Over the years, Yardi client Westmont Living has developed creative ways to honor esteemed residents. The tradition continues through the age of social distancing, requiring ingenious workarounds that still help residents feel appreciated and valued. Honoring Lt. Dever’s 105th birthday Westmont Mariposa at Ellwood Shores is home to veteran Charles “Charlie” Dever. First Lt. Dever enlisted in the Army Air Corps in 1941, and he served as a lead navigator in the 98th Bombardment Group flying B-24s during World War II. Devers lived independently until he was 103. He then joined the family at Mariposa at Ellewood Shores. The quiet life that he now lives gave no indication of the surprise that awaited him for his birthday. It began when Lt. Dever’s daughter, Kathy, emailed Vandenberg Air Force Base to plan a surprise for her father. In response, the 30th Space Wing leadership notified its members of the momentous occasion. Active Air Force servicemembers near and far penned more than a hundred thank you letters to the veteran. To deliver the letters and show their appreciation, Vandenberg staff, Kathy and Team Mariposa arranged a grand ceremony. Festivities kicked off with a color guard presentation and speeches by Westwood executive director Peter Bonilla and 30th Space Wing Commander, Anthony Mastalir. Mastalir presented Lt. Dever with a 30th Space Wing challenge coin and granted him honorary membership in the United States Space Force. Vandenberg leadership then presented Lt. Devers with an American flag. Party planners arranged a car parade that would allow friends, family and community members to safely show their support for the veteran. Dozens of cars streamed through the property, showcasing their decorations, cheering and sending well-wishes to Devers. During his speech, Commander Mastalir said, “While Charles will tell you that his years in...

It’s easy to attribute the successes of a company to exemplary individuals. Think Steve Jobs of Apple or Elon Musk of Tesla. But in truth, their accomplishments wouldn’t have been possible without those who supported them. Marc Vorkapich is quick to say that his people are the key to success. As the principal and CEO of Watercrest Senior Living, a Yardi client, he’s brought together a team of “servant leaders” who inspire trust from both residents and staff. It’s earned the company a Great Place to Work award, and it’s also caught the attention of Senior Housing News. They’ve given him the title of Changemaker for his history of nurturing strong leaders and promoting collaboration at Watercrest. When they asked him about the association between embracing change and taking risks, Vorkapich made it clear that although he may be in charge, his team gives him the confidence to see things through: “When a call for change derives from a desire to serve something greater than ourselves, any sense of risk is far outweighed by the depth of purpose. My risk tolerance is high, as my entire career over 27 years has developed by having faith that I and others surrounding me have been equipped for what lies ahead.” And during the pandemic, his commitment to teamwork and service has helped ensure that Watercrest can continue to provide great care. In this excerpt from his Changemakers interview, Vorkapich describes their COVID-19 response and offers his thoughts on how the virus may impact senior living as a whole. Do you see Covid-19 changing the senior living industry in lasting ways? If yes, how? One thing is certain, there is an increased awareness and understanding of the importance of having a highly competent operations management team laser-focused...

The senior living industry can be competitive, but it also has no shortage of experienced professionals ready to work together and share their hard-earned knowledge. This sort of collaboration has been needed now more than ever as the industry has had to adapt to new challenges. In search of best practices everyone could use, we interviewed clients who had steadily grown their senior living organizations. We asked them what issues they faced, what goals they pursued and how they leveraged technology in innovative ways. Their answers formed the basis for our How Do You? video series, which you can access and watch on our resources page. But not every piece of advice made it into the final videos. These senior living leaders had a lot to say, and we want to ensure there’s a place for all their insights to be discovered. So we revisited their interviews and pulled their answers together for a new white paper: How do you excel with senior living technology? Here’s a sneak peek at questions we covered: How do you | encourage move-ins? “It’s always ideal to know how close a lead is to moving in. Some leads are two months out. Some are three months out. Some are years out. Understanding that allows us to input a call-out in two years maybe or a follow-up that works for them. We’re not that typical marketing person who’s going to bombard them every week.” – Nicole Graham, Licensed Administrator How do you | improve resident care? “By electronically charting as you go along, it cuts the background stuff out of the process of taking care of a resident. All of the time that they would spend trying to figure out when to chart and what to chart is gone....

