The M&A Landmine: Why Your Acquisition Strategy Is Leaking Capital Before You Close
Growth is back in Senior Living for 2026.
With industry-wide occupancy hitting nearly 90% , many operators are finally shifting from "defense" to "offense". But as you build your pipeline, you aren't just taking over the keys. You are inheriting a complex web of technology expenses—from WAN and Internet to TV packages and Voice services.
Here is the hard truth I see during due diligence: If you don't look under the hood before you close the deal, you are almost certainly inheriting OpEx leakage that will kill your NOI before you’ve even finished onboarding the staff.
The Liability: Recurring Auto-Renewals
The biggest liability I find in newly acquired facilities is the silent drain of recurring auto-renewals.
More often than not, these communities have been with the same carrier for years, and the agreements have auto-renewed in the background with zero oversight. The carrier has no incentive to call you and lower your rate, so the price remains static while market rates drop.
The result? I am regularly finding facilities paying 2018 rates in 2026. You are paying for a technology landscape that is eight years old at rates that haven't been competitive in half a decade. When you combine that with today's record-high 37.6% USF fee or legacy copper lines that now cost as much as $1,000 per line monthly, your "stabilized asset" is actually hiding a massive technical deficit.
My 4-Step Recovery Method: The CEO's Diligence Tool
I designed my 4-Step Recovery Method to act as a zero-friction extension of your finance team. I perform this forensic audit entirely off-site, requiring less than 2 hours of staff time per community.
Onboarding & Data Collection: Once we execute the Master Services Agreement (MSA) and appropriate Letters of Authorization (LOA)—including any carrier-specific forms required by providers like AT&T—I establish a secure, encrypted Google Drive folder for your audit. Your team simply uploads the latest invoices, and I take it from there.
Forensic Analysis & Benchmarking: I cross-reference the acquired rates against my proprietary database of Senior Living pricing to spot inflated bills and those hidden "2018 rate" anchors.
Optimization & Negotiation: I negotiate directly with carrier retention desks to secure market-best rates. Crucially, you maintain total control: I never execute a contract or make a change without your explicit, written approval.
Verification: I audit subsequent invoices to prove the "found capital" has actually hit your P&L.
The final deliverable is my Forensic Audit Report. It gives your finance team total clarity—a baseline inventory of your new technology estate that eliminates AP friction and provides audit-ready data for your first year of operation.
The "Client-First" Pricing Difference
Most auditing firms want a long-term piece of your success, taking 50% of your savings for three years. I’ve rejected that model because it penalizes you for growth.
I charge a one-time fee equal to just 3 months of savings.
In a typical acquisition scenario where I identify $20,000 in monthly leakage, my model saves you $300,000 more in capital over three years than a traditional firm. That is capital you can use to reinvest in care, not carriers.
Start the Year with the "One-Bill" Challenge
You don't need to hand over your entire acquisition pipeline to see if I’m right.
I challenge you to the "One-Bill" Challenge: Send me just one invoice from any provider at one of your communities. I will benchmark it against my wholesale database and tell you within 24 hours if you are overpaying.
If I find waste, we proceed to a full audit. If I don't, you get the peace of mind that your acquisition is starting with perfect rates—at no cost to you.
2026 is the year of growth. Let's make sure that growth is as profitable as it should be.
Ready to find your found capital?
Contact me directly for a zero-risk review:
Doug Doolittle
Email: doug@insightstelecom.com
Phone: (770) 605-7675