The Prime Care Tech team is onsite here in Nashville for the AHCA/NCAL Annual Convention. Stop by Booth 1422 to hear how our latest technologies are helping senior care operators work smarter. Here are just a few highlights to motivate you:

• Clinical enhancements including a new therapy module.
• CRM integration with partners like Enquire Solutions.
• Financial enhancements with general ledger functionality
• Five Star forecasting, updated with July metrics

primeCLAIMS, SNF-Customized Clearinghouse

• 2-Way PointClickCare EHR integration
• Bulk eligibility
• Payer enrollment
• Enhanced aging data

Managed Care MASTER, Online Case and Contract Manager

• Contract alerts and authorization tracking
• Pre-admission cost out
• Calendar functionality with reminders

primeCLOUD, Full or À la carte IT Services

• 24/7 Helpdesk services
• Cybersecurity plans to include multi-factor authentication (MFA) and endpoint detection response (EDR)
• Backup and firewall services
• Special projects (new location setup, data migration or integration, etc.)

We're looking forward to connecting. If you need help finding us, just get in touch.

If you're not at AHCA, we'd love to connect at the next event.

The reimbursement focus from Zimmet Healthcare's annual conference shared the spotlight with a topic still fresh of mind for many skilled nursing operators – staffing shortages. However, session speaker Tara Gregorio, President of the Massachusetts Senior Care Association, advised staying away from staffing agencies – not only to reduce cost, but ensure a continuum of care for residents.

Attendees also discussed CMS's review of minimal staffing and how it might impact federal funding. This topic is better explained in the Infection Control Today article, CMS Proposed Minimum Staffing Requirements Could Cost $10B Annually.

As keenly noted in the Skilled Nursing News article, The Devil's in the Data: Why SNFs May Be Facing an Information Crisis, Marc Zimmet, President of Zimmet Healthcare Services Group, points out how randomly timed and siloed data results in inaccurate data. Said Zimmet, "The bottom line is everything you think you know about skilled nursing facility data is wrong, is inaccurate — and that’s the greatest danger facing skilled nursing."

Here's how we can help:

• Our primeVIEW KPI dashboard solves this issue of disparate and dated information by integrating data from your multiple systems into a consolidated real-time view. 
• Our primeCLAIMS revenue cycle management app is the only one built for and supported by post-acute billers. 

Take a step in the right direction and get in touch for a demo of primeVIEW!

East Sales Director, Joe Brown, sat on the "Problem Solving Innovations, Enhancing the Senior Living Industry" panel at HealthTAC West 2022. Central Sales Director, Scott Kozimor, also attended, as senior living operators talked candidly about the industry's current state.

Here's some advice from senior living operators on the topic of operational innovation:

• Continuously monitor your empirical data to support needed change.
• Consider 'firing yourself' and hiring a tech leader or partner.
• Innovate in a moving-forward, clearly defined way – no more 'throwing spaghetti on the wall to see what sticks.'
• Champion and participate in whatever innovation you choose to assure success.

Also discussed was how to make new operational innovation successful:

• Build upon a strong technology foundation (i.e., best fiber, network, etc.)
• Make sure it fits within your culture; engage key players to weigh in (i.e., Can we bring it together? Can we sustain it?)
• Train your teams and staff well; measure profitability. 
• Don't get passed by in the market because you overthink it.

A key concern brought up as an obstacle to innovation success was staff burnout. But senior living leaders responded positively, suggesting ways to re-energize and realign staffing:

• Don't be afraid to try new ideas.
• Consider replacing agency roles with inside staff.
• Monitor and stabilize staffing trends (days, hours, etc.) to keep staff coming back.
• Deploy applicant tracking technology.
• Preserve internal knowledgebase – allow staff to go part-time or project-based.
• Engage and involve Millennial staff.

As always, our participation in this networking event gave us perspective on how we can help this industry innovate for success. Did you know we offered: 

• primeCLOUD – secure hosting, plus a line into best-of-breed technologies at partner-negotiated pricing.
• primeVIEW – dashboard app for easily tracking staffing trends, plus other key operational trends (e.g., census, admissions/discharges, billing/receiving, etc).

Get in touch if we can become a partner in your path to operational innovation.

This week, McKnight's Senior Living highlighted the latest from Verizon – Ransomware attacks rise 13 percent year over year. This serves as an excellent reminder for organizations to continue in their vigilant tracking of threats, vulnerabilities, and patches. Our primeCLOUD clients receive a list of security threats, vulnerabilities, and patches weekly via email, along with our plans to address them. Below is the summary of May events. 

High Impact

Medium Impact

Low Impact

No Impact on Our Clients/FYI

As part of our primeCLOUD services suite, we partner with leading IT vendors to offer security services like ransomware protection, phishing training, multi-factor authorization (MFA), data backup/recovery, and more.

If you're not confident your organization is on top of security threats, vulnerabilities, and patches, it may be time to conduct a cyber security audit.

Or better, get in touch and let us walk you through critical items for your security checklist.

Last week our team connected with leaders from senior care communities at the Senior Living Innovation Forum (SLIF) Spring event. Topics of discussion were around strategies for surviving and thriving among the anticipated shifts. Here are three key takeaways.

1. Stay True to Your Roots: Don’t chase shiny objects or the next new thing to attract residents. Trust, connection, consistency, and service are still key influencers in residents/families choosing your community.
2. Expect New Payer Types and Alliances: Expect payer types to grow beyond private and self-pay in assisted living (AL). This may trend further into AL operators joining forces with skilled nursing facilities (SNFs).
3. Focus on the Continuum of Care: Seniors value integrated healthcare and expect caregivers to review all medical data to deliver proactive, predictive, and prescriptive care – or complete senior health. 

So, how can we help with these strategies? Your chief ally in our software-as-a-service suite is primeVIEW, which offers an integrated analytics dashboard, customized with trends meaningful to your success. By using it to monitor areas of high (and low) performance, you can stay true to your roots – trust, connection, consistency, and service.

When it comes to bringing on new payers or aligning with SNFs, you may need our other apps:

• Our primeCLAIMS app with two-way PointClickCare EHR integration, coupled with other senior care customization, empowers you to do more with less staff while expediting payment.
• Our Managed Care MASTER case-to-contract app ensures you meet the quality care requirements of your payers while capturing every dollar promised in the contract.

We can also help with the technology and security infrastructure you need to run your business cost-effectively and wisely. Ask us about our primeCLOUD managed IT services.

If you missed us at SLIF, catch up with us for more recommended strategies and how our technologies can help.