Charlie Trefzger is no stranger to change. Already this year, as president and CEO, he oversaw the rebrand of his company from Affinity Living Group to ALG Senior. At the same time, he reorganized his company’s operational structure. ALG communities now have more autonomy in how they operate, able to make decisions and take action without a set directive from headquarters. That’s not to say that Trefzger and his team don’t support their communities, however. When the coronavirus first started making news, they instituted change after change to ensure resident safety. They reacted fast thanks to having prepared well in advance just for this sort of emergency. “We implemented a pandemic flu policy some time ago. Since, we have tailored it to the COVID-19 policy, which is founded upon the CDC guidelines,” said Trefzger. “We’ve been drilling and practicing that for a good portion of the last year, and Lord have mercy, here we are right now dealing with it.” In recognition of the transformations Trefzger has driven, Senior Housing News has inducted him into the 2020 class of Changemakers. Read on to learn what steps ALG took to slow the spread of COVID-19 and how he believes the pandemic will impact senior living going forward. What have been the biggest changes that ALG Senior has made since COVID-19 hit in mid-March? Gosh, what hasn’t changed? There have been so many things that we’ve had to adapt to, such as visitation; narrowing our network of health care professionals; gathering data and having a greater reliance on data; the screening of our employees; using technology, both for visits as well as data-gathering and for activity programs; the need to address loneliness in our residents and trying to be innovative with visits. Probably our biggest change...

Argentum’s largest event of the year is back. And this time, it’s virtual. The Senior Living Executive Conference, originally scheduled for the spring, is now set for September 22-24. Out of consideration for safety, Argentum leadership made the choice back at the start of the pandemic to go virtual, but they’re committed to making the experience as valuable and insightful as it’s ever been. “Through the virtual event, we can continue to educate and advance the industry on important matters through a medium more accessible and convenient given the extraordinary circumstances we are facing as an industry and as a country,” said James Balda in an email announcing the decision. “We can incorporate much of what we are learning as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as focus on what support the industry needs to get through — and eventually beyond — this crisis.” Argentum is offering 30 hours of programming across the three-day live event. From big general sessions with C-suite panelists to smaller breakouts across multiple tracks, there are plenty of opportunities to come together. Those include sessions with best practices and lessons learned for COVID-19. Plan on attending? We hope you do. We’re sponsoring the registration this year, and we’re also hosting a special Zoom Room discussion about business intelligence that you don’t want to miss. Join us for our virtual session Today’s communities require data that combines real-time financial, clinical and marketing intelligence. How can technological advances in BI help? Richard Nix and J.R. Southerland from the Yardi Senior Living team will discuss emerging technologies and how they could impact your community, including your operational processes, resources and residents. We plan to highlight Yardi Senior IQ, our new BI tool built for senior living. The solution offers hundreds...

The pandemic has brought change to senior living like nothing else before it. But through it all, the industry’s commitment to care has never wavered. In fact, many caregivers have gone above and beyond to keep their residents healthy and happy. In honor of these heroes, NCAL has announced “Caring Is EssentiAL” as the theme for this year’s National Assisted Living Week, set for September 13 -19. Established in 1995, National Assisted Living Week provides an opportunity for residents, loved ones, staff and the broader community to recognize the role of assisted living in helping seniors and those with intellectual disabilities. By encouraging senior living providers nationwide to host special events and activities all week long, NCAL plans to celebrate residents and caregivers together as well as educate the public about long-term care. The annual observance will have to adapt to COVID-19 restrictions this year, but despite the hurdles, the staff of senior living deserve to be recognized for their incredible work. And although the event many not look quite the same on the surface, the spirit of celebration will still be there. Socially distant activities for National Assisted Living Week Each year, NCAL puts out a planning guide for National Assisted Living Week with event ideas to inspire providers. This time around the suggestions focus on ways to have fun even with the extra safety protocols in place. Here’s a quick rundown of what they recommend: Celebrations: Try an end-of-summer ice cream delivery, schedule a family car parade and get creative with a dress-up day. Music: Host a hallway singalong, invite musicians among the community to share their gifts or stream a recorded concert. Exploration: Encourage virtual museum visits, share live webcams of zoo animals and “tour” favorite destinations through photos. Connections: Organize...

