Honoring Jodi Guffee

We hope you’ve enjoyed this year’s Changemakers series to date, a series full of inspiring interviews with leaders across the senior living industry. As sponsor for the fifth consecutive year, we’ve enjoyed sharing the interviews and highlighting how each honoree is building a better tomorrow. Today’s featured Changemaker is Jodi Guffee, owner and chief operating officer at Radiant Senior Living, one of our amazing senior living clients! Read on for a preview of Guffee’s interview, then head to the Changemakers site to read her full conversation with SHN. Yardi client Jodi Guffee named 2023 Changemaker With over 20 years of experience leading Radiant Senior Living, Jodi Guffee has spearheaded initiatives that have changed the organization’s operations for the better. While she’s faced challenges throughout her career, it hasn’t stopped her from pushing boundaries in order to make Radiant — and the industry as a whole — a better place. In her interview with SHN, Guffee shares what her journey has been like over the years — and reveals more about her initiatives at Radiant and what’s inspired them. She also shares her perspective on the senior living industry today (and her outlook on where it’s headed). SHN: As you look across the rest of the senior living industry, do you think that it’s changing fast enough to keep up with the times? Guffee: No. That’s a short answer, I know. There are several layers to that. Probably one of the biggest ones is funding: funding for staffing and funding for a generation that’s going to have a hard time paying for what we have to charge. We have a huge middle market segment that needs to be served, and we have models that are unaffordable for the most part. There are some genius people out there really doing some cutting-edge stuff that I’m really looking into. I think it’s fantastic, but I don’t think that there are enough companies that can pivot quickly enough for us to be able to serve this baby boomer “silver tsunami.” We just don’t have the people to take care of them, and the people who are going to need our services may or may not be able to afford them. Where are we going to see some government subsidies for lower-income, reimbursement rates? Our home offices are in Oregon. We have a very lucrative reimbursement rate for memory care, but not for assisted living. They aren’t very different [residents], but we have an extremely good reimbursement rate for memory care. We’re also pioneers here in Oregon. There are very few states that have good reimbursement for the private sector to be able to take some state or federal funding for residents that are low income because it’s not affordable. SHN: Can you talk about a time when you tried to execute a change and things didn’t go according to plan? How did you pivot, and what did you learn as a leader? Guffee: Gosh, there are so many. I’ll say that the ability to turn and pivot and see through different lenses is probably the key. [For example], when we were at the beginning of COVID and then in the middle of COVID and then coming out of it, we see the statistics are scary. We lost 40% of our women in the workforce. In our setting, that’s a lot of the people. They had to either stay home to take care of children who were online schooling, or they couldn’t afford childcare, so it was more affordable for them to stay home. That was and still is a very scary time in that everybody has a staffing shortage. What are we going to do about that? It kept me up at night for a long time. We were trying so many different things and being flexible, and things just weren’t working. We weren’t getting people back into the workforce. Our entire industry,...

Satisfying Investors Jul24

Satisfying Investors

Today’s real estate investors not only want the financial and operational numbers on their assets but what’s driving them. That includes environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance, which is becoming increasingly important to property occupants, investors and regulators.  In fact, many institutional investors who provide money for U.S. real estate companies incorporate ESG criteria into their investment decisions. Meanwhile, 85% of asset owners believe ESG factors are material to investment policy. And many states and municipalities have enacted laws requiring public disclosure of energy-use data. “Property owners required to report ESG data to investors and regulators need aggregated data that can be used for multiple purposes. Investors also want access to their energy information on the same system as the investment data,”says Joe Consolo, industry principal of Yardi Energy. That’s why boosting ESG performance and data accessibility is critical to sustaining asset value, mitigating risks and optimizing returns.  Many investment managers are discovering that the most efficient approach to ESG management is a technology platform that combines data for energy, property management  and investment management. Benefits of this single-platform approach to ESG performance include: A single source of the truth that encompasses the underlying asset and rolls into the investment structure and then to the investor. The result is faster, better-informed investor decisions and no errors from disparate systems becoming outdated. Full compliancewith increasingly stringent ESG compliance requirements, including accurate assessments of energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.   Energy consumption reductions of up to 30% with better data. Efficient submission of data required for ENERGY STAR certifications, successful ASHRAE Level 2 audits, GRESB® reports and energy-oriented financial incentives, also known as “green financing.” Risk mitigation through full visibility of operations. Higher LEED and ENERGY STAR scores that help attract investors and high-quality tenants.  Investor...

