When the Patient Driven Payment Method (PDPM) for Medicare reimbursement went into effect a year ago, the consensus was that it would result in a jump in skilled nursing merger and acquisition activity as some providers would want out and others would see opportunity. That all changed in the beginning of 2020, when the coronavirus pandemic upended the universe and deaths in skilled nursing facilities surged while occupancy levels plunged.

Skilled nursing is not going away, and while it may change, most assisted living providers do not want to take on that level of acuity. And, for most nursing home residents, the same amount of care just can’t be provided in their homes at the same cost as in a nursing facility. Skilled nursing sales continued to close through all the months of the pandemic.