When you lack efficient leasing tools, turning senior living prospects into residents can be challenging. But how do you identify the best tools? Which solutions are built to last? Paper-based processes aren’t optimal due to the risk of manual errors and lost documents. Not to mention, they can be costly. Electronic leasing tools are much more efficient, especially when you opt for a fully integrated solution likes ours. With tools across the Yardi Senior Living Suite connecting on a single platform, you’re set to simplify move-in workflows, reduce expenses and make the prospect-to-resident journey seamless. To show you just how valuable electronic leasing tools are, we have a helpful cost analysis checklist in store. Learn more and get a glimpse at what the checklist offers below. What is electronic leasing? As part of an overall set of leasing tools, electronic leases are a digital version of the rental contract you already know. They replace paper leases and ancillary forms with secure, digitally stored files. But keep in mind that with the Yardi Senior Living Suite, you access more than just digital documents. We offer integrated electronic leasing tools that streamline every step of the move-in process. In short, you can easily generate custom leases in RentCafe Senior CRM, mark them for electronic signatures in RentCafe Senior Living Portal and automatically store completed documents in Voyager Senior Housing. Without electronic leases and an integrated workflow, on the other hand, you face: Perpetual operational costs Hours spent generating leases and ancillary documents Lost prospects who wish to sign forms remotely A halted sales cycle and decreased move-ins And more How to compare costs with our checklist Now that you know more about electronic leasing, we invite you to review our cost analysis checklist! It’s an intuitive...
Visit Booth 1219
At LeadingAge 2023
It’s almost time for the LeadingAge Annual Meeting and Expo, a one-of-a-kind senior living conference. Each year, the event offers an opportunity to network with likeminded professionals, gain fresh perspectives and discover innovative technology solutions shaping the industry’s future. Team Yardi is excited to attend, we invite you to visit booth 1219 to connect with us! We’ll show you the latest advancements in the Yardi Senior Living Suite, our single connected solution designed for the unique needs of senior living. We also have a special giveaway in store (spoiler alert, it involves delicious, Chicago-style popcorn). Get the details below — we hope to see you there. About LeadingAge 2023 Hosted at McCormick Place in Chicago, Illinois, this year’s LeadingAge Meeting and Expo is a can’t-be-missed experience packed with informative sessions. Focused on topics most relevant to the industry today, the sessions will offer impactful takeaways delivered by senior living experts. As LeadingAge puts it, it’s an event crafted to fuel your mission. The conference will span from November 5-8. If you’d like to explore what’s planned, preview the LeadingAge 2023 schedule. Meet with team Yardi & grab some gourmet popcorn Interested to see the newest innovations in the Yardi Senior Living Suite? Have questions for us? Wanting to simply come say hello? All are welcome at booth 1219 — we’ll be stationed there throughout the conference. If you’d like to schedule a specific time to meet, contact us and we’ll get something on the books. As mentioned, we’ve planned a neat surprise for our booth: gourmet popcorn! But it’s not just any popcorn — we’ll be offering snack bags from Garrett Popcorn Shops, a Chicago favorite. You can expect a combination of their staple flavors including CaramelCrisp, CheeseCorn, Buttery and Garrett Mix. Anyone who stops by is welcome to a snack bag, but we encourage you to stick around for a quick activity, too. We’ll have post-its available for you to write a short message sharing what you love about Yardi (plus a popcorn-themed board to stick your message to). If you’re new to Yardi solutions, you can also share what you love about the senior living industry — or what excites you about technology looking ahead. We hope you’ll pop in and participate! The popcorn and post-its will be available all hours the show floor is open on November 6 and 7. See you next week We’re looking forward to seeing you at LeadingAge 2023. If you’d like to get familiar with our dynamic senior living software before the conference, join an on-demand...