Senior living providers have a lot to manage in their communities, including engaging residents, dispensing medical care, interacting with families and meeting compliance obligations. Also, like other businesses, they process a constant stream of invoices for material and service purchases. Executing all the various accounts payable tasks manually is time-consuming. Could this burdensome aspect of senior living management be easier, faster and less prone to error? Yes, says Carmin Tomassi, vice president/controller for Silverado, and in a free Sept. 17 webinar he’ll share tips for better AP execution from the Irvine, Calif.-based provider of memory care assisted living and hospice services. Hosted by Senior Living Foresight and moderated by its publisher, Steve Moran, the 35-minute session will also feature Kim Hensley, manager of procure to pay for Yardi. As a Changemakers participant and Yardi client success story subject, Silverado has already offered insight into the cost, time, accuracy and scalability advantages of automated AP. At one point, for example, Tomassi’s staff wrestled with stacks of invoices in various stages of action, endured lengthy approval and reconciliation processes, and juggled no fewer than 12 different systems. Yardi PayScan scans Silverado’s invoices into electronic transactions and automates approval workflows through vendor payment in a single connected system. The solution helped Silverado cut costs with paperless processing, and it enforces consistent standards, minimizes errors and ensures timely vendor payments. Today, Tomassi says, Silverado has “a level of information that we didn’t have before. Now we can act on that data and do something about it. [PayScan] helped our accounting department improve their processes, like really getting people to pay attention to how they’re coding invoices.” Ready to banish your biggest accounts payable headaches, just like Silverado and many others did? Register for the Sept. 17 webinar. It...

Implementing a new EHR system is not a job for one person alone. Especially when you include a medication management solution, complete with pharmacy interfaces. You need a well-coordinated team with the right partners to make sure the rollout is a success. Case in point: Silverado of Irvine, California. The organization specializes in senior care with an emphasis on memory care assisted living, as well as hospice. Silverado’s philosophy of care pursues “a symbiosis of top-notch clinical care and compassion that recognizes each client, resident or patient’s uniqueness.” After years of growth on ALMSA eMAR, Silverado was interested in upgrading to further support their nurses. Since they were already a Yardi client, leadership sought a solution that would not only integrate with Yardi Voyager but also provide advanced clinical capabilities for residents across the continuum of care. The Solution: Yardi EHR and Yardi eMAR Yardi EHR is an electronic health record solution designed for assisted living, independent living, memory care and skilled nursing. The single-vendor solution combines clinical intake processing, resident assessments, care planning, wound treatment, behavior management and more in a browser-based platform optimized for mobile devices. Yardi eMAR simplifies medication administration through an online solution that interfaces seamlessly with pharmacy partners. Advanced drug database and clinical support functionality also helps expedite order entry and promote compliance. The Story: Collaborating for Improved Clinical Outcomes Silverado leadership understood the importance of allocating resources to ensure successful continuity of care, resident safety and compliance. They knew from the start to accomplish these goals would take a collaborative effort. Based on their experience working together, Yardi was selected as the right partner, and a pilot began in early 2018. “Our pilot went extremely well,” said Beth McCurdy, senior director of clinical informatics at Silverado. Nursing staff...

Over the past half year, senior living teams have been working tirelessly to keep residents safe, engaged and happy. Although the pandemic has created many new challenges for the industry, it’s been incredible to see how many people have stepped up to help. In honor of these courageous, masked caregivers, the Oregon Health Care Association are “Celebrating Health Care Heroes” as the theme for their biggest event of the year: the OHCA Annual Convention and Trade Show. Of course, the event, always well attended, is making changes to protect the health of members and their residents. It’s now a live virtual experience, scheduled for September 15 and 16 with pre- and post-event activities as well as on-demand education available afterwards. The event may be different than what you’re used to, but there’s a lot to be excited about: Live-streamed keynotes and sessions, including tracks on leadership, clinical, nursing facilities, quality improvement, COVID-19 and more Networking opportunities to connect with other attendees and presenters through interactive live discussions and Q&A chats The OHCA Awards ceremony where deserving staff are recognized for their dedication to the care profession Yardi is proud to sponsor the awards ceremony this year. Now more than ever, it’s important to honor those who go above and beyond for others. As this year’s theme makes clear, these hard-working individuals are true heroes. Visit Yardi on the virtual trade show floor During the event, you’ll also be able to stop by our booth to see what’s new with the Yardi Senior Living Suite. We’ll have plenty of resources to download, products to showcase, plus a giveaway for a lucky few! And if you want to talk with us face to face, there’s even a video chat option. We’re grateful to each and every...

