Sixty-five percent of clinical leaders participating in a new survey cited hiring and retaining staff members as their top challenge, followed by improving staff quality (57%).
The “State of Senior Living Clinical Leadership Survey” report, detailing survey findings, was released by the American Seniors Housing Association in partnership with electronic health record platform August Health.
The report reflects the perspectives and experiences of almost 70 clinical executives representing senior living operators across the nation, benchmarking the current state of clinical operations and identifying opportunities to address staffing, care delivery and clinical programs.
“This survey allows us to elevate voices within clinical leadership and better understand how the scope of their work is evolving alongside rising acuity, and the strategies they’re implementing to address related challenges,” ASHA President and CEO David Schless said in a statement.
Qualified staff members hard to find
“The biggest challenge is not necessarily the hiring of clinical staff, but hiring qualified staff and retaining them,” Michelle Adam, Bickford Senior Living vice president of health and wellness and a member of the survey taskforce, said in the report. “What has been impactful for us is focusing on the onboarding experience — treating each new staff member as we would a new resident, rolling out the red carpet on day one.”
Flexible scheduling also appears to support staff retention, according to the survey data, as 69% of organizations without staffing challenges offer it, compared with only 49% of those that said they experienced staffing challenges. Uncommon benefits and a good workplace culture also were listed as effective staff retention strategies by respondents.
With 41% of respondents citing higher-needs residents as a challenge, senior living communities are shifting their staffing models; 50% of respondents said they are expanding the roles of med techs, and 28% said they are hiring more licensed nurses.
Josh Allen, principal with Allen Flores Consulting and a member of the survey taskforce, said in the report that those results reflect what he’s seeing in communities.
“Positioning med techs as universal workers and allowing them to take on caregiving or clinical support roles, while also adding more licensed nurses, allows operators to more effectively respond to rising acuity within communities,” Allen said.
More data needed to improve quality
Data points that clinical leaders review regularly, according to the survey, include incident rates (90%), move-outs (72%), high-risk resident report (60%) and community-wide resident acuity (60%).
The leaders, however, said that more reliable data in the following areas would have a “significant impact”:
- high-risk residents based on electronic health records data (54.41%),
- incident trends (54.41%),
- call light response times (36.76%), and
- community-wide acuity trends (32.35%).
Good data, according to Justin Schram, MD, co-founder and co-CEO of August Health, gives operators the ability to benchmark performance across communities and drive quality improvement.
“As resident acuity increases, the role of clinical leaders in senior living communities has become more crucial than ever,” Schram said in a statement. “The insights from this survey help us better appreciate the complex, interrelated challenges that clinical leaders in senior living face each day, as well as their overall priorities and strategies to improve staffing and resident care.
“The more we learn about their experiences, the more effectively we can support them with improved resources, products, policies and more,” he added.
The report also highlighted polypharmacy as a “major challenge” in senior living communities, the various solutions operators are deploying to reduce falls, and the increasing interest that providers have in value-based care systems.
Responses were collected via anonymous online surveys between July 15 and Aug. 15 from senior directors or directors of clinical care, senior vice presidents or vice presidents of clinical care, and chief clinical officers.
A survey taskforce of eight clinical executives from 12 Oaks Senior Living, Bickford Senior Living, Commonwealth Senior Living, Oakmont Senior Living, Senior Resource Group, Senior Star, Sonida Senior Living and Allen Flores Consulting provided feedback on the survey and interpretation of the results.
