Lori Strubbe, CEO at Focused Post Acute Care Partners (FPACP):

One word that comes to my mind when I think of our sector is dynamic. The public discourse around skilled nursing care often has to do with reimbursement, regulation, quality of care and sufficient staffing – and all for good reason. But there is much on the horizon that is going to expand and add to the discussion and all of it lives in a positive place.

Focused Post Acute Care Partners (FPACP) had an extraordinary 2025 – the achievements are palpable and shared from corporate to bedside care. But instead of wiping our brows and resting on our laurels, we are poised to make 2026 the next step in what is an exciting progression that will further delve into, among other areas, AI, staffing initiatives we are calling Career Keys and Advance Systematic Programming.

We enhanced our internal communications and processes last year through Calibration – a name for the intersection of management and care strategies and methodologies – to track care performance and wellness in our personalized care models.

In January, we launched our internal (for now) podcast that will address various areas of treatment/care/management in a conversational format with resident high achieving staff.

In long term care, we always say it is about the people – and it is – 100%. Our residents, their family members, our business partners and vendors, our management and care teams, policymakers and yes, even our regulators – all of them are ‘the people.’

FPACP is approaching 2026 with excitement, optimism and a realistic grasp on what lies ahead and how we intend to master this next step in success.

Erin Shvetzoff Hennessey, CEO at Health Dimensions Group (HDG):

We at HDG are feeling very optimistic for 2026! We are celebrating 25 years and focusing on steady and planned growth, expanding on our Enrichment Beyond Expectations programming, and growing our teams to support both. This optimism is a pleasant change from last year at this time when we, as a profession, faced significant uncertainty in policy, regulation and payment at both state and federal levels. In our own managed communities, as well as in our work with our consulting clients, we are seeing stability and improved financial and operational strength, and subsequently a pivot to strategic versus reactive leadership.

As we look broadly at the trends we expect to see in senior care in 2026 , we see this optimism reflected. These trends will include the growing demand for senior living, allowing for expansion and diversification of services for skilled nursing providers, embracing of alternative care models, expansion in AI tools and technology solutions for operational efficiency and improved care, and repositioning for the future. That noted, we also see areas where storm clouds are brewing, most notably in state budgets as we see the states grapple with the downstream effects of the considerable changes coming to the Medicaid program driven by federal changes. Adequate Medicaid funding to address workforce and other financial needs of providers will remain a top priority.

If our profession can remain focused on three strategic items – state and federal advocacy around regulation and payment, workforce training and engagement and quality results for care needs that can only be provided in our skilled care settings – we will be well-positioned to provide sustainable care for an influx of seniors needing our care in the next 10 years.

Read the full article here:

https://skillednursingnews.com/2026/01/executive-outlook-2026-part-2-nursing-homes-pin-hopes-on-strategic-versus-reactive-growth/