“There are many exciting technologies on the horizon that will support improved clinical management of the care needs of our residents."
— Jeff Frum, Silverado
levels, but the number of jobs in skilled nursing remains 13-14% below its level when COVID arrived. “Labor shortages have been plaguing this industry for quite some time, especially skilled nursing,” Mace said. “One of the trends that we're seeing in memory care is much more person-centered care protocol – so really understanding what an individual needs and trying to focus on that as opposed to some more generic plan that would be applied to a group.” And, of course, she added, the more
person-centered care product is going to require labor and more staff. “So, it's a bit of a conundrum, because I think the care for individuals with dementia, the more personalized you can make it the better, but that, of course, takes more programming and more personnel to do that,” Mace explained. Frum agreed that the staffing crisis
particularly causes complications for those operators with a model of care that includes 24-hour licensed nurses. “Eliminating contract labor has been
a huge focus as well as managing the overtime burden on our existing staff,” he said. “Recruiting caregivers and nurses to
meet the growing demands of our census will be critical. Forging partnerships with local CNA schools and integrating nursing students in our memory care communities have proven helpful in recruiting talent. We have all felt the pain from the inflationary pressures from rising fuel prices affecting food and supply costs. We have also expe- rienced a collateral impact on rising wages for our valued employees.” Memory care’s expense for customers
also creates challenges. “It’s expensive,” Mace said. “And it’s difficult for families to be able to sustain those levels of payments for a long period of time unless you have a decent amount of wealth. That's an issue certainly for memory care. Memory care requires a lot of personal contact and sup- port and labor.” It’s “a tough nut to crack,” she said. “As
you provide care, it gets more expensive to the very people that need the care, and I don't think that we've figured it out broadly,” Mace said. “There are ways to make your team more efficient these days with more technology to help in terms of freeing up staff to do more person-to-person care, but it's an ongoing challenge for our industry and that includes memory care.”
Focus on Innovation Frum said memory care operators who can differentiate themselves through innovation, outcomes and marketing will be able to take advantage of the current market. “There are many exciting technologies on
the horizon that will support improved clini- cal management of the care needs of our residents. Innovative engagement programs, like Nexus at Silverado that has been shown to improve cognition by 60% for those in the earlier stages of dementia,” Frum said. “And, increasing our sphere of influence by telling more effective stories of the lives we change on our digital platforms.” Frum noted that memory care primary is a health care business. “There is a tremendous opportunity for
operators to tap into the reimbursement world offered by Medicare by delivering a medical model of palliative and hospice care,” Frum said. “If we track our clinical outcomes and de- liver results that matter to payers, like reduced emergency room visitation rates, hospital ad- mission and readmission rates then doors are open for creative partnerships with insurance payers, PACE [Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly] programs, and other at-risk post-acute health care partnerships.”
MAY/JUNE 2023
ARGENTUM.ORG 11
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60