Honoring Earl Parker

If you’ve been following this year’s Changemakers series, sponsored by us and presented by Senior Housing News (SHN), you’ve seen the range of inspiring honorees recognized so far. Each leader has been selected based on their ability to spark innovation, drive positive change and strategize ways to make the senior living industry a better place. The next batch of three honorees is no different, which includes Earl Parker — an inspiring trailblazer and Yardi senior living client! We’re excited to share a snapshot of his interview below. Yardi client Earl Parker named 2023 Changemaker Earl Parker is the CEO of Commonwealth Senior Living, a Virginia-based organization with 37 senior living communities to date. With three decades of experience in the industry, Parker knows how to pivot and grow in order to keep pace with the ever-evolving nature of senior living. And with that knowledge and expertise, he’s reached innovative new heights during his time at Commonwealth. In his thorough interview with SHN as part of the Changemakers series, Parker shares how he’s leading important changes at Commonwealth today, and explains why he believes driving continuous improvement across their communities is essential.   SHN: Do you see yourself as a changemaker, and are you always excited to drive change? Parker: My first response was, no, I don’t see myself as that. My first reaction to that word, changemaker, is probably a dramatic, earth-shattering kind of change. But as I gave more thought to it, I could see it. My first mentor when I started working in hotels was a GM who I’m still in touch with, and they introduced me to the concept of continuous quality improvement and it’s been a key part of my life — work and personal — ever since then. It’s really a consistent leadership mindset that I have and try to bring to the organization, but it’s really continually focused on how we can try to make our communities a better place to live and a better place to work. I try to spend a lot of my time digging in on that, and I believe that if we can stay focused on that as an organization, that we can’t help but be successful. It’s a little bit of change every day, and ultimately that does create change. I certainly have changed a lot over the last 20-plus years. SHN: As you look across the rest of the senior living industry, do you think that it’s changing fast enough to keep up with the times? Parker: I may seem like a contrarian based on what a lot of I read other people saying, but I think it is. I think the industry evolves along with the demand. The markets that we’re in especially, we’re regularly engaging our residents, their families, associates, prospects, and getting feedback. I’ve been here at Commonwealth for 10 years, and there are many things that we’ve changed over the last 10 years: Dining, programming, physical plants, we’ve added hydroponic gardening, we’ve got a farm-to-table dining program, we’re using virtual reality with seniors. We’ve got robust Wi-Fi in all of our communities for residents and families to take part of. We have quartz countertops and stainless steel appliances. I think we have adapted and changed a lot over the last 10 years, and I think we’ll have to continue to do it. I’m not really sure what’s going on in San Francisco, or L.A., or New York City, but I think in the areas that we operate, we’ve changed a lot over the last 10 years, and I think we’ve got a product that’s appealing to the seniors and their adult children that are here today. We’ve all got to be responsible to continue to look at and monitor and evaluate where we think that demand is coming from in the future. As an industry, we’ve adapted pretty well. You could say...

Senior Living Stories...

Our senior living clients never fail to share sweet stories across their blogs and social media pages, so it’s only fitting that we reshare them here on The Balance Sheet! Spanning through spring and summer of this year, we’ve gathered a roundup of positive, uplifting stories to highlight our clients’ dedication to their community residents and staff (and their devotion to creating fun memories). We hope you enjoy! Life Care Services In an exciting LinkedIn post, Life Care Services (LCS) shared a trailer for their 2023 short film featuring several LCS residents. Created to celebrate over half a century of LCS history, “the film showcases the importance of finding passions later in life, cultivating relationships as we age, staying curious, and culminates with words of wisdom for us all,” says LCS on LinkedIn. The trailer, which you can find in the LinkedIn post, is an absolute must-watch! You’ll also find a short behind-the-scenes clip from the film shared in another LCS social media post, featuring an impressive piano rendition of Clair de Lune played by an LCS resident. Westmont Living This arts and crafts display at Westmont Living simply had to be shared, considering every piece was handmade by a community resident. Westmont posted a carousel of photos on their LinkedIn page showing residents posing with their creations (and browsing their fellow residents’ treasures). Be sure to visit Westmont’s LinkedIn to see more events and fun stories they’ve shared over the course of this year. Brightview Senior Living Brightview Senior Living recently shared a post with photos from their second annual “Bay Day” — an outdoor gathering where community residents and Brightview associates come together for a day in the sun. The photos shared show nothing but smiling faces. Brightview frequently shares community events...

Arm Services Jul14

Arm Services

The importance of proper workplace ergonomics is one thing that hasn’t changed since the pandemic’s onset – whether you’re still at home or back in the office. The concept of ergonomics – a word coined by a Polish professor in 1857 – dates to chair and tool designers in ancient Greece. Attention to workplace injuries grew in the early 20th century, as repetitive factory work increased strain injuries, and accelerated further during World War II, when the assembly of complex weapons systems and equipment required a high degree of decision-making, attention, situational awareness and hand-eye coordination. The war marked the point at which “ergonomics took a true turn into the concept that we understand today with deeper research to follow,” notes OMT-Veyhl, a Holland, Mich.-based office furniture manufacturer. By the 1980s, the ubiquity of computers in offices had led to a spate of arm, neck and back injuries. That’s because computer work tends to involve repetitive movements that place strain on hands, wrists and other areas of the body. These problems continue, in commercial and home offices. Creating an ‘ideal fit’ That’s where ergonomics comes in. This discipline focuses on ensuring correct placement of chairs, desks, monitor stands and other elements of a workstation to avoid pain; tingling or numbness in the hands, wrists or shoulders; and other afflictions. “Ergonomics is the science of establishing an ideal fit between a worker, their working environment and the tasks they carry out. Office ergonomics, then, is simply about making sure that office employees have the correct furniture, equipment and working conditions to be able to do their jobs effectively and comfortably,” says British CMD Ltd., a British power systems manufacturer. Taking the right ergonomic measures, the Mayo Clinic adds, means “you’re not doomed to a career...