Optimize Community Wellness Programs
With RentCafe Wellness
Ready to effectively manage your community wellness programs? With RentCafe Wellness for senior living, you’re equipped with online activity calendars, attendance tracking and real-time information sharing — all accessible on a single platform — making it easy to optimize your wellness initiatives. Learn how RentCafe Wellness will take your wellness programs to the next level (and benefit your staff, residents and their families) in our infographic below. Schedule activities Manage RSVPs from residents and family members Flag registrations as required or optional and set fees as needed Track resident attendance and monitor changes in behavior Forecast staffing needs for each activity Create digital calendars Share calendars on your community’s RentCafe website and via RentCafe Senior Living Portal Offer a single calendar per community or multiple calendars categorized by care Easily designate which details remain consistent and which vary month to month Download and print calendars to display across your community Empower staff Unlock intuitive dashboards equipped with KPIs Generate analytic reports to assess an activity’s impact Plan and execute follow-up care using activity wellness information Save time thanks to simplified workflows Offer convenience Enable residents and families to sign up for activities, manage registrations and more from RentCafe Senior Living Portal and the mobile app Allow residents and responsible parties to submit monthly payments for paid wellness activities with Payment Processing Keep family members in the loop with real-time information sharing Ensure residents’ wellbeing is continuously monitored Help everyone stay connected from anywhere Learn more about RentCafe Wellness Let’s enhance your wellness programs together. Check out the full RentCafe Wellness infographic then select get in touch to schedule a personalized demo! Want to see RentCafe Wellness in action today? Watch this on-demand webinar....
Senior Living Webinar...
Changemakers + Team Yardi
The senior living industry is anything but static. Leaders are constantly challenged with new obstacles as the industry changes, prompting the need to get creative, develop unique strategies and keep a pulse on what disruption lies ahead. To help you assess what change is coming in 2024 — and learn thoughtful ways to navigate it — Senior Housing News (SHN) is hosting an impactful roundtable webinar this month! The webinar will feature an amazing panel including three of this year’s Changemaker honorees as well as a special guest from team Yardi. We’re pleased to sponsor the webinar and bring you fresh perspectives from each contributor. Explore the key takeaways to expect and get the registration information below. Get the details and meet the Changemaker panelists Not familiar with the Changemakers series? You can learn more in our recent wrap-up post here on the blog, but in short, it’s an inspiring interview series honoring a batch of senior living trailblazers. Yardi and SHN have partnered each year for the last five years to recognize these individuals, gathering their stories and advice for all to enjoy. With the 2023 Changemakers offering insights relevant to today’s operators, it’s only fitting they speak in the upcoming roundtable webinar. The webinar — Senior Living in Flux: C-Suite Changemakers Discuss a Transforming Industry — is set for October 18 from 1-2 p.m. CDT. In attending, you’ll have a front row seat to the panelists’ fresh ideas and viewpoints, learning exactly where they see the biggest potential for change in 2024. Get ready for insights from: Yardi client Earl Parker, Chief Executive Officer, Commonwealth Senior Living Yardi client Sarabeth Hanson, CEO and President, Harbor Retirement Associates (HRA) Sevy Petras, Chief Executive Officer, Priority Life Care Meet the special guest,...
Vitality Living Case Study...
Yardi Senior Living Suite
How does Vitality Living achieve more with the Yardi Senior Living Suite? Find out in our latest case study! Featuring in-depth insights from Vitality’s chief financial officer and vice president of wellness, the resource sheds light on Vitality’s major successes with our single connected solution. Sound interesting? Explore the snapshot of Vitality’s story below. The challenge For financial accounting, Vitality used to rely on manual processes and disparate systems — taking time away from priorities, generating errors and causing confusion among teams. From monthly ACH pulls to building financial reports, key tasks became increasingly arduous. Vitality searched for a dependable, integrated solution to serve as their source of truth and alleviate the challenges they were facing. In terms of gathering data and presenting insights, Vitality also utilized manual processes — as their data was scattered across siloed solutions. 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 After searching for a trusted technology provider known for creating integrated solutions on the cloud, Vitality began their journey with Yardi. Now, they’re driving success at every level with Voyager Senior Housing and Senior IQ. With Voyager, Vitality accesses automated accounting functions, real-time reporting and complete business oversight in one centralized location. “When you’re running a report in Voyager, you’re getting real-time data,” shared Nick Byrd, chief financial officer at Vitality. “The system is integrated with all of these pieces which allows us to get a true picture.” And thanks to...
