For assisted living communities, change is coming, but there still is time to adapt

The halcyon days of assisted living communities resembling comfy hotels and providing little more than social and residential programs for well-off residents is fading fast. Operators that hope to compete for customers down the road need to change their business models and, in particular, ramp up offerings for more healthcare services.

A pair of demographic forces are sparking this new thinking: tens of millions of baby boomers are expected to move into assisted living communities starting in the mid-2020s. Tomorrow's residents aren't going to be like yesterday's residents.