Real-time service coordination can help senior living communities recognize when a resident’s needs have changed and respond proactively, optimizing outcomes and increasing length of stay, according to experts speaking at a recent webinar.
PointClickCare shared the results of a study it conducted with senior living operators on the effects of real-time service coordination on resident length of stay. The webinar, now available on demand, was part of the 2024 McKnight’s Excellence in Technology Awards + Summit, which celebrated innovation by senior living, skilled nursing and home care providers.
Senior living’s role in resident wellness
Senior living organizations play a “tremendous” role in helping to maximize residents’ quality of life, and they become part of residents’ families in that effort, said speaker Marty Damian, senior solutions consultant with PointClickCare.
Thanks to technology, he said, operators are beginning to be acknowledged as part of the wellness industry. Residents consider senior living communities to be home, and such thoughts mean that communities have a lot of power to facilitate the services and care that residents deserve.
“Having access to meaningful data helped us with making solid decisions,” Damian said.
Wellness programs, he said, offer a consistent approach for delivering services and care. The programs provide structure for teams to gather the appropriate information and make informed decisions that lead to better resident outcomes.
Wellness programs also drive better service and customer satisfaction by providing teams the tools and resources they need to deliver on the promises communities make, Damian said. Falls, nutrition and dining are good areas on which to focus wellness efforts at the beginning, he added.
Enter value-based care, in which all residents participate in some way, Damian said. Digital records, real-time care coordination, wellness programs and preferred partnerships are the building blocks to value-based care, he added.
“Don’t be afraid of value-based care. It’s going to come,” Damian said.
Information at the ready
Doing better day to day, moment to moment, is the goal of real-time service coordination, said PointClickCare Care Director of Senior Living Solution Consultant Murry Mercier. That means having information when it’s needed, he said.
The ability for frontline caregivers to respond and react to a resident’s needs quickly and efficiently matters, Damian said. A digital record and real-time service coordination ensures easy access to that information, supporting the ability of direct care staff members to understand a resident, communicate across care teams and immediately document a change in a resident’s condition, he said.
Every provider likely is following the process of assessing residents, conducting evaluations, developing care plans, and documenting care and changes in condition.
The area most providers struggle with, Damian said, is the change piece. Leveraging documented care allows senior living staff members to detect variations from the original service plan and respond quickly.
Subtle changes, he said, is where documentation and workflow work best, allowing senior living staff members to immediately detect any declines in resident health and provide therapy referrals to support a resident in real time. Proactively responding to subtle changes can prevent falls, hospitalizations and move-outs, Damian said.
Direct access to a resident’s service plan leads to a better experience and engagement, Mercier said. It engages staff members in documenting and communicating unscheduled tasks, encourages communication directly with frontline staff members at any given moment, and leverages data to navigate conversations with residents and families, he added.
“We owe it to frontline teams to have the ability to see what resident’s needs are without having to run up the hallway,” Damian said
Data affect length of stay
The oldest baby boomers are looking to senior living communities to serve as their healthcare coordination agents, Mercier said. And senior living communities are positioned to provide recommendations of preferred providers to best coordinate those care services.
“They recognize and acknowledge those partnerships. They trust us,” Damian said, adding that because senior living communities engage and interact with residents regularly, staff members can facilitate better workflows with those partners.
Real-time service coordination, he said, helps older adults maintain their highest possible levels of wellness.
“This is where length of stay matters,” Damian said. “When you do real-time service coordination consistently, when you start to understand data and how it impacts residents and how to use it proactively to dig deeper into their needs, our residents stay longer.”
Data also gives senior living community leadership teams the ability to better communicate so that staffing, care delivery and support decisions can be made more rapidly, Mercier said.
