Health village may be future of care

Craig Johnson has worked in the senior living industry for the past 20 years. What he has seen is a movement to put them in the "back 40" – because they are considered elderly and sick and should be placed out of sight.

But what Johnson and a group of colleagues wanted to do was bring older individuals into the fore. So they created a plan to do that, creating an entire community focused on care for older individuals.  

Their vision is coming to fruition as Union Village, an integrated health community where seniors can both live and receive healthcare services. And it may be the future of healthcare.

The village will be located at highways 93 and 95 on 170 acres of land in Henderson, Nev. Full build-out is expected to take 10 years and will include a 315-bed hospital, 200-bed nursing facility with long-term acute care, Alzheimer's care, assisted living, independent senior living space, 350 market-rate condos, medical office buildings, retail that includes restaurants and theaters, a suite hotel and possibly a cancer center and children's center. 

The anchor hospital will be part of Valley Health System, which owns five acute-care hospitals in Southern Nevada.

The healthcare component of the community will be fully integrated, said Johnson. They will share electronic medical records and work to save costs by sharing infrastructure like labs and radiology. A doctor will have access to notes on a patient's health records from the pharmacist, assisting living facility and hospital. And they will use all resources to transition people from the hospital to skilled nursing, rehab and back to their homes as quickly as possible to lower the cost of care.

One of the major components of the village will be a focus on wellness, Johnson said, a point which touches close to home for him. Seven years ago, his mother was living in a senior living facility and was told she would need to begin dialysis. She changed her diet and began an exercise routine. 

When she returned to the doctor four months later, her blood tests revealed she no longer needed dialysis and has not since. 

"Dialysis costs about $100,000 a year," he said. "We saved Medicare $700,000 and my mom has a better quality of life which is invaluable to me."

Johnson said the healthcare partners in the community will help residents remain as healthy as possible and avoid disease and major treatments like dialysis whenever possible. 

The goal of the village is also to use healthcare as an economic driver. The senior living facility won't have traditional offerings like a hair salon or business center. Instead, those will be part of the retail center. In a senior living community, residents usually have one to three meals a day in the facility. Here, they will be able to use part of their food allowance to dine out at the village's restaurants. 

"It will save money and create a stronger stream of revenue in the community," Johnson said. 

The thousands of employees, hundreds of physicians and hospital visitors will all need to be close to the campus. Those individuals, combined with the seniors living in the village will create a "tremendous economic engine" for businesses, he said.  

They are also hoping the site will be a generator for medical tourism. Daniel Mathis, president and CEO of the Nevada Health Care Association, said the state has typically ranked below average for its hospitals and post-acute facilities. 

"We have had quite the reputation for gambling but healthcare is not something we have been noted for," he said. 

But a new center there and physicians doing innovative things in joint replacement, along with the upcoming village might help the region to combine the two forces.

"The push will be to come here for surgery and stay and play while you heal," he said. 

Johnson said he thinks the concept of an integrated health village will expand well beyond Union Village. They are looking at building a number of "mini-Union Villages" surrounding existing hospitals across the United States. There have been inquiries about building a healthcare village in China as well. 

"We see this as a model for the future, where healthcare and senior living need to go," he said. "When it comes to healthcare and senior living and wellness, this is absolutely what the future holds and is a game changer for both of those industries."