Two unlikely forces are improving dementia care in Sweden. A member of the royal family is collaborating with a ready-to-assemble home supply store. Together, they’ve reimagined senior housing development in a way that is affordable, sustainable and chic. The collaboration couldn’t have come at a better time. By 2040, nearly one in four Swedes will be 65 years or older. While long life expectancy is a good problem to have, the government desperately seeks affordable ways to fund care for its aging population. Queen Silvia has taken a personal interest in the nation’s senior care. After losing her mother to Alzheimer’s, she became more involved in dementia care initiatives. BoKlok, an affordable and sustainable housing partnership between Ikea and Skanska, captured her attention. The three powers began a multi-decade endeavor to develop an affordable approach to housing the nation’s elderly while keeping quality and sustainability at the forefront of their efforts. SilviaBo: affordable, sustainable housing Together, BoKlok and Queen Silvia created SilviaBo, senior housing developments that rose to the demands of affordability, quality and comfort. They are designed to allow seniors to age in place rather than nursing homes. “To take care of elderly people, that cost is exploding,” BoKlok CEO Jonas Spangenberg told CNN Business. “It’s much cheaper for society and the public to give them service back home.” To date, SilviaBo includes 11,000 prefab homes with communities in Sweden, Norway and Finland. Their success has relied on the Ikea model for mass production. To keep costs low, the homes are produced in high volumes in warehouses, succinctly packed and then shipped to the site. Ikea and Skanska also took responsibility for the supply chain from start to finish: land acquisition, production, assembly, marketing and leasing all take place under the BoKlok umbrella....

The past decade has been one of extensive change for the senior living industry. In the wake of the Great Recession, many organizations reorganized and consolidated to adapt. The following years saw steady growth and new construction. Now, in the present day, the pandemic is driving transformation and action at a never-before-seen pace. John Cochrane, president and CEO of non-profit HumanGood, has led his company through all of it, adjusting course when needed to better serve their communities. In his Changemaker interview with Senior Housing News, he opens up on his experience. “In a curious way, I think that the economic crisis was a turning point for the industry, and certainly for our company, in creating urgency and creating the need for clarity and accountability,” Cochrane said “That’s where a lot of what we’re doing today started, more than 10 years ago.” With its impact on the industry, COVID-19 has made it clear that speed, transparency and accountability are necessities. Keep reading to discover how HumanGood responded and what Cochrane and his team are doing to successfully adapt to disruption. First, this year has brought unprecedented change. How has HumanGood responded? The pandemic has changed the world, bringing new challenges on how to protect our communities, team members and residents. Operationally, we have sharpened our focus on infection control protocols, communications and technology solutions. The pandemic has shined a big spotlight on our ability to operate safely while continuing to provide an on-brand experience in this dynamic environment. One of the biggest changes we have made, and continue to refine, is to tracking and testing for COVID-19. The ability to trace and test will impact our industry’s ability to provide the services, and care, that can help our residents and team members live their...

Yardi Senior IQ has been out for a few months now, and it’s already seen a huge amount of interest from the industry. As clients have gotten into the swing of things, their feedback is helping make the business intelligence solution even more useful for senior living. The latest release, Senior IQ 1.6, is now live. To make the upgrade process easier for our clients, Yardi is switching away from manual installs for new Senior IQ plugins. Yardi can now take care of things automatically, so you get the latest features as soon as they’re ready. Check out these highlights of what’s new in Senior IQ: Home page redesign The home page has a new look to ensure the first data you see after signing in is clear, relevant and actionable. The portfolio statistics at the top have been replaced with three customizable tiles. You can sort KPIs for all your communities by different attributes like property owner, care level or region, and your occupancy percentage and census are also available at a glance. Below the tiles, the community section now sports a tabbed format. You can easily switch between the table grid and map, depending on what you’re most interested in seeing. We’ve added display settings as well that let you customize the density and layout of your data. To top it off, you can now export the community grid to an Excel spreadsheet. Tool tips With the abundance of KPIs, tiles and widgets available in Senior IQ, it’s important to know what each does when you’re reviewing or building out your dashboards. That’s where the new tool tips come in. Hover your mouse over the familiar blue information icon on a widget or measure to see a quick explanation of what it’s...