Introducing Competitive Analysis

We’re constantly evolving our solutions in the Yardi Senior Living Suite, whether we’re enhancing workflows or creating new functionality altogether. And we recently released an exciting feature in RentCafe Senior CRM, our mobile-friendly sales and marketing solution — a feature called competitive analysis. Our senior living clients are seeing major successes with this dynamic new feature, but in case you haven’t explored it yet (or if you’re new to RentCafe Senior CRM), we thought we’d share what it does — and what the benefits are. Meet competitive analysis Senior living operators know all too well the importance of assessing competing communities. It’s crucial to understand why one community may be attracting new prospects more successfully, or even enticing your current residents to make a switch. Unfortunately, assessing this information is challenging when you don’t have the data you need — or if your data isn’t organized, easy to retrieve and error-free.   That’s where our competitive analysis feature comes in. We offer the ability to input the data you’ve collected on your competitors — including things like community amenities, care-level incentives and reputation — then view your own community’s attributes in comparison. All data is presented in an attractive, easy-to-analyze format. And once you’ve entered competitor data once, it stays fixed in one secure place, making it easy to access and edit in the future. Something particularly exciting with the competitive analysis functionality is the ability to track specific competitors in your lost lead analysis. This centralized, detailed information can help your future market efforts by highlighting what the major differences are between you and your competitors. The competitive analysis workflow is also completely configurable, allowing you to customize fields based on which categories you prefer to grade competitors on (we used client feedback to drive the customization options we created). Introducing self-competitor functionality Thought the functionality above was great? There’s more! RentCafe Senior CRM also gives you the option to view how your own communities stack up against each other. And rather than inputting data like you would for competitors, your own community’s data is automatically drawn from Yardi Voyager Senior Housing since RentCafe Senior CRM is a fully integrated solution. That means you’re always viewing the most up-to-date, accurate information when doing competitive analysis, and you’re not devoting hours to pulling information from multiple sources. However you choose to use competitive analysis, the feature helps you centralize important information, streamline reporting and compare communities with ease. With organized and centralized data at your fingertips, you’re equipped to make faster, informed decisions for your community’s benefit — decisions to help your community stand out from the crowd. Discover more and connect with our team If you’re new to RentCafe Senior CRM and would like a personalized demo, including a closer look at competitive analysis, reach out anytime. If you’d like to start with a high-level overview of the solution, explore our product...

Taking Charge Jul10

Taking Charge

Business credit cards, which enabled close to $700 billion of spending in 2022, are as much a fixture in commerce as the personal cards used by the vast majority of adult Americans. “Both merchants and consumers would be completely stuck without the little plastic cards, with slowed transactions and virtually no online purchases,” according to Block, a financial services technology provider based in San Francisco. Portrait of African-American male holding cell phone in one hand and credit card in other, making transaction, using mobile banking app during lunch at cafe. His working papers and tablet pc are on the table. Online payment and shopping concept. Corporate cards first emerged in the late 1970s – 30 years after the first personal credit cards – and became widely adopted about 20 years later. In 1998, 37% of small businesses reported using a corporate card; 67% did less than 10 years later. Enhanced by chip systems and other safeguards, business credit cards are now available in digital as well as physical forms. Broad value for businesses All types of business owners, from sole proprietors, freelancers, small and large businesses, to LLCs and corporations, use credit cards for supplies, office furniture or travel. Corporate cards are useful for building credit, earning rewards and keeping overhead low by enabling large purchases with special financing. Their issuers often offer sign-up bonuses, rewards points or cash back that businesses can redeem for a variety of purposes. Card issuers’ eligibility criteria for corporate cards, such as personal and business credit histories, are similar to those applied to individual applicants. Business cards typically come with higher credit limits than personal cards to accommodate larger incomes and expenses. Some issuers offer business owners extended periods of interest-free financing longer than the typical period for...

