Ageless challenges in 2005 amid new year's resolutions.

Welcome to 2005, which promises to be a busy year for us all. My wife and I recently celebrated her birthday. I won't divulge her age, but none of us is getting younger.

Still, I'm amazed at how many of the challenges facing the nation's long term care facilities seem ageless. Looking back at CLTCs of years past, one thing that struck me was how the same challenges continue to echo in the nation's facilities.

Social Security reform. Reimbursements. MDS reports. The nursing shortage. Preparing for the Baby Boomers. Sound familiar? They were topics of concern in the early 1990s as well.

The prospect of Social Security reform has never seemed as real as it does this year. With President Bush's re-election and the Republican majority in Congress, the votes appear to be there. But this is not a purely partisan issue, so the debate ought to be vigorous. And with the importance of Social Security on the wallets of future residents, the field needs to keep aware of the debate.

Looking forward, there will be new challenges mingling with these. We commissioned a study this fall looking at how the general public views the prospect of long term care facilities starting up in their neighborhoods. The overwhelming positive response should comfort readers. The public seems to understand the value of caring for our aging population.

The surprise within the numbers, however, was from where those relatively few objections were voiced. Combining those who had strong objections or mild objections, 15 percent of respondents aged 65 and older were opposed to having an LTC facility in their neighborhood. Add on the 5 percent that voiced an "I don't know" answer and it's one out of every five.

While the vast majority of all respondents had no objections, the most likely group to need your services in the short-term had some doubts. What does that say about how facilities need to market themselves? It's a topic we'll continue to look into as the year progresses.

The executive suites of LTC facilities have been getting grayer as well. We compiled data this year showing more than three-quarters of responding administrators were older than 40. Furthermore, anecdotal comments from young administrators indicated they've watched their contemporaries leaving the industry.