NIC: the regional symposium; Contributions inspired by the National Investment Center for the Seniors Housing & Care Industry (NIC) Western Regional Symposium, March 7-8, 2007, Las Vegas, Nevada.

It was an NIC first: a symposium focused on the information and networking needs of long-term care lenders, investors, and operators in a specific region of the country. For more than 15 years, the National Investment Center for the Seniors Housing & Care Industry national conference was "the only show in town" for LTC financiers and operators. Its location was, however, confined largely to the eastern seaboard of the United States, with an occasional foray into Chicago. Moreover, its content is largely national in scope and substance. In 2006, NIC decided to sponsor a more narrowly focused regional conference designed for smaller local and regional operators and community lenders and targeting one of the fastest-growing areas of the country, the western United States. The result was a success, and NIC will have a successor conference on March 5-6, 2008, again in Las Vegas. At the 2007 symposium, the usual stimulating presentations and discussions characteristic of NIC were strongly in evidence, along with the more initimate networking attendees enjoyed with peers from their own "neighborhood." Recently, Nursing Homes/Long Term Care Management developed several brief articles inspired by presentations at the Western Regional Symposium, and they are offered here.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]