Introducing Rod Burkett

“I think as human beings, we have some built-in resistance to change. I think as businesses, we owe it to our customers to never become extinct. We have to change and be both proactive and reactive to all that internal and external forces that impact our business.” Yardi client Rod Burkett — a 2023 Changemaker — recently spoke these words in an in-depth interview with Senior Housing News (SHN). Burkett’s interview, much like all the interviews in the annual Changemakers series, features motivational stories, insights and advice applicable to senior living. We’re pleased to share a highlight of Burkett’s interview below, but you can head to his full interview with SHN for more insights. Yardi client Rod Burkett named 2023 Changemaker As chairman of Gardant Management Solutions, the 25th largest senior living operator in the country, Rod Burkett is an expert when it comes to driving strategic, effective change. He’s led the organization since its founding in 1999, and through his interview with SHN, Burkett shares what he’s learned along the way. SHN: Can you talk about a time when you tried to execute a change and things didn’t go according to plan? How did you pivot, and what did you learn as a leader? Burkett: Yes. The one example that really jumps out at me is maybe like a lot of management companies, as we got bigger, we added more resources. Like most companies, we have a regional approach, with regional ops, regional marketing, regional clinical, and so forth. We added all these resources as subject matter experts. The whole intention is to create more resources, more support for our communities but I think we didn’t create clarity because where is the decision being made? Are these people that are here to help? Are they making the decision? Is the local ED making the decision? Was all with good intentions, but the unintended consequences of confusion in decision-making. We talked about empowering that decision to be made at the local level. We talked about a good game. That was the change is to not let the gray area, lack of clarity who’s truly making the decision. We talked about it, but the talk didn’t work. I think where we failed was we didn’t truly embed that in our culture and so as we added more people, I think it just, we very often weren’t on the same team. It was them and us, corporate versus at the community level. We really had to take a step back and pivot and we truly had to embed this in our culture and it’s still a work in progress. We’ve been working at it for a couple of years. When I’m dealing with this local community, I’m on their team and we’ve created questions that we pose to all of our staff at every staff meeting. Little wristbands that talk about being on the community team. Regardless of how I identify myself, especially what subject matter expert I am, when I’m working with that local community, I’m on their team. Not only did we talk about it, we truly had to make it embedded in our culture and have each individual talk about it and what it meant to them. I would say that’s the one that really we spent the most energy and time truly making a change where we would create the decision-making at the local community level and have our staff truly saying, “We’re here to support you.” You’re the ones on the ground at the local community, and it’s taken a lot of effort to create that change. SHN: What is a word of advice for managing resistance to change? Burkett: I think as human beings, we have some built-in resistance to change. I think as businesses, we owe it to our customers to never become extinct. We have to change and be both proactive and reactive...

Navigating Pharmacy Partnerships

Today’s seniors have more clinical needs than ever before, which means medication management is more challenging than ever — and medication errors are more likely — in senior living communities. That is, when communities lack the integrated technology (such as Yardi EHR) needed to optimize coordination with pharmacies. Our latest white paper with Senior Housing News (SHN) covers more — exploring the vital connection between pharmacy and resident care and sharing why an integrated EHR solution is critical in optimizing pharmacy coordination. The resource was created to help operators navigate the ever-evolving world of senior living as it relates to medication management. We put together a highlight below with key points covered in the white paper, but we encourage you to read the resource in full for more insights! New white paper: Navigating pharmacy partnerships in senior living   While the need for pharmacy integration is related to a variety of factors, the pandemic has been the most significant. Specifically, since COVID-19 delayed many prospective senior living residents from moving into communities, a resident population already rife with clinical needs has grown more vulnerable. And with that higher acuity comes a host of new challenges in medication management, and thus the urgent need for pharmacy integration. That’s why we joined SHN to publish this pharmacy-focused white paper. It examines the medication-related challenges present in senior living today and guides operators on how to maximize pharmacy relationships and streamline medication management. It stresses the importance of implementing a single connected EHR solution. The white paper looks at: Key reasons operators are switching to digital record keeping Why electronic pharmacy coordination matters through 2023 and beyond Top benefits of a single connected pharmacy solution What makes Yardi software a differentiator Yardi EHR in action at Senior Lifestyle   In sharing the power of Yardi EHR, the white paper includes insights from Fil Southerland, our director of healthcare solutions, as well as Diane Dayne, director of clinical informatics at Senior Lifestyle — a dedicated Yardi client.   Read the entire white paper Be sure to read the white paper — Navigating the New World of Senior Living & Pharmacy Partnerships — for a closer look at Yardi EHR and its role in pharmacy coordination. If you have any questions for us about Yardi EHR or the Yardi Senior Living Suite in general, fill out the form listed here to schedule a personalized...

Meet Leigh Ann Barney...

Make way for another senior living Changemaker — Leigh Ann Barney, president and CEO of Trilogy Health Services. As a 2023 honoree in the esteemed series, Barney joined Senior Housing News (SHN) to discuss her experiences in the industry, her lessons learned and her best-kept advice for serving the next generation of seniors. We’re pleased to continue sharing interviews like Barney’s, proudly sponsoring the Changemakers series for the fifth year in a row. Read more about the Changemakers initiative for 2023. Leigh Ann Barney named 2023 Changemaker In navigating the many challenges the senior living industry has faced, Leigh Ann Barney has developed thoughtful strategies for how to pivot, change and grow. And according to her detailed interview with SHN, Barney believes more challenges and changes are on the horizon.   SHN: What are some ways that you think the senior living industry needs to change in the next five years? Barney: I think a lot of operators are thinking about this right now. Being in the industry for a long time, we all see the shift in clinical needs. People do not want to go into the highest level of healthcare setting if they don’t have to. Senior housing is becoming more clinically focused, and I wouldn’t say even as much from a treatment standpoint although that is part of what we do. It’s also the wellness component. People want us to be kept well as long as possible. They’re much more focused on that. I think as senior housing operators, we’re going to be offering clinical services to help people remain independent. We will try to keep people living the lifestyle they want they want to live for as long as possible, whether that’s independent living or assisted living or whatever meets...

