With a few notable exceptions, it was hard to find anyone disappointed with Wednesday’s interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve. Certainly nobody in the long-term care and senior living realm was complaining.

That’s because for the first time in four years, the Fed decided to drop the cost of borrowing. In normal times, this is simply part of expected fluctuations in the economy. What goes up always comes down. 

It just takes a little longer after a pandemic strikes and wipes out hundreds of thousands of your most vulnerable citizens.

So that big, collective exhale (political malcontents not included) was another sign things are getting back to normal. Whatever that is — or should be.

Now providers, among others, can get back to borrowing — and, therefore, spending — more. That goes for new construction, renovations, operating capital and so on.

This is how things are supposed to roll when the world isn’t battling an unprecedented, lethal virus that scares off tens of thousands of your workers, many of whom will never be seen in your hallways again.

The qualified relief that Wednesday brought is reminiscent of the observations that came with reporting on the 2024 McKnight’s Mood of the Market survey earlier this month.

Some key findings were that leaders are now less inclined to be looking for work elsewhere and that the raging salary hikes of the early 2020s had subsided. They’re not totally gone, but the cooling off is also something that more resembles pre-pandemic days.

Back in the day, providers never thought they’d one day be yearning for conditions from 2019 or earlier, that is now the case. More signs of “normality” can’t arrive soon enough.

Providers started pondering what their new normal would look like well before the public health emergency ended early last year. Wednesday’s Fed announcement is a big piece to the puzzle.

But providers would be wise to keep their guard up. The new normal, just like the old normal, is fraught with potential pitfalls.

Anyone foolish enough to get too giddy about present conditions could find themselves in the same boat as the home run hitter who pauses too long to admire his blast into the outfield stands. What usually comes at the next at-bat is a ball whizzing near his head, or crushing into his very vulnerable ribs.

Treated with proper respect and caution, moves like Wednesday’s rate drop should raise spirits.

Welcome back to “normal” — and a new time of opportunity.

James M. Berklan is McKnight’s Long-Term Care News’ Executive Editor and a Best Commentary award winner in the 2024 Neal Awards, which are given annually for the nation’s best specialized business journalism.

Opinions expressed in McKnight’s Long-Term Care News columns are not necessarily those of McKnight’s.