In the past year, NuCare Senior Living expanded its senior living portfolio to 21 communities under management, with plans underway for expansion into additional states, according to CEO Joel Moyer.
Moyer previously held roles with Brookdale Senior Living (NYSE: BKD), Encore Senior Living and the Wisconsin Assisted Living Association before launching NuCare’s operating platform in 2023.
Last year, Madison, Wisconsin-based NuCare added seven communities in Wisconsin. In 2025, the company is continuing to pursue growth by preparing to assume new third-party management and acquisition opportunities with a focus on high-acuity assisted living and memory care. The company’s operating model centers on high staff-to-resident ratios supported by a tech-enabled platform that provides staff with insights into daily resident care and lifestyle preferences.
This year, NuCare is preparing operations in two new states, Minnesota and Florida, after signing on as the management company for properties in both.
Looking ahead, NuCare aims to operate three quarters of its communities through equity partnerships with ownership groups, and the remaining quarter through third-party management agreements, focusing on high-acuity services like memory care. Moyer told SHN that future expansion opportunities include Arizona, California, and Texas.
Moyer emphasized that NuCare’s focus on high-acuity care is personal. His mother was a senior living pioneer who helped bring memory care communities to Wisconsin during the 1980s. NuCare plans to name new communities in Wisconsin after one of Moyer’s great-grandmothers, Hattie, who inspired the family to enter the senior living business.
Inside NuCare’s recipe for growth
Senior living operators have found ample opportunities for growth in recent years, as institutional and smaller firms reshuffled operators, sold properties, or sought the right management partners. NuCare is no stranger to these conditions, Moyer said.
NuCare’s primary focus remains the Midwest, even as the company expands into Minnesota and Florida.
“That’s been our strength, managing memory care and high-acuity assisted living communities under 50 beds, with a more boutique style of senior living that is different from a lot of providers,” Moyer said.
Key to NuCare’s growth is its effort to scale its staffing model. The company maintains higher ratios of care staff to residents than larger communities. To support workforce needs, NuCare purchased a nurse consulting business while revving up operations.
In Florida, that meant partnering with third-party consultant Heidi Kuchenbacker, who brings past experience managing communities and now helps navigate regulations and reimbursements under the banner of NuCare Florida.
Similarly, for its Midwest expansion, NuCare partnered with former operators of Sweet Living and Comforts of Home to form NuCare Minnesota.
“We’ve been able to create this new overarching entity that allows us to have entities in different states with local presence and local ownership, but use the efficiencies of our business platform to put our experience to work,” Moyer said.
Making boutique-style senior living ‘work well’
Moyer said small-unit communities and boutique-style formats “work well” for NuCare’s high-acuity assisted living and memory care services.
Some properties have land under contract for future memory care expansions. NuCare remains highly selective in its acquisitions and management contracts, with Moyer estimating the company turns down 80% of all opportunities.
“We know our strengths and we have the plans in place for this type of care, with the ability to convert properties to fit our model,” Moyer said.
Some opportunities involve distressed or aging communities that NuCare repurposes to meet higher-acuity needs for assisted living and memory care residents.
“We know which states we can continue to grow in, but the number of states will not increase significantly,” Moyer added.
Small communities can face operational challenges, including market location, limited talent pools, and slim financial margins. Moyer said these risks contribute to NuCare’s careful approach to expansion.
NuCare has the option to develop three Minnesota communities ranging between 30 and 40 units. However, high financing and construction costs have paused the company’s organic development efforts.
“We’re looking at a type of community that most other national providers aren’t interested in operating,” Moyer said.
According to Moyer, NuCare succeeds by deploying its operating model while investing in extensive employee training and providing staff with tech-enabled tools to guide decision-making at the community level.
The company recently switched its electronic health record system and is rolling out a new human resources management system and an integrated customer relationship management tool. “We’re creating systems to be significantly more efficient,” Moyer said.
In the community, staff also use virtual reality (VR) headsets for assisted living and memory care residents that is incorporated with its fall risk assessment process for residents. This system enables a quick evaluation of new residents and provides results to physical therapy referrals or other groups to establish care plans as residents transition into congregate living settings.
In 2025, NuCare is standardizing its processes and operating model to equip new communities with the tools needed to launch operations quickly. The company is also focused on growing census, having increased occupancy by 20% in the past six months.
“We’re focused on getting properties online, standardizing operations and procedures in Florida and Minnesota,” Moyer said. NuCare may expand further in the Southeast, but Moyer emphasized the company will not enter new markets without strategic partnerships in place.
To meet the growing demand for memory care, Moyer noted, the sector remains “highly emotional,” requiring both a strong clinical model and a robust lifestyle programming effort.