Yardi Senior IQ
New Features, Fresh Enhancements
We’re thrilled to announce the newest features in Yardi Senior IQ — our dynamic business intelligence solution for senior living. From brand-new dashboards to improved reporting capabilities, each enhancement is available now! That means if you’re currently using Senior IQ, you can start enjoying the latest functionality right away. We roll everything out automatically to make the transition as easy as possible for our senior living clients. Ready to see what’s new? Read the highlights below to learn what this release brings to the table. Explore what’s new For starters, we’d like to thank our amazing senior living clients for providing feedback on Senior IQ. The following enhancements are inspired by what’s been shared with our team, and we’re pleased to continue evolving Senior IQ based on our clients’ wants and needs. First up, we’ve made it easier to use Senior IQ as a central location for gathering key data and generating reports — and to share that data with teams across your organization. Enjoy the ability to quickly reference miscellaneous reports and dashboards, displaying the KPIs most important to your organization, in routine meetings, variance calls, department check-ins and even at community stand-ups. Moving on, in relation to labor and staffing, we’ve added the ability to integrate your daily labor data. This allows you to analyze overtime — sorted by department and job positions — and identify areas for improvement. Next up, we have three new dashboards! Here’s a snapshot of what they offer: CRM success metrics dashboard — as the first of its kind, this CRM dashboard presents key metrics regarding occupancy, closing ratios, lead status, sales counselor performance and more. Leasing documents dashboard — serving as a usage check for those operating with electronic leasing, this dashboard captures...
Changemakers 2023 Concludes
New Ebook Released!
It’s a wrap on the 2023 Changemakers series, which we’ve proudly sponsored for the fifth year in a row. We’re delighted to have joined Senior Housing News (SHN) throughout the series to present the class of honorees — nine in total — sharing their insightful interviews here on The Balance Sheet. To mark the conclusion of the series, SHN released a compilation of exclusive interview excerpts in a brand-new ebook. You can download the ebook today to access unseen stories, insights and advice from each Changemaker. Once again, congratulations to each and every Changemaker honoree — Yardi senior living clients included! Yardi clients named 2023 Changemakers With the ebook available now, it’s only fitting we recognize our senior living clients for their interview contributions — and celebrate them for their role in this year’s Changemakers series. We’re so pleased to congratulate: Earl Parker of Commonwealth Senior Living Jodi Guffee of Radiant Senior Living Doug Dollenberg, Jr. of Brightview Senior Living Rod Burkett of Gardant Management Solutions Sarabeth Hanson of Harbor Retirement Associates Doris-Ellie Sullivan of Retirement Unlimited, Inc. About the series As the senior living industry navigates ever-changing challenges, owners, operators and executives are breaking the status quo to adapt and evolve. Leaders have created leaner operations, improved efficiency and transformed the way they do business entirely through technology adoption. Through it all, they continue to push the boundaries of what it means to be industry leaders and visionaries. Now sponsored by Yardi for the fifth consecutive year, the Changemakers series recognizes and celebrates the most innovative leaders in senior living today. Learn more about the annual interview series by SHN. Read this year’s Changemakers ebook We hope you’ve enjoyed the Changemakers series to date — we’ve certainly enjoyed sharing each honoree’s story with you. If you’re ready for bonus insights from this year’s Changemakers, explore the ebook. If you have any questions about how Yardi supports operators with our dynamic senior living software — don’t hesitate to schedule time to connect with...
National Assisted Living Week
Yardi Clients Host Celebrations
National Assisted Living Week (NALW) is here! If you’re unfamiliar, NALW is an annual initiative established by the National Center for Assisted Living (NCAL) that celebrates assisted living communities and the individuals they serve. The week-long initiative encourages communities to offer events in observance of a specific theme — announced by NCAL each year — for residents, family members, staff and volunteers to enjoy. The inspiring theme for 2023 — Season of Reflection — is all about pausing to reflect on the important things in life, including the special bonds created within assisted living communities. And to no surprise, our Yardi senior living clients are doing just that — encouraging thoughtful reflection through a variety of creative events and heartfelt messages across social media. We’re pleased to share a snapshot of what these fantastic clients have done so far, and we applaud each and every community celebrating NALW this year. Not only do the celebrations spark an appreciation for residents, staff and more — but they also help spread awareness on the importance of assisted living in the U.S. Yardi clients celebrate National Assisted Living Week Thrive Senior Living took to social media in spirit of NALW, sharing an informative video with helpful tips for choosing the right community. They also posted a sweet thank you message on LinkedIn to recognize their associates for changing the lives of residents across Thrive communities. “Thank you to all our AL staff for the helping hands you provide,” wrote Thrive in the post. Benchmark Senior Living joined the conversation with a thoughtful blog post focusing on the meaning behind NALW — and their devotion to this year’s theme. Sharing the blog post on LinkedIn, Benchmark wrote, “This year’s theme beautifully encapsulates what it means to feel gratitude for all we have and cherish each moment.” Read Benchmark’s blog post on NALW. Maplewood Senior Living also posted on social media in honor of NALW, sharing their excitement for the celebrations to come and noting the value of assisted living for today’s seniors. “We want to emphasize how assisted living can significantly contribute to seniors leading longer, healthier and more fulfilling lives,” shared Maplewood in the post. We can’t wait to see what else our clients have in store as NALW continues! Be sure to keep an eye on social media for additional posts. More about National Assisted Living Week Established by NCAL in 1995, National Assisted Living Week offers a unique opportunity to recognize the role of assisted living in caring for seniors, as well as individuals with disabilities. The annual observance encourages communities around the country to offer a variety of events and activities to celebrate the individuals they serve — and to help educate members of the public about this distinctive aspect of long term care. Each year, NCAL releases a variety of resources to help communities prepare for the week-long observance, including an extensive planning guide with suggestions for activities, media tips and more. Enjoy #NALW! To join the celebration and help spread awareness, be sure to use #NALW on social media! The observance spans from September 10-16. And be sure to check out the #NALW page on LinkedIn to see what’s been shared so far. From the bottom of our hearts, thank you to those across assisted living for all that you do — Yardi clients included. Not a client and curious to learn how we support communities with our dynamic solutions? Reach out to team...
