With $10 billion in debt maturities coming due in 2023, margins still compressed and staffing challenges still simmering, operators have their work cut out for them in the crucial months ahead. But for all the problems left to solve, there is still a sense that the worst is now behind the industry in many respects.

That has come through in some positive Q1 earnings results announced this week, and at the Argentum conference in New Orleans. There, I met up with LCS CEO Joel Nelson, who said he thought the industry is between its short-term challenges and long-term recovery.