The baby boomer generation is likely to become the largest generation in American history to reach long-term care spaces. As defined by Pew Research, the oldest baby boomer generation born between 1946 and 1964 will be 80 next year. The group is already set to flood senior care spaces that are facing understaffing, underfunded and political uncertainty.
“The space is fully prepared for the number of seniors who need long-term care and end-of-life care,” said David Grabowski, professor of health care policy at Harvard Medical School. “We’ve historically been heavily dependent on our families. We don’t have a number of families we’ve had in the past.”
Nowadays, private equity is increasingly eager to make it to the market. In a recent survey discovered between 2015 and 2022, 47 private equity companies purchased 124 US hospice institutions. Today, an estimated 75% of U.S. hospice institutions are for-profit organizations, according to a study from the University of Pennsylvania.
“Hospice was launched decades ago as a grassroots, nonprofit movement where the majority of care was strictly provided by nonprofit organizations,” said Robert Tyler Braun, assistant professor in the department of health policy and economics at Weill Cornell Medicine. “In the current landscape, the majority of hospice providers are profiting.”
Nursing homes and long-term care facilities have long been the target of private equity and public companies acquisitions. Data provided to CNBC by Coherent Market Insights shows that the same trend in the hospice care space has increased significantly since the 2010s.
Watch the video above to learn how these investments are affecting the space, who is investing in it, and what it means for seniors and their families.