Rental Readiness Jun24

Rental Readiness

With high demand for rental properties, standing out from the crowd is essential if you want to be a successful property owner or manager. Learning how to prepare a property for rental is one of the easiest to master, and is also a key still for those considering a career in the property management industry. Well-presented properties will naturally be far more attractive to potential renters than dark and dingy spaces. To present a property well, do not go overboard with decor or staging, but make sure the property is spotlessly clean before any showings. Carpets should be professionally cleaned, as should windows. Having spotless windows will provide ideal light. If your property has a yard or garden, you should make it presentable, trim back shrubs, weed the beds, and mow to make the property have curb appeal. If showing a single-family home, grab some vanilla extract and place it in the oven on low heat, which will work better than candles. The entire house will have that soothing smell. Thorough inspections are imperative. Before your renter moves in, take a walk-through, and analyze if there is any need for maintenance. Inspections have never been easier when using Yardi property management software. Using a phone or tablet, you can perform the inspection while inside the unit and log everything into the system. Take pictures, add notes, and pass or fail each item as you conduct the inspection. Once complete, the inspection is saved in the system for future reference. Staying on top of inspections and maintenance items can help keep the value of your assets high, increase renter satisfaction, and speed up the turn process, allowing you to maximize your rental income. Next, determine how much you will earn. When pricing your rental, you...

Recognizing Sarabeth Hanson

We’re excited to announce the next batch of 2023 Changemakers — innovative trailblazers in senior living — which includes three new honorees! If you haven’t seen our previous posts this year, in short, Changemakers is an inspiring interview series produced by Senior Housing News that we’re sponsoring for the fifth consecutive year. The Changemaker we’re featuring today is Sarabeth Hanson, CEO and president of Harbor Retirement Associates (HRA), an amazing Yardi senior living client. Enjoy a snapshot of Hanson’s interview below. Yardi client Sarabeth Hanson named 2023 Changemaker With dedicated experience as a leader at HRA, Sarabeth Hanson has driven positive change across the organization’s 36 communities. Currently operating as CEO and president, she brings over 20 years of senior living experience — and a passion for helping older adults — to her work today. In her interview with SHN, Hanson shares what her journey has looked like over the last several years — and shares what she’s focusing on looking ahead. SHN: How have you changed as a leader since starting in this industry? Hanson: I’ve changed so many ways since starting in the senior living industry, especially since I started in the senior living industry as a recent college graduate who went to school to teach elementary education in the second grade, and found that there was something missing in my fulfillment in that process and stumbled into a therapeutic recreation director position at a not-for-profit skilled nursing assisted living community, where I learned that I was called to serve seniors. I learned the beauty in seniors and really started to lead immediately following that process because that wasn’t a leadership process. I was a team of one, but quickly learned that you don’t have to be assigned to be a leader to be a natural leader. Quickly found that if I had good ideas and was willing to share them, that I could lead efforts that would really change the lives of seniors. SHN: Obviously, we at SHN think of you as a changemaker, but do you see yourself that way — are you always excited to drive change? Hanson: I am proud of HRA and the company that we have become because we’re a little disruptive in the industry. I would say that it excites me to make change in a positive way. You know what, if I sat next to you, Nick on an airplane, and you asked me what I did for a living, I would no longer tell you that I’m in senior living. I would tell you that I’m in the hospitality industry serving seniors. The difference there is when I said I’m in senior living, people wrinkle their nose like, “Oh, thanks so much. Oh, what a hard job.” But when I say it the other way around, they say, “Tell me more.” I want people to know more because we are no longer, at Harbor Retirement Associates, we’re no longer what people think of when they think of retirement living or senior living. We are truly focused on exceptional experiences. That is created through leading with hospitality and not leading with things that are expected like great care and medications given at the right time, but by exceeding their expectations through a hospitality approach and offering choice to our residents in a very safe environment. SHN: As you look across the rest of the senior living industry, do you think that it’s changing fast enough to keep up with the times? Hanson: Covid-19, I think threw a little bit of a monkey wrench into probably some growth because the industry, like everything else got sequestered and had to work through a very high-level clinical model. What we found through that exercise is that we are more clinically capable than we ever thought we were before and that we had ever expected to be. We always were a residential model,...

Congrats To Yardi Clients

We’re delighted to share that several Yardi senior living clients earned a spot on the 2023-2024 Best Senior Living list! Presented by U.S. News & World Report and now in its second year, the Best Senior Living list features communities across independent living, assisted living, memory care and continuing care retirement. If the Best Senior Living list is new to you, at its core, the list is inspired by a mission to help seniors and their families navigate the challenging process of selecting a community. For the communities who earn a place on the list, U.S. News includes detailed profiles with ratings and testimonials to educate and provide visibility in the senior housing space. To all who earned a well-deserved spot on the list — including our amazing clients — congratulations from us at Yardi! Yardi clients earn a place on the 2023 Best Senior Living list To establish the Best Senior Living list for 2023, U.S. News evaluated nearly 4,000 communities nationwide, analyzing survey data from over 250,000 residents and their family members. The top-rated communities for each level of care were deemed Best Senior Living honorees in their prospective categories, and that included nearly 1,700 communities in total. For certain senior living organizations, a large batch of their communities were recognized on the list — Yardi clients included! Explore the U.S. News Best Senior Living list to browse the communities recognized.   Want to see how Yardi clients are finding success with our senior living solutions? Get in touch with us. More on the Best Senior Living list You may be wondering what the survey entails when U.S. News reaches out to these senior living communities. In partnership with Activated Insights, they ask residents and family members to rate their experience on things to help guide prospective residents in their search — such as kindness of staff and quality of care.   In addition to publishing ratings and testimonials for communities on the list, U.S. News also shares the benefits and costs of different living options for all to explore. This provides fantastic visibility into communities across the nation and ultimately helps seniors and their families make informed decisions when searching for a place to live. Congratulations from Yardi Choosing a senior living community for yourself or a loved one is a difficult process. But with resources like the Best Senior Living list, it can be less overwhelming. We’re happy to highlight this year’s Best Senior Living list honorees, including our fantastic senior living clients! Read more about the Best Senior Living list for 2023. Ready to learn more about our senior living management software? Check out this Senior Living Suite infographic. Have questions or ready for a personalized demo? Once again, we encourage you to reach out to our senior living team...