Yardi Client Aegis Living
Debuts “Greenest” Community
Creating environmentally conscious, sustainable buildings is more important than ever. Yardi client Aegis Living knows just how important, considering they’ve created the world’s “greenest” senior living community — Aegis Living Lake Union. Opened in 2022 and located in Seattle, Washington, Aegis Living Lake Union is completely emission-free, using no fossil fuels. Considering the dedication of Aegis Living in creating this spectacular community, we simply had to spread the word here on The Balance Sheet. A round of applause for Aegis Living in creating a sustainable place for residents to call home! Read more about the initiative at Aegis Living Lake Union below. Aegis Living creates world’s greenest senior living community Aegis Living Lake Union is no stranger to sustainability. Relayed by McKnight’s Senior Living, the community’s environmentally conscious design is a commendable achievement — and an inspiration to others in the industry. Impressively, standard electricity supports the entire 70,000-square-foot building at Aegis Living Lake Union, which offsets 105% of the structure’s total energy demand. The community implemented a variety of energy reduction measures to achieve this, including an onsite solar array and offsite solar energy farms. When compared with similar buildings, the community has reduced its total energy draw by 25%. “When we embarked on the journey to create the world’s greenest senior living building, our goal was to set a new standard for what is possible, bringing an equal commitment to sustainable buildings and exceptional senior living,” Aegis President Adam Clark shares with McKnight’s Senior Living. “We made this dream a reality and hope to be a model for others serving our rapidly growing aging population.” In terms of recognition (and well-deserved recognition at that), Aegis Living Lake Union is one of ten developments that’s been selected for the 2023 Urban Land Institute Americas Awards Of Excellence — and it’s the only senior living community to be recognized. It’s also the first assisted living community to meet the global green building standards set by the International Living Future Institute. About Aegis Living Aegis Living is a leader in senior assisted living and memory care. With more than 25 years of experience, Aegis is known for its deep expertise in supporting residents along the continuum of care, innovative programming, a focus on purpose-built design and an employee-centric culture. With every community, Aegis creates a living environment where residents can feel at home and inspired to live life to the fullest. The organization is headquartered in Bellevue, Washington, and operates 36 communities in Washington, California, and Nevada. Connect with us Once again, congratulations to Aegis Living for this outstanding achievement. Be sure to read more about the environment-first approach at Aegis Living Lake Union via McKnight’s. If you’re wanting to know how we support clients like Aegis with our senior living management software, reach out to our team! We’d love to show you around the Yardi Senior Living...
