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Negotiating contracts. Safeguarding knowledge. How a lot to speculate and when to pilot. These are just some of the problems senior dwelling operators face when implementing new expertise.
As extra expertise and software program distributors deliver necessary options to the trade, operators should navigate a maze of choices from a large number of distributors, all of which carry guarantees of fixing roadblocks in operations, from eating companies to care supply.
However as many operators who’ve explored the world of latest expertise can inform you, one large pitfall is selecting the mistaken associate. In accordance with Chris Hyatt, co-CEO of Minnetonka, Minnesota-based New Perspective, there are a rising variety of distributors advertising and marketing their companies and merchandise to senior dwelling operators and not using a good understanding of the trade or its operational complexities.
“One main problem is chopping by the noise,” mentioned Hyatt. “A elegant demo or buzzwords like ‘AI-driven’ aren’t sufficient, we have to see how the expertise truly suits into real-world senior dwelling operations.”
Hyatt and tech leaders of different operators, together with Agemark Senior Residing, Ascent Residing Communities, Erickson Senior Residing, Perception Residing, Jaybird Senior Residing, Juniper Communities, Phoenix Senior Residing, and Sonida Senior Residing (NYSE: SNDA) consider clear expectations, contract negotiation and carefully vetting new instruments are the keys to success in terms of implementing new companies or units.
‘Chopping by the noise’
Many operators depend on a spread of tech options to deal with buyer relationship administration (CRM), digital well being data and point-of-sale programs. Senior dwelling corporations want knowledge that’s moveable, simply digestible and in a position to “discuss” to a number of programs used throughout all departments on the group degree. In addition they usually need to implement tech and companies that enhance staffing effectivity, resident engagement and finally enhance occupancy and internet working revenue (NOI) margins.
Getting these outcomes will not be at all times simple. Though senior dwelling tech distributors usually promise a holistic vary of companies, it’s not unusual for operators to choose and select amongst totally different choices, together with ones from a number of distributors.
Senior dwelling operators are in 2025 nonetheless looking for the suitable merchandise, platforms and options to assist them develop sooner or later. New Perspective, which operates 40 communities in eight states, swapped out its resident move-in digital documentation course of and CRM to enhance usability and anticipate future wants inside operations.
Final 12 months, Sonida Senior Residing (NYSE: SNDA) swapped its digital well being document (EHR) supplier to make sure the corporate’s clinicians had a “sturdy resolution for sustaining our scientific knowledge and analytics associated to the care wants of our residents,” in line with Sonida CEO Brandon Ribar. He added that the largest problem for operators like Sonida selecting tech companions is scalability.
“There are answers that look nice, however are they in a position to help 100 communities?” Ribar mentioned.
Sonida ran a 90-day, 10-community pilot with three tech distributors to find out its new EHR supplier. The Dallas, Texas-based operator ended up selecting a supplier’s platform that was simple to make use of by workers on the group degree, and is rolling out a brand new EHR platform throughout its portfolio of 100 senior dwelling communities, Ribar mentioned.
Juniper Communities Chief Working Officer-Chief Expertise Officer Don Breneman mentioned that he believes the trade is in a brand new and evolving technological age, and meaning operators should “be certain that we’re forward by way of yielding what will probably be finest for the resident expertise.”
“Prior to now, [vendors] weren’t essentially at all times targeted on wellness and that’s beginning to change as we’re occupied with resident expertise and the way expertise will help and rework the trade general,” Breneman mentioned.
Breneman famous a “sharp studying curve” to find the suitable companions, particularly in adapting contracts to guard knowledge integration and porting knowledge after a contract ends. One other problem is the truth that tech corporations are sometimes rising rapidly with worker turnover and the potential to vary palms to a brand new proprietor. Senior dwelling operators and their tech companions additionally usually have totally different strategic timelines.
“It’s a must to spell out secondary measures for knowledge transformation as a result of the seller could have promised one thing to start with, and that isn’t what the information appears like anymore as the corporate adjustments, and also you’re left with a sizzling mess,” Breneman mentioned.
Bloomfield, New Jersey-based Juniper Communities operates 28 communities in 4 states.
Erickson Senior Residing not too long ago carried out a brand new time and attendance platform for human resources-related duties. The corporate sorted a number of expertise companions to seek out the suitable agency that was “positioned to develop,” whereas additionally evaluating the seller’s roadmap and monetary stability, in line with Chief Data Officer Hans Keller.
Vetting a tech associate and its capabilities and long-term enterprise plans must also embrace how operators view their long-standing vendor relationships, to not mistake a powerful relationship with a long-standing vendor for having essentially the most superior expertise.
“What we discovered is that even with trusted companions, it’s necessary to separate the power of the connection from the readiness of a brand new product,” Keller added.
Baltimore, Maryland-based Erickson Senior Residing operates 20 communities in 11 states.