Success With Senior IQ

When exploring technology solutions for your business, there’s nothing better than viewing direct testimonials from professionals in your industry. We understand the value of seeing how a product functions through a current client’s eyes — which is why we love creating success stories for you to enjoy, including those that feature our senior living solutions. So we’re excited to share our brand-new piece that shares the power of Yardi Senior IQ through the eyes of Syndell Lawhon, vice president of wellness at Vitality Living! From covering Vitality’s journey prior to this single connected solution, to sharing the success the organization has found since implementing it, Lawhon brings a wealth of insights to the table in her interview. Don’t miss this one — read the highlight below then visit the Vitality Living success story to see more. The Challenge: Siloed Data Vitality’s data used to be scattered across siloed solutions, requiring leaders to pull information and generate reports manually. Not only were these processes time-consuming, but they also prevented Vitality from unlocking insights regarding occupancy, falls and more — since data lacked the organization and presentation needed to reveal important trends. Not to mention, Vitality’s data wasn’t being updated in real time. Leaders sought a business intelligence solution that would present up-to-date, business-wide data in a visual format — all in one place. The Solution: Yardi Senior IQ Yardi Senior IQ is a business intelligence solution that surfaces real-time data in attractive, sharable dashboards. Designed for senior living providers and drawing portfolio-wide data from Yardi Voyager Senior Housing, Senior IQ provides the insights needed to act confidently and make smarter, faster decisions. The Story: Visualizing Insights, Driving Informed Decisions, Empowering Staff & Streamlining Workflows Before Senior IQ, Vitality didn’t have a seamless method for capturing and gathering important data. “Prior to us coming to Yardi, with the system that we used before, we couldn’t pull any of that data,” shared Syndell Lawhon, vice president of wellness at Vitality. “We had to do things manually.” Manually pulling metrics and organizing insights, they were limited to sharing only numbers with staff, owners and investors. Now with Senior IQ, Vitality has a visual representation of the same information — via custom graphs and tables — housed in one secure location. “Nurses are very visual people,” explained Lawhon. “When they can see the numbers in a graph pulled right up in Senior IQ, it clicks so much faster. Numbers on a piece of paper are not as powerful.” With intuitive dashboards, graphs and tables revealing trends that Vitality wasn’t previously capturing, leaders are gaining insights that move the needle like never before. “A trend is telling you something,” shared Lawhon. “There’s so much information in Senior IQ that you can dig into. There’s always something we’re finding on a daily basis — something else we know we could use.” With the ability to access real-time data in Senior IQ, Vitality can now make informed decisions regarding occupancy, care, staffing and revenue. And by giving care staff the tools to visualize important trends — Senior IQ helps Vitality empower those individuals, which boosts retention as a result. “Senior IQ helps us with nurse retention,” said Lawhon. “When you start getting data and looking at the bigger picture — how you can make things better for the whole community — not only does it make you feel empowered, it also elevates your skill set.” Vitality also left data digging in the past when they implemented Senior IQ. Instead of searching through siloed solutions and manually compiling insights to send to owners and investors, Vitality now unlocks actionable information at the click of a button. “I can go in Senior IQ and in two seconds, I’m able to pop information right out for that community and send it right along,” shared Lawhon. Read the full interview with Vitality Living   The snapshot above doesn’t cover everything Lawhon...

