Juniper Communities has set a goal to reach 30 communities by 2030. To get there, the company must advance its value-based care and wellness models, according to CEO Lynne Katzmann.
In 2025, Katzmann and Juniper will focus on growing and further refining the operator’s Catalyst wellness program. Catalyst, launched in 2022, is a wellness membership health and well being effort aimed to personalize senior living options for its residents .
Also this year, Juniper aims to expand Medicare Advantage (MA) participation through its participation in the Perennial Consortium, the value-based care model the operator co-launched in 2019 to drive MA enrollment among residents and provide new ways of reimbursement in creating positive health outcomes.
As it stands, Juniper owns all but six of its 28 communities, and that’s by design, Katzmann told Senior Housing News in a recent interview.
“We’re coming up on 38 years and our mission has always been to be a model for public policy and to find better ways to do things while demonstrating how that can be done across multiple buildings,” Katzmann said.
She added that Juniper has a goal to increase its total number of wholly owned communities, through acquisitions stemming from long-time management of properties.
For example, Juniper has managed a community in Paramus, New Jersey since 2021 when the community was acquired last month by National Health Investors (NYSE: NHI). The $46.3 million acquisition by the real estate investment trust (REIT) included a 10-year lease with Juniper as manager of the property that includes an option to convert into a RIDEA structure , Katzmann said.
“What we found is that management [of a community] in certain situations can lead to acquisition,” Katzmann said, due to the reputation created since starting management at a property.
Also in 2025, Katzmann recently highlighted the company’s goal of having waste-free communities through reducing paper waste, plastic use through its Green Canopy initiative.
Perennial continues to grow
As the value-based care effort picked up pace in 2024, the effort appears to be picking up where last year left off as capitation rates could help expand value-based care expansion by operators. This all leads up to next year when the Medicare Advantage capitation rate will increase, setting the stage for further value-based care adoption in senior living.
Through value-based care, senior living operators can offer new services that keep residents well for longer.
Katzmann continues to see the upside of reimbursement for things like care coordination. The operator receives $125 per member each month, and that reimbursement also extends to nutrition support for people with chronic illness, transportation offsetting costs and private caregiving hours.
“A lot of the things we provide, we have a mechanism for seeking reimbursement to be able to support residents,” Katzmann said. “It’s designed to pay for quality and we define that through health.”
While uncertainty from the Trump administration has been broached cautiously by operators in the last four months, Katzmann believes the president and Republican-controlled Congress’ support for Medicare Advantage could continue to expand value-based care models in senior living and health care. But any cuts to Medicare would be “detrimental.”
“My concern is there is no clear path and we don’t really know where the administration is going to go,” Katzmann added.
Wellness ‘now longevity management’
Through its lifestyle and wellness membership program, Catalyst, Katzmann sees upside in being able to promote preventative health and wellness lifestyles for residents—that can improve longevity and prepare for the next generation of senior living customers. This means designing a more nuanced nutrition program and programming around mobility plus socialization, with an aim at helping people live longer, happier lives.
Katzmann added that the senior living industry requires a “mindset shift” in engagement, mobility and fitness programming to create a hospitality experience that emphasizes preventive health services and wellness without requiring medical support.
“The wellness we’re talking about is now longevity management,” Katzmann said.
In preparing for the next generation of customers, Katzmann said Juniper is scrutinizing its staffing model, examining workflows and job descriptions to move the needle on hiring, retention and care delivery.
To support these changes, Katzmann said Juniper will continue to rely on its technology partners to provide needed data and systems to help teams be more efficient and spend more time with residents.
“One of the hardest things in all of this was finding the right tech partner to develop something that fit our vision,” Katzmann said of the company’s new technology suite as Juniper needed to “evolve” that created a “multi-departmental” system. The system is capable of tracking and collecting data from all departments and tracks resident satisfaction and health outcomes.
On the customer-facing technology side, Katzmann believes Juniper’s partnership with Amazon Business with Alexa voice technology in its communities is “coming into its own” as more residents interact with voice commands on in-unit Alexa devices than in past years compared to on-phone or tablet apps.
“Without enabling technology, you cannot do this,” Katzmann said of reaching the next cohort of senior living customers. “It’s going to evolve considerably in the next 18 months.”
This push on technology integration comes as Katzmann sees Juniper able to create a “prescriptive lifestyle prescription” for each resident based on lifestyle and programming participation data to help improve socialization at communities in the future. But to get there, Katzmann noted that tech-driven change must be led by accurate resident monitoring, sound clinical assessments and quick interventions to improve resident health, where possible.
Last year, Juniper launched a home health and private physician practice to create new revenue. This gets to Katzmann’s vision to pair wellness programming in line with care delivery—to reach the customer of tomorrow.
“The consumer today is very different than most of us think,” Katzmann said. “They’re people we work with and socialize with—they’re very different in behavior and preferences.
‘Wellness model for the brain’
As senior living providers evolve their operating models with an eye on higher-acuity residents, some companies have looked to capitalize on that demand by beefing up assisted living and memory care options.
To reach this needs-driven demand segment, Katzmann said Juniper would look to expand its Wellspring dementia program with an emphasis on cognitive health, revamped clinical assessments in an effort to help residents living with dementia maintain cognitive function and quality of life.
“It’s a wellness model for the brain and for people living with dementia to work with them and look at potential other causes of some of the issues related to dementia and addressing those,” Katzmann said.
Looking ahead, Katzmann said she is “cautiously optimistic” for the remainder of the year and beyond.
“I think there are a lot of things that we have to be cautious about but from my perspective that creates opportunity,” Katzmann said.