The recent surge in coronavirus cases is nothing but troubling, but examples of positivity continue to spring from many senior living communities. In between the extra safety steps and social distancing measures, they’ve shown there’s a lot to be happy about and thankful for. Read on for our next roundup of good news from Yardi senior living clients. We even have some closure on a story from last time. Enjoy! Life imitating art imitating life Back in March, the Getty Museum asked people online to recreate pieces of famous art using everyday objects and attire. Since then, thousands around the globe have taken part, including residents of American House Senior Living communities. With group activities temporarily stopped for safety reasons, the creative challenge gave residents another way to liven up their days — in style. “This was a great program for social distancing, as each resident could participate without ever leaving their rooms,” said Darcy Santos, corporate director of life enrichment for American House. “Some of the life enrichment directors provided the residents with books or links to famous works of art online, but each resident decided on how they wanted to create their masterpiece.” You can check out all the incredible photos on McKnight’s Senior Living. Safe, self-contained meeting spots Tablets and video calls are keeping many residents connected with family members, but nothing can fully replace the in-person visit. To help bring loved ones back together, PARC Retirement Living in Vancouver came up with a clever solution: pre-fabricated pods with separate entrances and a glass barrier to facilitate safe face-to-face conversations. “At first people weren’t sure — when the pods arrived there was no signage. It was just this bright orange trailer, and they said ‘I’m not going to use that. It’s...

Growth may be a good problem to have, but you still need a way scale efficiently and effectively. Especially when it comes to accounts payable. As the number of communities in your portfolio grows, so too does the number of vendors to manage and invoices to process. Based out of the Pacific Northwest, Cascadia Senior Living and Development creates and operates innovative independent, assisted living and memory care communities. They started in 2014 with one community, and their commitment to providing excellent care has since helped them expand to 13 communities across Washington and Oregon. For Cascadia’s AP team, things eventually hit a point where their original workflows weren’t sufficing. “Basically, some of the processes that we had in place when we had one community didn’t scale for when we had 13,” said Michael Shefter, CFO of Cascadia. “We had an employee here, our accounts payable manager, who would stuff envelopes for all the checks that we had to cut for our communities.” Cascadia receives roughly 1500 invoices a month, so the time it took to process them all was significant. Already a Yardi client, Cascadia turned to Yardi Bill Pay for the solution. Keeping check cutting in check Part of the Yardi Senior Living Suite, Bill Pay outsources the process of paying vendors to Yardi. The Bill Pay team takes a client’s invoices, routes them through the approval workflow and pays the vendor by ACH, credit card or check. In Cascadia’s case, they decided to have Yardi physically print and mail the checks. The process for getting started with Bill Pay was painless, since it integrates with Yardi Voyager Senior Housing and any already established workflows. Cascadia began with one test community in early spring. “We rolled Bill Pay out with a check...

The pandemic has impacted every segment of the housing industry, but it poses an even higher risk for the most vulnerable in our society. Safe, secure and stable housing has never been more essential. David Block is the director of development for the Evergreen Real Estate Group, which builds, acquires and manages affordable and market-rate multifamily communities across the Midwest. Their portfolio comprises a large number of independent senior living communities, and the company has excelled in adaptive reuse. That is, converting older buildings like hospitals into subsidized communities for those in need. Welcomed by local agencies and appreciated by residents, these unique projects have also caught the attention of Senior Housing News. They’ve given Block the title of Changemaker and interviewed him for his insights on innovative housing solutions as well as the company’s COVID-19 response. Keep reading for excerpts from the talk. Has the COVID-19 pandemic affected Evergreen’s senior housing business? Do you think that it could lead to any longer-term changes in senior living? It’s been all hands on deck for our entire team. We have a portfolio of about 10,000 units [including] total units that we own, units that we manage for others, and of that, I think a little more than half are seniors. Our property management side has been working very hard to make sure that the senior sites, in particular, are secure. We’re not limiting visitors yet because these are, by and large, independent living facilities. They’re apartment buildings. They’re not health care facilities like those that have been hardest hit. We’re certainly sending out information to our tenants. We’re making sure that our staff are trained in the hygiene and the protocols that are out there to try to slow the spread of this virus. We’re...

