Everyone knows that the current state of the economy is stormy. However, not everyone knows what it takes to build the best shelter. Many industries, healthcare included, are taking a hit, and it's important to note that while the financial uncertainty justifies any emotional volatility felt, it’s not a conducive business practice, and there are precautionary steps you can focus on in order to increase the chance of your business’s survival.

Being able to adapt to the changing economic environment is the key to weathering the storm. In the world of senior care specifically, adaptability takes many forms.

Here are six:

During a down market, many companies choose to scale back their marketing expenses. However, when it comes to senior care facilities, that’s not necessarily the best approach. The aging population of America continues to grow, and consumers are always on the lookout for their future residences. Thanks to the internet, research is easily had, and most consumers do plenty of it. After all, choosing a senior care facility is often an expensive, lifelong purchase. Therefore, it’s important to have a very strong online presence through a user-friendly website, newsletters, blogs, testimonial videos, and online reviews and ratings. You must make it clear what you are selling by touting the superior experience and level of care you provide to your residents compared to your competitors, and this makes marketing an integral part of the resident-curating process.

Consumers want to feel as though they (and their loved ones) are treated as a priority in whichever residency they choose to invest in. A simple way to do that is to ensure that residents and their families have an easy time navigating the ins and outs of the facility as far as making appointments, speaking with residence staff, touring the facility, and having a knowledgeable representative available to answer any questions that may arise. Showcasing such a high level of care in the early days leaves consumers with a good impression of the level of care and safety that can be expected should they choose to commit to your residency. Stand apart from your competitors by demonstrating a higher level of organization, attentiveness, and responsiveness.

Consumers, current and future, want to feel as though they are getting the best deal and experience available to them. However, what one consumer may define as the “best” may not align with another’s definition. By identifying individual needs and values, you can tailor the overall experience to retain better current residents and increase your attractiveness to future residents. If residents feel as though you “get them,” they are more likely to choose your facility over one that provides a more generic-feeling level of care.

Once in the facility, it’s important that you demonstrate a consistent level of care to retain residents, as well as take advantage of opportunities later down the road with brand ambassadors and positive word-of-mouth reviews. One highly effective way of keeping residents satisfied is by improving the efficiency and productivity within your facility. Residents want fast care, meaning that if you are able to demonstrate that you understand what their problems are and how to solve them quickly, there is little room for lingering frustrations or complaints. By staying on top of your facility operations through digital platforms like primeVIEW, where you can track your census, labor, clinical, and five-star, you will not only make residents feel well-tended to, but the increased level of organization will help simplify your day-to-day workflow as well.

Customer service includes everything from answering questions and fulfilling general physical therapy to providing personalized tech support services for residents on an as-needed basis. The process of moving away from home, away from friends and family, and moving into an unfamiliar facility is an often-overlooked sacrifice, meaning that for residents and their families, communication becomes key. Communication reflects competency. Therefore, facilities that make a conscious effort to prioritize high levels of communication between residents and their families are seen as more attractive, as the increased transparency allows families to rest easy knowing that their loved one is being well taken care of.

6. Keep Your Finances in Order 

Senior care facilities have many moving parts, and sometimes, items fall through the cracks — including payments. One issue many facilities face is managing the billing process, thus prolonging payments and cash turnover. Luckily, platforms such as our primeCLAIMS can act as your revenue cycle management system, allowing you to streamline the billing process by reducing DSO, time spent collecting and organizing paperwork, and offering unique claim-to-claim reviews. During a time when financial resources are already scarce, the last thing you want to do is approach claims with negligence.

It’s not a matter of if but when the economy will begin to recover, and while not everything is within personal control, taking the above measures will serve to protect your business during the darkest days.

Focus on the positives, on the areas that you can improve upon, and you will be able to take advantage of the circumstances rather than become a victim of them.

Have any other tips you’d like to share with us? Let us know!

The state of the economy has hit many industries hard, with the healthcare sector being no exception. With increased labor and direct supply costs, inflation costs, as well as a growing demand for diversified care solutions, the passing of recent federal mandates has left many in the Senior Living & Care industry scrambling to keep up.

Despite the further pressures, there are some positive trends that point to future business opportunities for progressive Senior Care Facilities. Since late 2022, unemployment and inflation rates have decreased across the boards, whereas consumer spending has remained constant. Senior care facilities have also benefitted from the deceleration of new construction sites, causing occupancy rates in current facilities to increase in response to the perpetual demand for senior home and behavioral health care.

Consumer demands and expectations continue to grow and evolve over time, making room for senior care facilities to leverage their businesses in new ways.

Here are three ways to take advantage of the current trends:

1. Pinpoint your facility’s unique selling point. Consumers want to have the best of everything, and usually that means having access to something others don’t. A great way to promote your facility is by demonstrating how you provide an exclusive service or amenity along with everything else that is typically offered. Residents and their families want to feel as though they are in the best of hands, whether it comes down to facility layout, dining options, recreational activities, or social engagements. The demand for more diverse health and wellness solutions means that your facility has the ability to stand out if you keep your residents’ best interests in mind at all times.
2. Stay up-to-date on the latest technological advancements designed to manage facilities of your size and scope. The more accurately you can expedite critical decision-making regarding your facilities, the easier it will be to generate revenue. Invest in an all-in-one online dashboard like primeVIEW, which allows you to track important data relating to your real-time census, as well as your labor, financial and clinical systems. When it comes to post-acute care, having QAPI compliant data like this at your fingertips is invaluable to running a smooth and meticulous operation.
3. Reevaluate your marketing and sales approach. In an era that concentrates on wellness and lifestyle, consider how best to promote the superiority of your facility compared to your peers. Potential consumers want to feel as though their overall health and quality of life is going to be improved by choosing you, and a large portion of that has to do with the coordination of care provided. Create a comprehensive care model with wellness plans that your facility can execute seamlessly every time; Not only will it increase the level of confidence your current residents have in you, but it will demonstrate to potential consumers that your facilities are capable of consistently providing favorable outcomes and solutions for everyone. 