Goodbye Disparate Systems

For senior living operators, using fully-integrated, all-inclusive software — as opposed to disparate systems — has major benefits. From gaining new efficiencies to improving resident care, the benefits are further enhanced when operators choose a solution designed for the unique needs of senior living. That describes the Yardi Senior Living Suite, which supports a multitude of today’s operators like Scottsdale-based Westminster Village. And to show you exactly how Yardi tools work to build success, we recently interviewed Dan Poteet, Westminster’s chief information officer. Continue reading to get top insights from Poteet, who shares what’s possible when you leave disparate systems in the past. We encourage you to read the success story in full, too! About Westminster Village Westminster Village is Scottsdale’s premier non-profit Life Plan community. Located in Scottsdale, Arizona, it was founded in 1988 by a group of friends and neighbors who envisioned a community where people could continue their accustomed lifestyles and be assured of lifelong health care. Their idea was to assure dignity and independent living for people in their later years. The Challenge: Siloed Solutions Before partnering with Yardi, Westminster Village was operating using siloed solutions and manual processes. That combination was time-consuming and susceptible to errors, which prevented staff from working as efficiently as possible. Westminster leaders sought a single connected solution to streamline workflows at every level — and enhance resident satisfaction. The Solution: Yardi Senior Living Suite The Yardi Senior Living Suite combines resident care, marketing, sales, finance, business intelligence, operations and more on a cloud-hosted, HIPAA and SOX compliant software platform. Mobile, intuitive and efficient, the Yardi Senior Living Suite has everything you need to manage your communities and drive growth. The Story: Thriving With An Integrated Solution, Driving Efficiency & Enhancing Satisfaction Since moving forward with Yardi, Westminster now has one centralized system that offers everything needed to drive success. “This is a major improvement over having disparate systems not connected to each other,” explained Poteet. With RentCafe Senior CRM automating workflows, sales and marketing teams are equipped to work productively, stay informed and track leads with ease. “Having the ability to keep track of prospect touches and having auto-generated follow-up tasks has helped our marketing team stay better connected with prospects and the sales cycle,” shared Poteet. On the care side, Westminster saves time and reduces errors using Yardi EHR, since all resident data automatically flows over from Yardi Voyager Senior Housing. “Being able to do our home health billing and having it connected to Voyager is the most valuable feature,” said Poteet. With RentCafe Senior Living Portal and Yardi Payment Processing, residents and families access the convenience of online payments — which helps Westminster’s accounting team on the processing side. RentCafe Senior Living Portal also keeps residents, families and staff connected by displaying real-time updates relating to care, community activities and more. “The resident portal allows us to communicate and provide information to our residents and their families quickly and conveniently,” shared Poteet. Continue reading the Westminster Village success story Want to get in touch regarding the Yardi Senior Living Suite? Reach out to our team! We’re happy to answer questions or schedule a personalized demo at your...

Keys to ESG

Note: This article is adapted from an interview with Joe Consolo, Yardi’s industry principal for energy, that was published in PERE magazine. “ESG [environmental, social and governance] performance is becoming a key concern and differentiator for many real estate players,” PwC and the Urban Land Institute declared in their joint Emerging Trends in Real Estate survey report in 2022. Establishing ESG priorities to meet changing compliance and investor expectations complicates the already complex business of property management – but in today’s environment, property owners need to avoid the consequences of ESG obsolescence that can alienate investors and tenants and invite regulatory penalties. That’s why enhancing ESG performance with improved operations, technology and tenant behavior is critical to sustaining asset value. Obsolescence risks investor hesitancy Back when ESG factors weighed less heavily on property management, buildings become obsolescent because their design or amenities become outdated, causing the properties to lose market value. External factors such as the location or local job loss often also came into play. But in this era, failure to comply with energy efficiency standards and other ESG standards rank among the key drivers of property obsolescence – and real estate investment decisions. With laws governing environmental and construction standards “only becoming more stringent, there is a significant risk for the future if you barely meet those standards today,” Consolo says. Tech bolsters compliance Fortunately, property managers can undertake a number of initiatives to prevent ESG obsolescence and maintain attractiveness to investors and tenants. They include such relatively simple sustainable processes as encouraging tenants to recycle and switch off their lights at day’s end. Preventative equipment maintenance, such as changing filters, upgraded air handlers and other equipment and dealing promptly with equipment failure, also helps maintain peak ESG performance. Other actions that...

Yardi Acquires CloudVO Jun07

Yardi Acquires CloudVO

Yardi, the global leader in real estate software, announced the acquisition of CloudVO, the San Francisco-based online reseller of virtual offices, meeting rooms and other workplace services. Yardi’s listing service network includes sites such as CommercialCafé, CommercialSearch and PropertyShark, who have established prominent positions in the commercial real estate space. CoworkingCafé is dedicated to promoting coworking services, but all listing sites share the same database. Listing with one is listing with all, giving operators more exposure to anyone looking for coworking services than any other option. The Yardi listing network generates over 20,000 leads per month to participating commercial property owners and coworking operators.  “We have closely followed CloudVO’s progress for many years now, and it seemed that the time was right to incorporate their assets and intimate knowledge of coworking operators into Yardi. We are looking forward to continuing this journey with Laurent and his team,” said Rob Teel, Yardi president of commercial. Laurent Dhollande, CEO of CloudVO, commented: “We are thrilled that CloudVO is now part of Yardi. Our partners will benefit from the Yardi listing service with infinitely more reach and strength than CloudVO could provide on its own, with seven online listing sites that combine over 3 million visitors monthly. Our customers will be exposed to a larger inventory and better choices for their online bookings and purchases of workplace services, including meeting rooms, private offices and virtual offices.” As of June 1, CloudVO ceased to take new orders and clients are being redirected to CoworkingCafe. Phone answering services will continue to be provided by CloudAnswering, without interruption, and are not part of the assets sold to Yardi. CloudAnswering will stay as a member of the Pacific Workplaces family of...

