In the heart of the Hillhaven neighborhood, residents can enjoy stunning views, quiet streets lined with trees and shrubs, and an easy-going lifestyle. The community features parks for those who love to get outside, as well as weekly farmers markets for green thumbs looking to stock up on fresh produce. Its proximity to these amenities helps keep Hillhaven a vibrant and thriving location.
The Hillhaven of today is a major player in the senior care industry, with over 350 nursing homes and senior living communities across the country. The company offers both assisted living and memory care, with personalized plans to suit each resident’s needs. Hillhaven also has a number of unique programs designed to maintain social connections, cognitive health, spiritual happiness, and physical fitness.
The founders of the company began with a distinct perspective on senior care that would go on to become widely adopted in the industry. Their vision was based on the idea that elders should be treated as individuals rather than patients with a medical condition. Their innovative approach would help transform the quality of long-term care throughout the nation.
As the company grew in size, it continued to acquire more nursing homes and senior housing projects. Its expansion was accelerated in the 1980s, when the nursing home market exploded and Hillhaven became one of the most important investor-owned operators of skilled nursing facilities in the United States.
By the end of the decade, Hillhaven had acquired Vencor, which gave it a solid advantage in the industry. The combined company had about 400 nursing homes and controlled about a quarter of the nation’s senior-living assets.
Although Hillhaven’s main Medicare ratings ranked slightly lower than those of other competitors, the company continued to expand. By 1990, Hillhaven controlled almost 350 nursing homes and was the second-largest investor-owned operator in the United States.
In 1995, the management team at Hillhaven accepted a buyout offer from Louisville, Kentucky-based Vencor, Inc. The deal would allow the company to combine Hillhaven’s nursing home operations with those of its long-term-care hospitals and create a prodigious national health care powerhouse. The deal was negotiated under the conditions that Hillhaven’s management remain intact.
As a result, the company retained its distinctive perspective on senior care and remained an innovative force in senior housing. This would help set the company apart from its many competitors in the coming decades.