Our team actively connected with many of you while attending events including the NIC Fall Conference, AHCA Annual Conference, LeadingAge Annual Conference, PointClickCare, SummitSenior Living Innovation Forum (SLIF), and CAHF Annual Conference. Each one enlightened our understanding of your challenges and how we can shape our technologies to meet your needs. Below, find highlights of a few of these.

NIC Fall Conference

At NIC, we heard a bit about the economical and financial outlook for the upcoming months, and picked up on their positive vibes around now being a great time to invest in senior housing, as well as a good time to reposition the marketing around senior housing. But, the big takeaway was…there is a rapidly growing active senior segment and serving the needs of this population will be key to success.

AHCA Annual Conference

Mark Parkinson assured senior care operators, saying ‘government is not going to let our sector fail’ and ‘recovery is possible’ and sharing these inspirational stats:

• 30% of sector is at or above pre-pandemic census
• 1/3 of sector is not using staffing agency

His advice for recovery is simple:

• Don’t quit – keep going
• Commit to top performance (hint: it’s about leadership and culture!)
• Fight and be active

He left us with a quote from Winston Churchill, “History will be kind to me, for I intend to write it.” Translation, we as an industry now control our future.

And, we left you with a new solution for ensuring you get paid every dollar, every day for the care you provide. If we didn’t connect, read more about primeVIEW’s Century Therpy Plus module, which assures clinical and therapy assessments are always in alignment.

LeadingAge Annual Conference

LeadingAge touched upon what we learned from COVID and two take-aways that resonated for us were:

• Technology may have been ‘nice to have’ pre-COVID, but it became essential during and will remain so moving forward.
• Senior care operators realized the challenges of disparate technology platforms and data, which makes vendors who easily integrate key partners in gaining efficiency

We concur and we’re here to be both your guide, and your single source for integrated data and technology. We told you about our Century Rehab therapy data integration above, but we also announced a key integration with PointClickCare – two-way EHR intergration for more accurate and expedited claims processing via primeCLAIMS.

PointClickCare Summit

PrimeVIEW’s Customer Experience Manager, Tara Vantroost captures the spirit of what this and all events brought for us this year. Her favorite part was “not only giving hugs to so many people [she] has worked with over the years and finally putting a face with a name, but also being able to see the excitement on new prospective clients’ faces when they see what the dashboard actually does!” Tara strives to make your experience with primeVIEW exceptional and enjoys feedback from all prospects so we can always provide the best services.

Jonathon Duvall, our Senior Director of Product Management, also spoke at PCC Summit with Century Rehabilitation CEO Tammy Tuminaro about how staffing can have a significant impact on how your facilities are perceived. Did you know primeVIEW allows you to calculate your current staffing stars’ trajectory, be alerted to 1-star warnings, and calculate turnover and weekend staffing during the quarter to course correct before submitting data to CMS.

Need to see the dashboard? Want to see the future of the stars?

The Best Takeaways

Leverage primeVIEW see the changes in your operational data over time and across facilities to uncover meaningful information. By offering your staff near real-time access anytime online they can better understand the how, what, where, and when so they can spend more time on the how!

Rely on primeCLAIMS to automate and simplify the tedious processes associated with ensuring you get reimbursed for the dedicated care hours you provide to your communities. The efficiency our claims app brings will reduce the staff and time needed to make sure you get paid every dollar, every day.

Together we can better serve long-term, post-acute communities!

Are Long-term, post-acute (LTPAC) operators finding PDPM as a significant pain point? Prime Care Tech and Century Rehab's new primeVIEW Century Therapy Plus can help. Recently, in a joint press release we announced the addition of a first-of-kind technology for comparing therapist assessment data to that of clinical staff.

Automating this time-consuming process of tracking and comparing this data empowers senior care operators to achieve three goals: 

• Identify differences in assessment data captured by therapists and clinical staff in a near real-time alerts-based tool.
• Proactively address those differences before a care plan and associated reimbursement is finalized.
• Reduce reliance on manual and time-consuming analysis of assessment and care data.

This is HUGE! PDPM is fully implemented across the SNF industry. The ability to identify the differences between the therapist and the clinical assessment minimizes the time needed to collect and compare data throughout a patient stay.

We discuss this in more detail during our recent webinar with Century Rehabilitation, which was also a well-attended session during the recent PointClickCare Summit. Be sure to sign up for this replay to hear more.

Combining primeVIEW's dashboard analytics with Century Rehabilitation’s therapy care data offers our clients a complete view of their patients' care plan. This takes the guesswork out of calculating PDPM, enabling staff to convert two-hour meetings with therapy providers into quick 15-minute conversations over easy-to-compare assessments. 

Together we can better serve long-term post-acute operators! Learn more about the integration and dashboard for primeVIEW by downloading our primeVIEW Century Therapy Plus e-sheet. Or better, get in touch for a demo.

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.