Unlock Evolving Functionality

Did you know 65% of sales professionals use CRM? And out of companies using mobile CRM, 65% achieved sales quota compared to 22% of those without mobile CRM? Case in point, with the right CRM solution, senior living operators are equipped to advance sales and marketing efforts in more ways than one. But it’s important to find a solution built for the unique needs of senior living — one equipped with tools that evolve as the industry does. Fortunately, we have just the solution in mind. Meet RentCafe Senior CRM, our mobile-friendly single connected solution. Read on to see what this one-of-a-kind platform offers today’s senior living operators. The sales and marketing tools you need There’s so much functionality to cover when it comes to RentCafe Senior CRM, but at a glance, the solution helps you: Configure and automate the sales process to guide your unique selling approach View real-time census data, occupancy status, unit rates and amenity offerings Eliminate duplicate data entry with a united leasing and move-in workflow Lead with confidence using a platform integrated with multiple elements of the Yardi Senior Living Suite Generate, complete and upload documents to RentCafe Senior Living Portal, where residents and family members can sign electronically Reduce risks with a solution that is HIPAA and SOX compliant Access visual reporting with configurable, group-based dashboards and a wide selection of KPIs Drive efficiency with a convenient mobile app built for iOS and Android devices Enjoy the convenience of Yardi as your single support avenue Offer residents a seamless move-in journey RentCafe Senior CRM doesn’t simply help you during the early stages of the sales cycle. It offers tools to power the cycle from start to finish, including the time leading up to move-in (once a prospect commits to your community). At that stage, you access:   Up-to-date resident assessments A seamless leasing workflow equipped with rates, specials/discounts and approvals Easy-to-generate electronic leases The automatic attachment of documents to the resident record in Voyager Senior Housing And more! Evolving functionality like no other platform What else makes RentCafe Senior CRM a differentiator? To add to everything already mentioned, RentCafe Senior CRM offers: Inbound and outbound calling, texting and emailing Duration and engagement tracking Triggered activity follow-up Predictive analytics Automated prospect and referral correspondence Event management Third party API integrations Lead scoring An integrated solution built for senior living Of course, one of the biggest benefits of RentCafe Senior CRM is its ability to integrate with key elements of your business. While other CRM solutions may offer a few valuable features, they don’t always integrate with EHRs, financial platforms and everything in-between. As part of the Yardi Senior Living Suite, RentCafe Senior CRM connects with everything you need — saving time, eliminating errors and ensuring your teams have up-to-date information at all times.     Level up with RentCafe Senior CRM Wondering how else RentCafe Senior CRM helps operators reach new heights? Reach out to book a quick, personalized demo. And in the meantime, feel free to explore our RentCafe Senior CRM infographic!...

Meet Dan Madsen

Ready to hear from another 2023 Changemaker? Say hello to Dan Madsen, chairman and CEO of Seattle-based Leisure Care. We’re loving highlighting this year’s honorees — an empowering group of senior living leaders — as the series’ sponsor for the fifth consecutive year. Dan Madsen named 2023 Changemaker From spending 32 years in the senior living industry, Madsen is well-versed when it comes to taking risks, developing new strategies and driving change. In his interview with Senior Housing News (SHN), Madsen talks about his lessons learned over the years, as well as what he’s focusing on looking ahead. Read on for a highlight of Madsen’s interview: SHN: How have you changed as a leader since starting in this industry? Madsen: It was 32 years ago, or almost 33, I guess, and I’ve learned tons. Every year I continue to grow and learn as a leader, gaining a lot of empathy and understanding for people and their behaviors. One of the greatest things I think I learned was the tolerance of — mine as well, that all people have seasons. We have such longevity in our company that people have really good years, and then they have life that happens as well, and to continue to support them is really, really important. SHN: Can you talk about a time when you tried to execute a change and things didn’t go according to plan? How did you pivot, and what did you learn as a leader? Madsen: I think that it’s more internal than external. We continue to innovate, and it’s the acceptance in the field sometimes even at the general manager level to really support that change. That’s because it is general managers in the field in those positions who are dealing with their current...

Section 8 Challenges May30

Section 8 Challenges

Most housing assistance available through the Section 8 program is in the form of vouchers. Officially titled Housing Choice Vouchers (HCV), these monthly rent supplements are available to millions of qualified households across the United States to the elderly or who earn very low income in comparison with the median of their community. Jeff Bischoff Households who receive HCV’s may find an apartment they like, sign a lease for whatever the market rate is for that unit, and then pay a portion of the rent on their own. The remainder of the rent, up to a certain amount based on local market conditions, is paid to the landlord via the voucher supplement. HCVs are a great way to disperse renters throughout various parts of the community because they aren’t location based. They can be used to supplement rent payments in any unit that will accept the compliance mandates of the program. Therein lies the main challenge of the HCV program: getting more landlords to choose to rent to households who intend to use a voucher as part of their monthly rent payment. Work to solve this challenge is ongoing. Public housing agencies across the country are using strategies for their local landlords with varying degrees of success. Jeff Bischoff, Yardi’s Senior Director of PHA sales recently spoke about the topic. Read on to hear his thoughts on the challenges of HCVs, and some of the ways his clients are solving them. Tell us what you are hearing from clients about why landlords don’t choose to participate in the HCV program. Bischoff: Landlords seems to be concerned with potential delays in contracting and rent collection. Like every other industry, owners and property managers operate on tight budgets and timeframes. Worrying about losing a month or...