Testing kits, sanitization materials and personal protective equipment are essential tools in the battle against COVID-19 for senior living providers. Unfortunately, these resources are ballooning budgets for organizations already operating on thin margins. So as talks of further coronavirus relief packages continue in Congress, a coalition of senior living associations are pushing for direct aid to help cover these costs and ensure resident safety. AHCA/NCAL, Argentum and LeadingAge have taken a clear position: Billions of dollars in relief have already been given to health care providers, including skilled nursing facilities, but private-pay assisted living has so far seen no financial support. Their call for aid is being echoed by lawmakers too. Rep. Kay Granger recently wrote an editorial on The Hill requesting the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to provide help and resources to senior living facilities. “The administration did a good job of prioritizing nursing homes early on in the pandemic so that they could get the personal protective equipment (PPE) supplies they needed. But many of our elderly don’t live in nursing homes; they live in senior living facilities, like Sagora Senior Living in my congressional district,” Granger writes. “We need to focus on getting resources to help these vulnerable Americans. And we need to do it now before it’s too late.” To facilitate a potential distribution, the senior living group built an online portal where providers could enter their information. The data is now being packaged for the HHS, which has been allocated COVID-19 relief funding from the CARES Act passed in March. The associations want to stress that there is no guarantee the funds will be received, but the effort does bring the private-pay industry one step closer to seeing it happen. And although the current deadline...

For EHR systems, workplace training is essential. The software helps nurses deliver quality care, so it’s important that they become proficient in electronic charting and medication order management. Once they’ve learned the ropes, they get to spend more time with residents and less on technology. But when things change rapidly, as the case has been with COVID-19, it can be difficult to conduct enough hands-on training to bring staff up to speed, so it’s smart to provide extra learning resources to ensure they have the information they need, right when they need it. As a recent example, one senior living client of ours had the idea to create handouts for agency nurses who are supporting staff during the pandemic. Some of these new nurses were unfamiliar with Yardi EHR, so they were resorting to charting on paper. To get the nurses on track, the client created a two-page handout, featuring screenshots and instructions, that outlines what to do at the start, during and after a shift. It effectively guides the nurses through the essentials of a shift in Yardi EHR, and it even offers some troubleshooting in case they get stuck. The handouts have proven successful as a support tool across their communities. In that same spirit, we’ve created over a dozen job aids for Yardi EHR and Yardi eMAR to facilitate learning and help your staff be more productive. Each document covers one task (like adding new orders or updating a physician’s contact information) in clear, easy-to-follow language that caregivers can reference if they’re new to the process or just not quite sure about the steps. Here’s a quick rundown of what our new Yardi EHR and Yardi eMAR job aids explain: Adding, verifying and linking orders (both medical and non-medical) Navigating a...

Doing things differently is part of what separates Changemakers from the pack. At Priya Living, Founder Arun Paul fully lives up to that expectation. He’s built Indian-inspired independent living communities that bring together not just older adults but people of all ages, races and religion. “When the young people would come in, we started hearing those comments like, ‘This place, we love it. Could we live here if we wanted to?’ We said, ‘We have vacant units, and we need to fill them. Yes, sure. Why not?’” said Paul. Priya Living now has three communities in California with a fourth on the way. They’ve instituted an a la carte model for services, where residents can use their smartphones to request food, care, transportation and other necessities. This willingness to try new approaches has also helped them adapt safely to the pandemic. They were taking steps in the first week of March to prevent the spread of infection, and so far no one in their communities has contracted the virus. In this excerpt from his Changemakers interview with Senior Housing News, Paul describes how COVID-19 affected their business and how they’ve responded to keep residents healthy and happy. How have you had to change operations due to Covid-19? We put a pause on programs and activities and enhanced disinfecting, cleaning and restricted visitation. We did that starting March 6, and then March 16, the Bay Area implemented a region-wide shelter in place. We’ve been fortunate. Knock on wood, we haven’t been impacted in terms of any cases in communities. Do you think Covid-19 will lead to lasting changes in how Priya operates? After that initial phase, we started to look at how we could start to bring our programming back, but use digital distribution for...

