Senior dwelling operators are in 2026 rising to fulfill demand from the trade’s subsequent clients. However that progress is for naught with out good operations.
Two senior dwelling operators with latest progress spurts behind them are LCS and Sonida Senior Dwelling (NYSE: SNDA). Each corporations have notched that progress by way of strategic mergers: LCS with Vi, and Sonida with CNL Healthcare Properties.
Progress affords corporations like Sonida “an opportunity to each work with and study from a lot of gifted administration organizations in senior dwelling.”
“We get to gather finest practices,” CEO Brandon Ribar mentioned throughout a Senior Housing Information webinar final week.
However whereas it will possibly infuse an organization with new concepts, taking up new communities isn’t a straightforward feat. To that finish, “standardization is vital to progress,” in line with LCS Government Vice President of Senior Dwelling Administration Operations GeLynna Shaw.
“We now have to scale back the variability that slows us down. We now have to have the ability to roll out constant processes, playbooks and expectations, in order that our communities aren’t re-inventing the wheel,” she mentioned in the course of the webinar.
Incoming prospects want extra selection and wellness-forward experiences and at a price they will afford. Operators are aiming to fulfill these preferences by analyzing resident information and getting ultra-specific with their providers, amongst different methods.
Each LCS and Sonida imagine that higher operations hinge on the folks doing the work within the communities. That’s the reason they’re investing in cultivating and supporting native management and higher neighborhood cultures. All of the whereas, they’re pairing communities with know-how, similar to AI-assisted instruments, to help the job and in some instances “give employees superpowers.”
Operators ‘can not compromise’ on resident’s first 30 days
Each LCS and Sonida imagine that operators should win over residents of their first 30 days after transferring in in the event that they hope to compete with their friends. The businesses are rolling out new insights of their communities and standardizing finest practices to make sure residents can get a superb throughout their portfolios.
Sonida is accordingly “hyper-focused” on the resident expertise in the course of the first 30 days after a move-in.
“That has lots to do with longevity and the success of how one can run your neighborhood,” Ribar mentioned. “The primary 30 days is an space we can not compromise.”
Sonida has repositioned quite a few communities and added impartial dwelling, assisted dwelling and reminiscence care capability in some markets the place demand dictated.
“As these enterprise plans come to fruition, it’s additionally going to drive our progress profile this yr,” Ribar added.
LCS is in 2026 launching a wellness mannequin primarily based on longevity, diet, motion and connection. .
“It’s about operating a coordinated, outcomes-driven wellness mannequin,” Shaw mentioned. “The true evolution is that it isn’t extra applications to select from, it’s extra of a brand new working mannequin and one which’s customized, coordinated and measurable.”
Aiding the rollout of that mannequin is AI-supported know-how that may “give time again” to employees to deal with resident interplay and constructing significant connections, Shaw mentioned.
This contains methods able to dealing with fundamental duties like scheduling dinner reservations, monitoring well being and social appointments and enhancing lead scoring.
Via its merger with Vi, Shaw mentioned LCS will proceed to develop its possession stake in its communities, in flip permitting faster investments and decision-making in operations.
“We are able to make the most effective resolution we would like, see these outcomes and hopefully share that as a finest follow to our managed communities,” Shaw mentioned. “All collectively, that is about delivering nice experiences, supporting our groups and operating our communities with extra readability and confidence.
Throughout the new wellness mannequin, LCS is shifting in the direction of a “teaching and data-driven strategy,” the place wellness coaches will set customized objectives for residents utilizing higher information from up to date assessments able to depicting a “resident’s wellness journey,” Shaw added.
New know-how, creating staffing ‘superpowers’
In 2026, know-how is enjoying a bigger function in enhancing care coordination and care supply for operators.
George Netscher, founder and CEO of fall-management platform SafelyYou, believes that the corporate’s platform and different know-how companions within the trade have a duty to attempt for outcomes that enhance care high quality for all residents, slicing by way of the “AI hype bubble.”
“What we got here to understand is now we have an enormous alternative, not solely to present each resident a voice however to present each caregiver superpowers,” Netscher mentioned. “We’re excited about how we flag these blind spots the place somebody’s trending in a sure route and also you haven’t realized it but.”
These superpowers embody enhancing care outcomes by offering extra information on resident wellness and the place employees are spending their time, whereas giving care groups the flexibility to assessment near-real-time care information flagging indicators of adjusting acuity.
Traditionally, senior dwelling operators have used know-how to enhance size of keep and hold residents of their current care stage, however in 2026, that’s evolving to incorporate “care optimization,” Netscher added.
In 2026, operators are providing genetic testing and enhancing personalization of way of life providers.
“We wish to usher in eating, health, engagement and scientific groups collectively as one as a result of the resident expertise and wellness journey, it’s one lengthy journey, so now we have to function as one crew,” Shaw mentioned.
Smarter staffing can enhance care, and Sonida opinions care information and matches it to caregiver schedules to strike the precise staff-to-resident stability, Ribar mentioned.
“When you try this, you’ll be able to establish which crew members are best and may incentivize and retain them in a extra targeted approach,” Ribar mentioned.
In gross sales and advertising and marketing, each LCS and Sonida are taking steps to enhance lead technology and customized outreach to prospects.
Sonida is utilizing information to higher perceive resident profiles of every of its communities to draw likeminded residents. LCS is constructing an AI-supported lead scoring system that gives gross sales and advertising and marketing groups extra information on prospects, Shaw mentioned, to assist employees get “smarter” in courting future residents, whereas “learning previous labor patterns” to enhance turnover in crucial positions.
