As aged care providers grapple with thin operating margins, workforce shortages, and mounting regulatory pressures, one question looms large: what size does a residential aged care facility need to be to stay viable – now and into the future?

Increasingly, the answer seems to be around 90 beds – and that is bad news for many stand-alone, regional operators.

According to industry experts and data from StewartBrown’s Aged Care Financial Performance Survey, the most efficient aged care facilities tend to fall within the 90 to 100-bed range.

As you can see from the table below, only 17% of the residential aged