Meet With Yardi
Fall Senior Living Events
With a variety of senior living events coming this fall, leaders have the chance to explore which technology solutions are driving the industry forward. We’ll be attending a handful to share what makes the Yardi Senior Living Suite — our integrated, one-stop-shop solution — stand apart from other technology in the senior living space. In that spirit, we’d love to connect with you if you’re attending any of the below opportunities! Read on for more details about our presence at each event. OHCA Annual Convention & Tradeshow Join your fellow senior living leaders at the Oregon Health Care Association Annual Convention and Tradeshow!You’ll find our senior living team at booth 309 — feel free to stop by anytime throughout the event, or schedule a meeting with us in advance. We’re excited to be the awards program co-sponsor as well. Date and location: September 19-20, 2023 Portland, Oregon BCSLA Annual Conference & Tradeshow Meet with us during the BC Senior Living Association Annual Conference and Tradeshow, an event centered around mental health and wellness, immigration, recruitment retention and leadership. You can schedule a meeting with team Yardi before the event, or simply come chat with us whenever you’d like. Date and location: September 24-26, 2023 Whistler, British Columbia NIC Data & Analytics Conference The upcoming NIC Data and Analytics Conference is the first of its kind for the National Investment Center for Seniors Housing and Care (NIC), set to gather data and analytics leaders in senior living to discuss important industry trends. We’re pleased to be a sponsor for this one-of-a-kind experience and our team will be in attendance throughout the event. You can book time with us here if you’d like to schedule a meeting! Date and location: September 27-28, 2023 Minneapolis, Minnesota...
Celebrating Doug Dollenberg, Jr.
Changemakers 2023
“I don’t get excited about change, per se, but I’m very comfortable with change. I fundamentally believe that change is an important part of the formula for business success.” That quote comes from Doug Dollenberg, Jr. — the final honoree in the 2023 Changemakers series by Senior Housing News (SHN)! It’s been a pleasure to sponsor the series for the fifth consecutive year, we’ve loved celebrating each senior living visionary recognized. Keep reading for a snapshot of Doug Dollenberg, Jr.’s interview, which is packed with insightful stories and advice. Yardi client Doug Dollenberg, Jr. named 2023 Changemaker For Doug Dollenberg, Jr., president and CEO at Brightview Senior Living — a dedicated Yardi client — change isn’t just inevitable, it’s necessary. Since joining Brightview in 2017, he’s led changes that have positively shaped the organization to be what it is today — and he’s learned valuable lessons through it all. In his interview with SHN, Dollenberg shares why he thinks change is essential in the senior living industry, and explains the importance of driving collaborative change. He also shares how his experience at Brightview has reinforced his passion for people and culture — and speaks to the organization’s plans for the future. SHN: What are some ways that you think the senior living industry needs to change in the next five years? Dollenberg: Staffing is one. Two, resident experience. Three, embracing technology and innovation. And four, rebounding margin. On the staffing front, turnover is a huge challenge in the senior living industry. It is in plenty of others, but especially in senior living. And we need to attract more people to the industry and help people realize that senior living is a great industry and a great place to build a career. There are tremendous career opportunities in our industry, and we’re only going to need more and more people over the next decade. There’s already something like a million people who know it’s a great industry, but we have to attract more people to it. I think it’s going to require creativity and innovation and change to get more people to enter our great industry. We also have to figure out ways for Brightview and for the industry as a whole to figure out how to increase retention. Another is resident experience. Our resident needs and desires are evolving, and we need to be focused on addressing that for the residents of today — and also the residents of the future. The baby boomers, they’re not really entering our communities in the next handful of years, but as you go out 5, 10, 15 years, we really have to be thinking about them. As we’re looking at today’s residents and future, we have to be looking at what are the changes that impact our operations and the communities we develop for the future. The third area that I mentioned is embracing technology, innovation and process improvement with the goal of driving efficiencies. I think that’s increasingly important in our industry, as we’re focused on margin. We have to search for and create efficiencies in our business, and so much of that is going to come back to those things that I mentioned: Technology, innovative and creative ideas, and process improvement. The fourth big change in my eyes is margin rebound. Ultimately, our industry needs to get back to the operating margins that we had pre-pandemic, whether that’s getting back to or near those pre-pandemic margins. That’s something that needs to happen, and that is the function of building occupancy, driving revenue, and managing costs. I feel the industry is working on that, which is a good thing. And personally, I feel really good about the progress that our Brightview team is making on that front. SHN: How do you think about timing so that Brightview can innovate without getting so far ahead of the market that...
Honoring Jodi Guffee
Changemakers 2023
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,...
Honoring Earl Parker
Changemakers 2023
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...
Spotlighting Yardi Clients
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...
Introducing Competitive Analysis
New RentCafe Senior CRM Functionality
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...
Introducing Rod Burkett
Changemakers 2023
“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
Senior Living White Paper
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...
Changemakers 2023
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...
Recognizing Sarabeth Hanson
Changemakers 2023
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
2023 Best Senior Living List
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...