Leaders in senior living know that you need to take steps to stay ahead of change, even when things might seem normal in the moment. The earlier you act, the better off you’ll be. That idea is a core practice for Richard Hutchinson, CEO of Discovery Senior Living. Throughout his decades’ long career, he’s taken innovative approaches to sales and data that have produced measurable results. And when the coronavirus first began making headlines in January, he started procuring as much PPE as he could for his communities, well before local health authorities were raising alarms. For these reasons and more, Hutchinson was recently recognized as a Changemaker by Senior Housing News. The interview series, sponsored by Yardi, highlights leaders across the industry who are helping to shape the future of senior living. In the excerpts below from his interview, Hutchinson shares his take on how the senior living industry faces change and what it means to be innovative. He also talks about Discovery’s proactive measures to keep residents and staff safe from COVID-19. You’ve mentioned that the industry is set in its ways, and also that the consumer is changing rapidly. Do you think the industry is changing fast enough? No, I don’t think so. I don’t know that many industries are changing fast enough, and it’s the pace and the tempo of consumer behavior and the way the consumers not only want to purchase things incrementally, but generational changes and technology changes, that make it difficult to keep pace. The fundamentals of our industry have been great, so [we have] the good-bad equation. The good news when you have such a great supply-demand equation is that you’ll end up with people who can replicate other people’s product and services and do quite...

Does the thought of Medicaid billing illicit groans from your staff? That’s understandable. Manual billing is time consuming, frustrating, and often riddled with errors.  Fortunately, you can boost staff morale and productivity with automated billing for Medicaid. Claim submission woes can lead to high turnover Medicaid provides consistent and vital funding for senior care. But the variables in filing processes and reimbursement can cause headaches for staff. Complicated filing practices can result in costly errors, wasted time, and delays in reimbursement. Those frustrations are just the beginning of more troubling issues. As employee frustrations add up, turn over increases. High Speed Training of West Yorkshire reports on the top five reasons for high company turnover.  A lack of innovation and overworked employees are two factors that drive employees out the door. When companies fail to adapt innovative practices and technologies to support their staff, the staff suffers. Staff members are unnecessarily burdened with inefficient, redundant, unfulfilling work and stress. As a result, turnover rates soar, and organizations fail to reach their potential. Simplifying Medicaid claim submissions Claim submissions are a pain point that developers with Yardi Senior Living have heard about for years. A game-changing solution is now available. Yardi Claims Manager, the newest update to our Yardi Voyager Senior Housing platform, streamlines and simplifies the claims submission process. With Claims Manager, you can: Get Organized Manage all Medicaid claims in a single, secure database. There is no need to shuffle between multiple software programs or websites. Improve efficiency Electronic submissions eliminates the need to sort, scan, and house files. All documentation is securely stored in Yardi. It’s easy to create, submit, store, and reconcile files. Improve accuracy State-specific billing templates make it easy to fill out claims with the information needed in your unique...

Although a few states have begun relaxing visitation restrictions for assisted living facilities, the pandemic isn’t over yet. So senior living providers have continued to follow stringent protocols for protection. They’re doing all they can to keep residents healthy – and happy. Here’s another roundup of clients with uplifting stories to brighten your day: Festivities for Father’s Day Since families were unable to celebrate Father’s Day in person with their loved ones, staff at Merrill Gardens went above and beyond to make the day special for the dads in their communities. Employees in Monterey created little gift bags, provided lunch and hired a live jazz band to brighten things up. Staff at other communities, including Willow Glen and Madison, did their own versions of gift baskets as well. Check out Merrill Gardens’ blog post for the Father’s Day photos. Bringing families one step closer Over the past few months, many senior living communities have implemented their own version of window visits or visiting stations with barriers to protect residents. Aegis Living has taken the idea one step further by designing “outdoor living rooms,” complete with comfy chairs and decorations, to go with the plexiglass shields. “With each passing week of residents being physically separated from loved ones, we knew we had to find a better way,” said Kris Engskov, president of Aegis Living. “Design consulting and support from infectious disease experts and physicians helped us create these beautiful, new Outdoor Living Rooms to bring families together again – safely.” Horses with hats pay a visit While there’s no replacement for a family member dropping by to say hi, there’s no stopping a smile if horses in a clown hat and tiara walked up to your window. At Maple Wood Alzheimer’s Special Care Center, that’s...

