Wendy Simpson, president and CEO of LTC Properties, Inc. (NYSE: LTC), joined REIT.com for a CEO Spotlight video interview in Chicago at REITWeek 2013: NAREIT's Investor Forum.
LTC Properties invests in long-term care and other health care-related properties through mortgage loans, property lease transactions and other investments.
Over the past few years, Simpson said the California-based REIT’s investment strategy has changed. In addition to acquisitions, LTC Properties is now involved in the development of new properties.
“We identified some unmet needs in the memory care area and we started looking for operators to work with to build new properties,” she said. “So we’re building some memory properties that are all memory care, we’re building some properties that are partly memory care assisted livin, and we’re also building skilled nursing properties,” she said.
Simpson also discussed performance in both the company’s skilled nursing and assisted living subsectors of the health care industry.
“Both are having very good occupancies. The skilled nursing properties are doing extremely well. We concentrate mostly on the regional local operators, and our operators are doing very well in the skilled area,” she said.
Simpson added that most of LTC’s assisted living properties are also performing well and have trended up since 2007.
In terms of industry trends that may shape the company’s strategy in the near future, Simpson pointed to the Affordable Care Act. She noted, however, that companies are still trying to determine how health care reform will actually impact the health care industry.
She also mentioned a handful of other trends in the industry that are affecting LTC’s strategy.
“We’re seeing that our operators are getting closer and closer to the hospitals in terms of developing networks. They’re doing more direct contracting with managed care companies, which is a little different than what they had in the past,” she said. “So I think the sophistication of what you’re going to have to do at the skilled nursing properties in terms of networking with other providers is going to increase.”