Tech plus touch is goal for senior living industry

Artificial intelligence has the potential to transform the senior living industry. From helping to drive resident satisfaction and supporting staff member retention to enhancing efficiency and streamlining processes, industry experts are optimistic about how AI can help support their operations.

At the same time, senior living leaders are mindful of the importance of human interaction in the industry and the need to maintain the right balance of what Alex Prough, chief commercial officer at Medical Guardian, called “tech plus touch.”

In a private roundtable discussion, “Exploring AI-Driven SaaS in Senior Living Operations,” sponsored by Medical Guardian, leaders from the company came together with senior living and care industry professionals to gain insights into how AI can best be used in the industry’s daily operations.  

When asked to pinpoint their most pressing operational challenges, panelists overwhelmingly cited staffing and regulatory issues. “It’s all about staff,” said Chris Winkle, a consultant and former CEO of Sunrise Senior Living. He said he believes “there’s a lot of opportunity for tech and automation to ease that labor pressure.”

“There’s not enough staff in the industry to fill positions,” agreed Mark Mitchener, corporate vice president for Greystone Communities. He added that, too often, staff members abandon jobs in the senior living industry to pursue higher-paying jobs elsewhere, with caregivers going to agencies. In states with a high minimum wage, operators find themselves competing with fast food or retail employers, and even Amazon, for employees.

Regulatory compliance issues also loom large for operators. “In some states, [senior living communities] are treated like nursing facilities when it comes to staffing ratio,” said Heather Tussing, president of The Aspenwood Company.

Valuable tool for reducing workload

From a regulatory compliance standpoint, it’s a moving target in certain states,  according toDivinia Nunez, director of operations for Sinceri Senior Living.

“All the regulatory demands are difficult for administrators,” noted Carrie Lund, vice president of operations at Principle LTC. “That’s probably one of the biggest challenges.”

The paperwork associated with meeting regulations also is a huge burden for staff members, and the panelists acknowledged that they are desperate to find ways to streamline their workflows. “Electronic records were supposed to make our job easier,” observed Mitchener. “The key is to use AI to take some of the paperwork load off caregivers and nurses and allow them to be on the floor with the residents.”

April Young, chief operating officer at Sinceri Senior Living, bemoaned “too many software platforms for employees to get lost in” at the expense of “customer service and engaging with residents and families.”

As with many other senior living companies that are beginning to explore ways that AI can assist in care and service delivery, resident engagement, documentation and compliance, Young said that Sinceri Senior Living is experimenting with AI to “determine how we could be more efficient and run more smoothly.”

Varied applications for AI

“I’ve seen applications from the marketing side to the procurement side to the capital side,” Winkle said. He described an AI tool that links procurement to the menu to lock in food cost.

Jenni Bost, vice president of marketing for Radiant Senior Living, described how her company has been more successful gathering survey information using an AI-driven chatbot than when using a live person. “We use it in our sales, marketing and with our [customer relationship management platform]. I use it for distilling survey information, and we’re able to do that faster than before,” she said.

Michener noted that his company is using AI to distill tome-like referrals down to two pages so staff members can more easily digest information and make decisions quickly. 

The panelists agreed that AI has the potential to enhance rather than detract from the level of human touch that residents receive. For example, AI can help ensure that the needs of all residents are being met. Winkle noted that AI can be applied to electronic health records data to determine which care plan residents should be on and whether their actual care reflects that assessment.

“Typically, the sickest people need the most attention, but we want to make sure that people that are less sick don’t get neglected,” observed Jim Reilly, senior director of MGLiving for Medical Guardian. 

AI also can be used to boost customer satisfaction. Howard Teicher, senior vice president for MGLiving and channel partners for Medical Guardian, explained that the company has created a wellness check-in campaign through which residents rate how they feel physically and emotionally. If a resident says he or she isn’t feeling well, then staff members receive a prompt to call the resident’s caregiver to suggest a check-in. 

“AI can give you visibility. You can make that outreach greater,” explained Terri Williams, senior director of healthcare marketing for Medical Guardian.

Tussing said that The Aspenwood Company has uploaded information on individual residents’ specific interests and is using AI to create unique experiences for residents, such as “one-on-one experiences or LinkedIn Learning courses.”

Enhancing outreach is an ongoing focus for Medical Guardian, company representatives said, adding that the firm is working to create an outreach coordinator program for its clients that can supply Silver Sneakers-approved providers to run activities.

Powerful tool to enhance care 

AI also can provide valuable insights into fall risk assessment, according to panelists.

“We’re seeing real promise in leveraging AI to work upstream to help prevent falls,” Prough said. “We are now doing dynamic fall risk scoring and starting to move the needle on emergency department utilization and other things for some of the communities we help support. We feel like there’s a lot of promise there.”

“There’s also an opportunity on the independent living side for a bot to answer a lot of the questions that nurses or staff members field, so that they can spend more time with residents,” Michener said.

Giving staff members the right tools can enhance job performance and job satisfaction, panelists said. 

“If staff members have something to help guide them through issues and give them the right answers, we’re better operators and have less liability risk,” Reilly said. That automation is especially helpful at helping keep those employees with the least experience from feeling overburdened, he added.

The panelists agreed that AI can be a huge benefit to lessening the workload of an overburdened workforce plagued by high burnout and turnover rates.

“It certainly helped with my staff burnout,” Bost said. “I could do much more than I could ever do before.”

“There is more we can do to prevent that burnout with our teams by utilizing AI,” Michener said. “We’re just scratching the surface at our organization.”

The increased use of AI also will require additional staff training, so the panelists stressed the importance of communicating to staff members that the training will make their jobs easier in the long run.

Michener concluded that “AI is coming, whether we like it or not.”

“We need to learn how to use it in our industry to have the best impact on our residents’ and staffs’ lives,” he said. “We do need to put the brakes on a bit to make sure our systems are all in place.”

To get the greatest value from AI, the panelists said that data need to be integrated, and they stressed the importance of sharing data across platforms.

“There are even more opportunities to create a centralized hub of data to support residents in a more meaningful way,” Prough said.

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Tech plus touch is goal for senior living industry