Lifespark Unveils New ‘complete’ Senior Living Model With Plans To Nearly Double Footprint By 2027

Senior living operator Lifespark has unveiled a new model rooted in giving residents everything they need to thrive ahead of plans to significantly grow in 2026 and 2027.

The St. Louis Park, Minnesota-based company on Tuesday debuted Lifespark Complete. The model brings together four “key components” the company has in its wheelhouse – senior living property management, activities and wellness programming led by Lifespark Chief Independence Officer Dr. Bill Thomas, medical services and hospice services – under one unified effort, according to CEO Joel Theisen. 

The Complete model is designed to cut down on the “chaos” residents can feel navigating senior living and the health care services that come with aging, he said. It’s also meant to help the operator better bring the services it offers under the same banner and increase the flow of information among its different service lines.

In effect, Lifespark wants to “hold a resident’s hand” from the moment they enter a community and onward.

“We really wanted to bring a complete solution that was about building a trust-based relationship and understanding our customers, not just by trying to throw things at them, but by delivering our value proposition for the rest of their life,” Theisen told Senior Housing News.

Today the operator’s 50-community portfolio is trending towards 96% average occupancy. By improving resident outcomes with the model – and importantly, showing the results in its financial health – Theisen believes that Lifespark can show its value to new potential partners and grow with them. 

In September, LTC Properties (NYSE: LTC) acquired five communities managed by Lifespark in Wisconsin. Looking ahead, Theisen believes that Lifespark is ready to grow even further with a few similarly large partners and is on track hit the 100-community mark by 2027.

“We have incredible outcomes based on this model,” he said. “Now it’s time for us to reach out to other owners.”

Complete model unifies existing services under one banner

Lifespark isn’t launching new services with Complete, but it is unifying them under the same banner and putting them on the same wavelength for the first time. Prior to the complete model, Lifespark’s multiple service lines didn’t always intersect or share information. With Complete, more data will freely slow among Lifespark’s various service lines in order to better the resident experience.

The first of the four components of Complete is good senior living property stewardship – “table stakes” of managing any community, Theisen said.

“All the normal things that people think of as assisted living, you have to be good at,” he said. “Not only do you have to have a great customer experience and a great employee experience, but you have a good economic model that drives NOI.”

In other words, Lifespark must have the operational fundamentals down and create a sustainable business before it can do anything else. And by doing so, it can prove its worth to other partners and grow its footprint even further.

Included in Complete are the activities and services led by Dr. Bill Thomas under the company’s Spark programming, which includes managing a resident’s housing, health and wellness to improve their lives. Under that programming, residents might compete in evidence-based games – for example, hand-pumping water or racing miniature forklifts – that engage them and help improve their health and wellbeing. Under Complete, those efforts will continue and accelerate. 

By doing so, Theisen believes Lifespark can not only improve the resident experience but also the employee experience.

“When you see residents engaging and smiling and laughing, and they’re hopeful … the energy starts flowing. That is what leads to retention. That’s why we have zero use of supplemental staffing,” Theisen said.

Beyond the games, Thomas is also teaching Lifespark residents, families and staff how to become “Lifeguards,” who keep an eye on their neighbors’ health and alert the operator if anything seems off. By doing so, the organization can build a better sense of community – “the best amenity,” Theisen said.

Another cornerstone of the Complete model are Lifespark’s medical and hospice services. The organization aims to take as much friction out of the senior living resident experience as possible by delivering “relationship-centered” geriatric primary care services that are “payor-agnostic, comprehensive and life-long.”

Lifespark employs geriatric physicians and nurse practitioners to manage resident care in-house without having to send them elsewhere. Residents at Lifespark can access geriatric assessments, advanced medication management and disease management, in-home urgent response services and 24/7 medical triage.

Along the way, the operator helps them find payment options for those services, such as through ACOs or Medicare Advantage plans, and navigate their healthcare journeys. Doing so helps Lifespark residents avoid costly and sometimes dangerous trips to the hospital.

“We have their medical information. We know them very intimately, and we’re working as a team,” Theisen said.

Lifespark Complete also includes the operator’s hospice services, including support and transitions to late-life or hospice programs that support advance care plan goals with “compassionate, holistic hospice services to ensure dignity, comfort, and support at the end of life.”

“Economically, it’s better for both the system and for Lifespark. There’s just a win-win,” Theisen said.

Lifespark’s next growth chapter begins

Through its new Complete model, Lifespark is aiming to become more attractive to other partners with national scale like LTC Properties.

Last year, the real estate investment trust (REIT) acquired a five-community independent living, assisted living and memory care portfolio totaling 520 units in Wisconsin. The acquisition marked Lifespark’s first REIT relationship and Thiesen believes it can springboard the operator to greater heights ahead.

Theisen isn’t looking for 10 or 20 new partners, but a small handful that will help the operator scale in strategic markets.

“We want a couple partners that can help us really take this into high density markets where we can get 5, 10, 15 buildings, not one here, one there,” he said. “Our growth strategy is really about partnership and really building off of this, this now established, efficacy-based model.”

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