Nevada HAND

Readiness. Excellence. Growth.

By Erica Rascón on May 7, 2019 in People

Robert Colbert, VP of Assisted Living with Nevada HAND, has seen his fair share of clinical software. About 14 years ago, he started by making rounds as a registered nurse. Today, he is an executive of Nevada’s largest affordable housing provider. He has experienced software as a daily user in the field as well as a leader with his eye on the bottom line.

Colbert trusts Yardi to support the next chapter of growth for Nevada HAND. “Everything from operations to marketing to nursing, I believe that we have almost every one of your products,” he said.

Achieving Excellence

As Nevada’s largest nonprofit 501(c)(3) dedicated to the development, construction, management and preservation of affordable housing, Nevada HAND has assisted many thousands of Southern Nevada residents to have a place to call home.  Currently, Nevada HAND provides affordable apartment homes to over 7,200 adults, children, and seniors.  Nevada HAND owns and/or manages 34 properties with over 4,200 apartment homes.  Nevada HAND also has the only two affordable assisted living communities in the State of Nevada.

The leadership for the assisted living division has strong relationships with The Board of Examiners for Long Term Care Administrators and provides their communities as a precepting site for future licensed administrators and also sit on the Assisted Living Advisory Council to provide a voice for changing the senior living industry through policy and regulations.  Nevada HAND works with fellow industry leaders to develop best practices for senior care facilities throughout the State of Nevada.

In the field, their Westcliff Pines property received the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Platinum Award, the highest recognition level for environmental design and construction. The organization also received a US Green Building Council “Excellence in Operation” award.  Nevada HAND’s two assisted living communities were awarded the “Best of Las Vegas Gold Award for Best Senior Living Community” in 2017 and 2018.  “We were the only nonprofit affordable assisted living provider among 12 other final candidates.  They were all for-profit.  That speaks volumes,” Colbert said. “We care about our residents. We offer choices and beautiful accommodations, everything from the quality of our homes to how we deliver the services.”

Electronic Health Records

Achieving excellence on multiple fronts requires staff that can focus on the nuances of their work rather than administrative tasks. Colbert and his team sought an electronic health records (EHR) system that was easy to use, streamlined, and promoted clear communication across multiple channels. Nevada HAND chose Yardi EHR to meet its demands.

Yardi EHR empower caregivers with point-of-care access to residents’ data.  Using tablets, Nevada HAND caregivers log tasks such as care that is based on a resident assessment, treatment and medication orders, as well as have resident data at the tip of their fingers.  The ability to enter data immediately reduces errors and liability.  Mobile accessibility also eliminates data input redundancies and cuts back on paperwork.

“My goal in the clinical arena is to go paperless. It’s totally doable with the EHR,” says Colbert. “I think that all of the Yardi products work harmoniously together. And any client would be able to go paperless quite easily due to the way that all the modules work together and store the data.”

With built-in State-required assessment forms, caregivers spend less time on resident health assessments and time-consuming paperwork.  Compliance is automated, further mitigating risks and providing health care and medication information through secure online access.

“Going from other clinical applications, by far, EHR is one of the best products that I’ve been exposed to,” said Colbert.

EHR is intuitive and easy to use. As a result, caregivers quickly become proficient. “I like the Yardi products because they’re not complex when compared to other clinical applications. With Yardi programs, typically anyone at any educational level has an easier time understanding them,” said Colbert.

From an executive level, Colbert appreciates the incident reporting feature in EHR. It has made monthly workplace safety group meetings more productive and effective.

“We love incident reporting specifically because of the amount of data that you can extract from it,” he said. “Since we are really utilizing this module over the past 18 months, we’ve had zero claims.  So clearly, it’s our great employees, following our policies and procedures, but I think, the incident reporting module contributes to the overall success.”

Growing Forward

Nevada HAND has supported its growth with Yardi products. In turn, Yardi has developed robust, vertical-specific software with input from a revered and knowledgeable client. It is a relationship that continues to flourish.

“We’ve been utilizing Yardi for 12 years,” reflected Colbert. “And the organization will continue to. This year, we’re adding another senior site and multi-family site, and our portfolio will continue to increase, and we know that Yardi will be there right next to us.”