Utilizing tech for help, not as an answer
Senior dwelling operators can inform you that expertise itself will not be a silver bullet.
“The way in which we work together with expertise, it must be a help to navigate an issue we’re having in our operations, but it surely’s not going to unravel every little thing for you,” Phoenix Senior Residing CEO Jesse Marinko mentioned.
This was evident for Phoenix leaders after the corporate seemed into discovering a brand new nurse name system in 2024. A brand new expertise supplier provided to put in a brand new system for a lot lower than what the corporate was paying its present nurse name vendor. However quite than switching, Phoenix labored with its present associate to supply an identical service by adapting a present platform and including iPhones for workers to make use of, saving “pointless reinvestment.”
The corporate additionally not too long ago chosen a brand new digital menu platform for resident eating. The corporate selected a cloud-based associate that was in a position to share knowledge with the corporate’s current CRM platform with an choice to conduct “nation club-style” billing, Marinko famous.
“Our purpose was to drive better ancillary income and enhance our stock management and we addressed a standard downside of monitoring our stock,” Marinko mentioned.
The Roswell, Georgia-based Phoenix Senior Residing operates 45 communities in 9 states.
A driving think about senior dwelling suppliers swapping out their expertise companions is the lack of an working system to tug knowledge from a number of sources and distribute that knowledge into digestible summaries for workers to make use of throughout departments. This lack of real-time and trailing knowledge is forcing operators to reevaluate their wants on expertise.
This was the case for Ascent Residing Communities. The Centennial, Colorado-based senior dwelling supplier operates six communities within the Centennial State and overhauled its expertise platforms to grow to be “institutional in our execution,” Co-Founder Tom Finley advised SHN. Neighborhood-level workers have entry to knowledge from as not too long ago because the day prior, which has resulted in a 7% improve in working margin in 2024.
“After we began to guage distributors, there have been two overarching themes: to be user-friendly on the front-end and to be data-friendly on the again finish,” mentioned Ascent Residing Communities Director of Enterprise Intelligence Morgan Graphman.
However merely gathering knowledge can’t be an finish purpose, and new tech companions should be capable to assist present knowledge that provides workers “actionable insights,” in line with Jaybird Senior Residing President Justin Wray. Jaybird not too long ago swapped out its resident engagement software program and added ambient fall monitoring expertise to enhance resident care.
“Expertise is evolving so rapidly and so there’s a duty on my own and the group to ensure we’re not simply staying with the established order,” Wray mentioned. “Complacency is an actual factor and typically it’s important to push towards that and proceed evolving.”
Cedar Rapids, Iowa-based Jaybird Senior Residing operates 38 communities in six states.
As they weigh the advantages of implementing new tech, operators should additionally take into account whether or not or not a system is able to interacting with synthetic intelligence (AI) instruments, in line with Perception Residing Principal Bryan Ziebart.
The Brea, California-based supplier operates 23 communities and not too long ago partnered with the Johns Hopkins College’s AI and Expertise Collaboratory for Ageing Analysis and Stanford College’s Longevity Clinic to develop AI fashions tied to bettering resident well being and utilizing anonymized resident well being knowledge within the identify of bettering care supply sooner or later.
Operators are also shifting away from a number of the “dumb instruments” used within the trade at this time which are unable to share knowledge throughout a number of programs, Ziebart mentioned. Nonetheless, many expertise platforms in senior dwelling aren’t “constructed to be shopper grade.” This requires operators to spend extra time than needed coaching workers on utilizing a brand new system or results in low staff member adoption of a brand new platform.
“Expertise in each trade needs to be positioned to be touched by AI sooner or later,” Ziebart mentioned. “A elementary trade downside is that our clients don’t hear from us except one thing is mistaken.”
Facilitating that “seamless rollout” is an important issue, in line with Agemark Co-CEO Michael Pittore. No matter a brand new expertise platform’s potential, the success and use of the instrument hinges on selling buy-in from workers on the group degree.
“Regardless of how superior or simple to make use of one thing appears, if we don’t successfully talk the change, discover champions inside our firm, get buy-in from the staff, and correctly clarify the ‘why,’ we face vital challenges in utilization and effectiveness. Facilitating small-scale pilots after which discovering inner champions is essential.”
Omaha, Nebraska-based Agemark Senior Residing operates 28 communities throughout six states.
As a basic rule, Juniper Communities CEO Lynne Katzmann urged different operators to determine their wants from potential expertise companions in making knowledgeable choices on new distributors.
“Don’t let the software program outline your wants,” Katzmann mentioned. “Discover a software program that works in your operations or to maneuver your operations ahead.”
This comes because the trade strikes from adopting the newest “shiny object” in expertise, and as an alternative goals for better sophistication to the enterprise mannequin, Keller mentioned.
“There’s a better emphasis now on real-world impression, integration throughout programs, and long-term worth creation,” Keller mentioned.