Will my loved one be happier and healthier in senior living or at home? It’s a question many families are asking themselves now during the pandemic. They’ve seen headlines about case numbers, but they also know they can’t provide the care and attention needed by themselves. “If COVID has taught us anything, it has taught us that we are health care, but it doesn’t mean that we have to be health care in the traditional sense of a hospital or a nursing home,” said Brenda Bacon, president and CEO of Brandywine Living. “We have to be able to convince the public or customers that their loved one will be safe and secure in addition to being happy.” A former board chairman for Argentum, Bacon has a lot of insight into the challenges and opportunities of senior living. She’s taken that unique experience to Brandywine, where she strives to make their communities the right mix of “health care and hospitality and fun.” Bacon has been recognized by Senior Housing News as a Changemaker for her contributions to the industry, and during her interview, she opened up on the difficulties posed by the coronavirus – as well as her strategies for keeping it at bay. Check out these excerpts to see how Brandywine is keeping its residents happy and healthy. What needs to be done to achieve that safety and security you’re thinking about? Any operational changes you’re implementing at Brandywine? On April 4th, we instituted a rule that says “one job only.” In the healthcare industry, employees traditionally work in two or three different healthcare institutions; they’ll work a shift at a skilled nursing and then they’ll go to an assisted living or the hospital, the doctor’s office. Nurses and care managers tend to have...

Due to COVID, some older adults and their families are hesitant on the idea of assisted living. But in many cases, and especially so for seniors with cognitive impairment, the level of care required for safe aging is only available in a community setting with skilled caregivers. “At this particular time of coronavirus, we’re working in a very fearful environment, and that’s where a trusting team benefits by the speed of trust,” said Loren Shook, founder and CEO of Silverado. “A lot of unknowns are being faced by people operating communities like ours and across the country.” Renowned for their standalone memory care communities, Silverado has pioneered research into programs that drive cognitive improvements for residents in early stages of dementia. The organization is often the top pick for referral partners, and the team is willing to take the most difficult cases. Silverado’s commitment to care, no matter the challenge, is helping them overcome COVID. And Shook’s willingness to try new things and continually adapt is why he’s been recognized as a Changemaker by Senior Housing News this year. Read on for excerpts from Shook’s interview with SHN where he discusses the perception challenges posed by COVID, interoperability opportunities with referral partners and the steps Silverado is taking to move forward. Do you see COVID-19 changing memory care specifically or senior living more broadly in more long-lasting ways? I think it’s really heightened the awareness of the buyer of services from us, as to asking, what are our systems for infection control and cleanliness? What are our capabilities for understanding changes in clinical condition for people? Then what do we do, if that’s the case? For some people, they’ll be asking, in a situation like COVID, if there is another pandemic or situation like...

When you invest in your energy strategy, the rewards are proportionate. Simply put, the upgrades can pay for themselves. You just have to get the ball rolling first. That was just one of the key takeaways from our recent webinar on energy efficiency with McKnight’s Senior Living. Randy Moss of Yardi led the discussion on ENERGY STAR benchmarking and best practices for providers, and he was joined by Christopher Wright from Merrill Gardens, who shared his company’s own experience with tracking energy usage and reducing spend. Merrill Gardens’ road to energy success Starting in 2016, Merrill Gardens was required to record and report their energy usage by the city of Seattle. And at first, everything was done manually. Staff were pulling data from paper bills and accounting systems to upload into ENERGY STAR for benchmarking. Eventually, the city’s utility provider enabled automated data sharing, which simplified the entire process. The state of California soon followed with regulatory requirements, and seeing the writing on the wall, Merrill Gardens began rolling out benchmarking at all of their communities nationwide. Like in Seattle, many utilities needed manual data entry at first, but nowadays, the majority allow automated data transfer. By late 2019, Merrill Gardens had a year’s worth of data, which gave them great visibility into their buildings’ usage compared to one another. “Based on those sorts of trends, we already had the ability to identify buildings to focus special attention on for CapEx and operation improvements,” said Wright. Unfortunately, the pandemic brought new hurdles, but that only sharpened their focus. “In early 2020, like everyone else, we discovered our resources were suddenly and unexpectedly limited, while at the same time, savings and operational efficiencies were even more important,” said Wright. “Partnering with Yardi over the last...