SLE: How did the HCP deal come about? CM: We were really fortunate to have many choices about who to pick as a financial partner, which was the foundation of the acquisition process. We slowly fell in love with Cressey and Company’s vision. They were the only financial sponsor we talked to that led with their mission—to improve healthcare in the U.S. Their goal was to bring together the best companies in each part of the post-acute care and senior living spectrum, and that's exactly what they did. We are thrilled to be acquired by HCP and working with Activated Insights. I have a lot of respect for both companies.
SLE: What does Pinnacle do? CM: We’re a people company. We help se- nior living operators deliver better outcomes and experiences by measuring their custom- er and employee satisfaction, then providing insights and training to help them improve their employee and customer experience. Together with HCP and Activated Insights, we’re turning survey insights into action, improving employee retention, and boost- ing customer and employee satisfaction throughout the post-acute care industry. Our Retain surveys focus on getting new hires past the 100-day milestone, where turnover is exceptionally high. The acqui- sition will also enable customers to choose from HCP’s 500-plus RN-developed cours- es for all sectors of post-acute care.
SLE: Who are your clients, and how do you see the client mix evolving in the coming years? CM: Pinnacle started with skilled nurs- ing clients, so that was always our biggest market, but we worked with a lot of senior housing providers as well. Since the acqui- sition, we serve all sectors in the post-acute care continuum from home-based services to residential care, as well as senior living. The acquisition will allow our customers to drive more employee applicants and refer- rals through expanded certifications, access deeper satisfaction insights, create action plans, and improve care outcomes.
SLE: Why is long-term care an interesting industry to work in? CM: For me, it’s the care staff. I am contin- ually impressed with their hearts. Their jobs are hard, but they choose to do it because they want to make a difference. I feel like we, as an industry, have a responsibility to them. We need to do our best to take care of these selfless people, because they are taking care of our senior population, and more im- portantly, people’s loved ones. That's where the idea for Retain surveys came from. We have a responsibility to care for those that are caring for our seniors.
SLE: How do you see the long-term care space evolving in the next years? CM: We just heard former Senator Roy Blunt at the Argentum Public Policy Insti- tute [in March 2023] talk about the people looking to the government to fix things. “We will mess it up,” he said. “It’s best if you fix things.” I see senior living evolving through their ability to react to the needs of their customers; they know how to best serve their residents and should continue to have the flexibility to do so. Senior living has some of the most satisfied customers of any industry in the country. Now they need to figure out a middle-market solution, and I think they will. But I foresee the future being very bright for senior living as the population continues to age.
SLE: How do you lead? CM: My management style is always peo- ple-first. Everything starts with our employ- ees; they need to know we care about them in order to thrive, and we let them know we care about them by how we treat them. The employees take care of the customers, the customers take care of the organization and shareholders, and the organization takes care of the employees. It’s a beautiful cycle when you see all parts working in unison.
SLE: What is the most challenging part of your job, and favorite part of your work? CM: I heard the CEO of Sunrise Senior Living say something at the recent NIC
conference that was great, “We want to create wow experiences for our employees, our customers, and our investors.” The most challenging part is feeling constantly overwhelmed and concerned about doing that. I feel a large sense of responsibility to all three groups, so if I feel like I am com- ing up short on any of those areas, it really weighs on me. My favorite part is the people I get to work with both inside and outside the organization.
SLE: Your surveys. How do you come up with the questions and line of inquiry? CM: It is a different process for each line of business that we serve. Almost every ques- tion comes from survey best practices, client input, and scientific validation testing.
SLE: How do you find the right people to work with? CM: Cultural fit over everything. We are very mission- and value-driven and gov- erned. It's who we are, and if you want to be a part of this cool thing we are trying to do, we would love to have you. We are driven by people and by making a difference in long-term care.
SLE: What differentiates Pinnacle from its competition? CM: We take pride in making sure our products are simple and useful. I see provid- ers deploy a lot of technology that doesn't get utilized because it is too complex. We want to provide an offering that is usable. For example, every morning when you log into Retain, our employee engagement plat- form, it tells the user a few simple things it needs to do that day. For example, 1: tell John happy work anniversary; 2: respond to these three new-hire surveys; 3: read this exit survey from Kara. We take complex ideas like employee retention and make them easy. We also have the largest experi- ence dataset in senior living and post-acute care since the acquisition, which means we have insight into the market that no one else has. We want to use that data to help better the industry.
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