything. That’s when we really had to let federal policy makers know that they weren’t providing us with any of the federal resources and relief that other, similar providers caring for the same vulnerable population were receiving.”
Today, Elehwany says, lawmakers and regulators at the federal level “lack an understanding of the great value of our industry. Even the most informed and policy-oriented members of Congress often confuse senior living with skilled nursing communities. They don’t understand the unique care that we provide, the important gap that we fill for many middle-income Americans and the ability that Senior Living gives family members to have a choice in their loved one’s care.”
Moreover, Elehwany says there has been a spotlight on senior living in Congress and in the Biden administration. “That’s why it’s really imperative upon us to make sure that they do understand who we are. It’s important to get a strong relationship with policymakers, because they’re going to have the ability to help our communities thrive – or not.”
Argentum’s Federal Advocacy Push
Under Elehwany’s leadership, Argentum has launched a campaign to educate lawmakers about Senior Living and has built its federal policy team. “We have been policy leaders in advancing and telling the story of senior living to federal policymakers,” she says.”
The Argentum team has proved its ability to play offense and defense, advancing policies that will help senior living and influencing policies to blunt negative effects.
“We know that we’ve got a rapidly aging population. We know that we’ve got workforce shortages, that they were exacerbated by the pandemic, and that they will continue. Policymakers can do a lot to help with that,” says Elehwany. “It’s imperative upon us to really tell our story about the value we provide.”
Argentum is supporting that effort with a website, Standing with Seniors, that walks lawmakers through the value of Senior Living. It provides data on the number of seniors currently being cared for state-by-state and by Congressional District. It reports the number of employees and the economic impact of senior living in communities. The site also reports essential measurements of resident and family member satisfaction.
Importantly, the site demonstrates that senior living can save federal dollars. “If we can keep people out of skilled nursing homes for as long as possible and being able to provide an affordable, private-pay option we can protect the Medicaid system. “We know that Medicaid is the dominant payer in skilled nursing facilities. It’s double the cost of our communities, and most seniors have to pay down all their assets and go onto Medicaid,” Elehwany explains.
“When Congress can see what we’re saving the Medicaid program, as well as the Medicare program, we believe we’ve got an incredibly strong story. We know that Senior Living providers are really focusing on key social determinants of health – providing safe housing, creating social activity, focusing on controlling chronic disease. Residents are taking their medication. They’re having proper nutrition. We’re protecting them from falls and other accidents. We save significant amounts of money in Medicaid and Medicare as well.”
Post-Election Insight
With the 2024 General Election in the rear-view mirror, Elehwany and Munevar will discuss what it means to have a Democrat or Republican in the White House, a divided Congress or a Congress controlled by Republicans or Democrats.
“We believe that we need to have a strong game plan no matter what the scenario is,” stresses Elehwany. “We think that there are positive policies we can get if there is Republican control. We think there are positive policies we can advance if Democrats are in control. We just need to be agile and be able to have that policy ready to go.”
Elehwany and Munevar will also discuss the transition period to the new administration and the importance of “taking the lead to make sure that they understand who we are and the great value that we provide. That’s the way we get policies that are positive towards what we do. When policymakers don’t understand who we are, when they think we’re skilled nursing facilities, that’s when we get lumped in with negative policies.”
As an example, Elehwany points to the private equity debate and legislation that came out of it this this year. In response to a situation involving private equity ownership of a hospital system in his state, Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) drafted a bill that would have had very significant restrictions on Senior Living community ownership, or how they provided care.
“But when we were able to talk about our value, Argentum showed [Markey] how private equity actually is very different in our industry than it is in a health care model, because it’s a private pay model. We were able to get carved out of that legislation.
“Part of what we are hoping to do – and our advocacy has always been about – is to demonstrate to policymakers that our industry is very regulated and that it is very safe. And again, we have incredibly high satisfaction rates.”
Elehwany recalls that this narrative was helpful earlier in the year, when, for the first time in at least a decade, the Senate Committee on Aging initiated hearings on assisted living. Under the leadership of Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA), who is chairman of the committee, the hearings focused on a series of Washington Post articles on resident safety that Argentum characterized as unfair.
“When we were able to speak to Sen. Casey to describe what our industry actually is, and he toured communities in his home state, we were able to change the narrative. That’s really what we need to keep doing,” Elehwany insists.
To ensure that Argentum is prepared to thwart future federal attempts to regulate Senior Living, it is preparing a series of reports outlining state-level guidelines and regulations, the first of which will focus on infection control.
“The real goal is to keep our regulation at the state level,” Elehwany says. To do that, it’s imperative that we let the federal government know what we’re doing at a state level, because they don’t understand that.
When it comes to policies that are helpful to Senior Living, Elehwany expects them to be driven by political leaders’ desire to help the middle market.
“That’s where we are going to have tremendous opportunities as an industry to develop positive policies, whether it’s a Democrat or a Republican [administration],” says Elehwany. “I think there’s going to be bipartisan support to help seniors – and hopefully to help our communities get the tools they need to care for this this ‘silver tsunami’ that’s coming.
Elehwany hopes that the session encourages Argentum members to keep an eye on policy discussions. “You can’t just turn a blind eye to policies,” Elehwany cautions. Whether at the state level or at a federal level, she says policy discussions are going to directly impact Senior Living.
The Empowering Advocacy: Unveiling the Priorities of Federal Policies for Senior Living session is a part of an impressive agenda at the Senior Living Leadership Summit. Learn more about the Summit and register before October 23 to secure reduced hotel rates at the Omni Barton Creek.
