Senior Living Operator Immanuel Keeps Focus On Pace, Other Services With Growth On Pause

With growth on pause, non-profit operator Immanuel Senior Living is turning inward.

The Omaha, Nebraska-based nonprofit originally co-owned a health system with CHI Health. The organization in 2012 sold its stake in the health system to CHI Health, which provided the resources the nonprofit used to expand, build up its Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE) programming.

The organization also used the proceeds from that sale to create a foundation which has given $25 million to a variety of other nonprofits such as One World Health, food banks, Reading for the Blind and various Lutheran affiliated organizations including Lutheran Family Services, Tabitha, Oaks Indian Mission, Midland University and Mosaic.

“It was really an expression of the mission of the organization for us to create that [foundation] and help other nonprofits that are really seeking to achieve the same goals that we are in the community,” Immanuel CEO Eric Gurley told Senior Housing News.

Immanuel has a portfolio of 19 communities communities and PACE centers ranging from active adult and high-end properties to affordable housing and middle-market. Its market-rate communities currently have around a 93% occupancy rate and its affordable housing communities are at 98.6% and 94.4% for independent living and assisted living respectively. 

Immanuel generates half its revenue through PACE programming. PACE is now a top service line for the operator. The company built up its market-rate communities to avoid relying too much on government funding.

“In this last decade that’s probably been one of the most defining moves of the organization,” Gurley said. “Our strategy was never to have an over reliance on government funding, because, as we are seeing right now, the government can change its direction very, very abruptly, and we did not want that to put us at risk.”

Immanuel has grown to its 19 community and center footprint by acquiring other communities and adding them to its portfolio. The company also is engaged in expansions, such as a project to add a new active adult wing and a la carte services to a community in Omaha, in order to attract a younger older adult clientele who will live in its communities for longer. 

“These communities are different. These have their own identity, separate and apart from the main campus,” Gurley said. “They can acquire services from the campus, whether it is temporary healthcare needs or if it’s just social.”

The company also is seeking to boost its care through a partnership with Curana Health, under which it will further expand clinical access for residents within its retirement communities.

Also on Gurley’s mind is succession – not only as he plans how he will one day step away from the organization, but in how a new generation of older adults will succeed the previous one.

“What we’re doing at Immanuel is what the industry is doing and preparing for is a changing market, because the baby boomers are beginning to really infiltrate the operations,” Gurley said. And they have very, very different needs and desires … and we’re well positioned for it.”

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