On this episode of The Nursing Home Operator, I sat down with Steve LaForte, partner at Cascadia Healthcare, to talk about the business behind skilled nursing.

We discuss how nursing home acquisitions get done, how facilities are valued, what makes distressed buildings attractive opportunities, and why relationships play such a major role in the post-acute care industry. Steve also shares what administrators should know if they eventually want to become owners, including the risks, personal guarantees, and mindset that come with ownership.

We also look ahead at where skilled nursing is headed, from growing demand and reimbursement challenges to the impact AI could have on nursing home operations.

If you’re an administrator, operator, investor, or someone interested in eventually owning facilities, this episode is packed with valuable insight from someone who has spent decades doing deals in the industry.

Most of my world is skilled nursing, so this episode was a chance for me to step into the senior living side of the industry with Nick Jasmon.

Nick walks me through how independent living, assisted living, and memory care actually work, how residents and families choose communities, how senior living operators drive occupancy, what the leadership structure looks like, and what separates a successful community from a struggling one. We also talk about the hardest jobs in senior living, common misconceptions about the industry, and why great operators are constantly looking for ways to say yes.

If you’ve ever wanted a simple, practical understanding of how the senior living industry works, this is a great place to start.

The Nursing Home Operator is about the people, stories, challenges, and ideas shaping Nursing Homes. Hosted by nursing home administrator Devan Bennion, the show features candid conversations with operators, nurses, CNAs, owners, physicians, executives, and others across senior care. We talk leadership, culture, staffing, finance, caregiving, and the chaos that comes with running nursing homes.

Kyle Griffitts went from playing and coaching football at BYU to running nursing homes and becoming a partner at Nova Health Services.

In this episode, we talk about the surprising similarities between coaching football and leading a nursing home, building great teams, holding people accountable, what makes a great CNA and DSD, and why culture has to come before results. Kyle also shares what he is learning now as he helps build and grow a skilled nursing company.

A fun conversation about leadership, grit, people, and nursing home operations.

Shubam Gautam has one of the most unique paths into nursing home operations I’ve heard. He spent time as a Buddhist monk in the Himalayas, trained as a surgeon, worked in Alzheimer’s research, and eventually became the administrator of a 320-bed nursing home.

We talk about building trust with frontline staff, identifying culture problems, earning the trust of families, what makes a great DON, and why every job in a nursing home matters.

What does it actually feel like to become a nursing home administrator for the first time?

In this episode, I sit down with Jayk Brooks, who took over my first building after I left. We talk about the steep learning curve of being a new administrator, why no two buildings are the same, what "fake it till you make it" really looks like, and the story of Jayk's first resident council that quickly turned into a dogpile on the new administrator. If you're an administrator, an AIT, or just curious about what it's really like behind the scenes, you'll enjoy this conversation.

Dr. Mike Wasserman has seen nursing homes as a geriatrician, medical director, quality leader, and CEO of a large California nursing home chain. In this episode, we talk about balancing clinical care with operations and finance, building a stronger relationship with your medical director, and why CNAs, housekeepers, and ombudsmen deserve a real voice in how a nursing home operates.

In this episode, I sit down with Jake Larson, Regional Vice President of Operations, former administrator, and the person who trained me when I first entered the industry. We talk about his journey from running a single building to overseeing multiple facilities, what he looks for when hiring administrators, and why being a "dog" might be the most important trait a leader can have.

We also dive into some of the craziest phone calls he's received from administrators, the lessons he's learned from years of coaching leaders, and what separates the people who consistently succeed from those who struggle.

If you've ever wondered what great operators do differently, or what a regional is really looking for when they evaluate a building and its leadership, this conversation is for you.