AI in senior living: How organizations can use AI to scale smarter

AI is changing how businesses and organizations operate across sectors — and healthcare is no different. But while senior living leaders are curious about AI’s potential, many are unsure of how to use its capabilities to drive growth and help their organization scale.

However, the biggest roadblock to AI-driven growth isn’t the technology itself, but mindset. Keep reading to learn more about how to solve that, plus how you can get more effective AI adoption within your senior living organization.

What are the challenges keeping senior living organizations from embracing AI?

Faced with challenges like rising costs and Medicaid cuts that are already taking effect, many senior living organizations could benefit from finding efficiencies through AI. But this has proven easier said than done, in part because embracing AI demands a mindset shift.

AI is a change management problem

While integrating AI into your senior living organization does require implementing new tools and upskilling your team, it’s also largely an exercise in change management. Your team is used to operating one way, which can make building and sustaining the momentum you need to rebuild your systems or processes to take advantage of AI or automation tools feel a little bit like pushing a boulder up a hill.

According to a survey of Wipfli clients, 91% of businesses or organizations report that non-technical obstacles are the biggest blockers to better leveraging new technologies like AI. Meanwhile, only 19% of executives actually feel comfortable leading an AI-transformation effort.

In other words, because AI is still such a new and rapidly developing technology, organizations and leaders don’t feel comfortable with it. And that discomfort can make it harder to create results.

Haphazard AI use can actually slow adoption and create chaos

Is your senior living organization currently using AI? If your first instinct is to answer no, there’s a very good chance you’re wrong, because some of your individual team members are almost certainly using AI tools, regardless of whether they have buy-in from leadership.

However, this risks creating a wild west scenario, where AI gets implemented piecemeal or haphazardly and without any overarching AI strategy. In this situation, you won’t have any governance standards, policies or processes to help ensure consistency and can even risk HIPAA violations by exposing PHI to AI tools that don’t meet compliance requirements.

Plus, such haphazard efforts will often flounder, blunting momentum for a more organized AI implementation plan.

How can AI help senior living organizations scale and grow?

AI can accelerate workflows and enable better decision-making through improved data analytics. Examples of how it can help your senior living organization scale and grow include:

Reduced administrative burden and improved staff efficiency

Many organizations have worker shortages, creating large workloads for the staff they do have. AI solutions for senior living centers can automate repetitive administrative activities such as scheduling, documentation, billing support and referral management, allowing employees to spend more time focused on residents and higher-value work.

Generate better insights from organizational data

Senior living organizations have large amounts of operational, financial and clinical data. AI can help analyze that information to identify trends, reveal inefficiencies and provide leaders with insights to make more informed decisions about future investments that can spur growth.

Enhanced resident experiences

AI can help organizations better analyze resident preferences, behaviors and care needs. These insights can result in more personalized services and higher-quality resident experiences. The happier your residents and their families are, the more your reputation will benefit and the easier it will be to differentiate yourself in a competitive market.

What are the risks of using AI in senior living?

While AI can deliver meaningful benefits, it does come with the following risks:

Data privacy and compliance risks

Senior living organizations manage sensitive resident information, making data protection a critical concern. If employees use AI tools without proper safeguards, protected health information (PHI) could be compromised, jeopardizing your organization’s HIPAA compliance.

Inaccurate or misleading outputs

AI systems can produce inaccurate or incomplete information. While AI can be a valuable support tool, organizations should establish processes for human review and oversight, particularly when outputs could influence resident care, operational decisions or regulatory compliance.

Inconsistent usage across the organization

Without a coordinated strategy, employees will likely use different AI tools for different reasons. This can create inconsistencies in workflows, increase security risks and make it difficult to measure the effectiveness of AI initiatives across the organization.

Lack of governance

Even promising AI initiatives can struggle if organizations fail to establish clear policies, training programs and accountability measures. Effective governance helps ensure AI is used responsibly, consistently and in ways that support organizational goals.

How can senior living organizations implement AI responsibly?

For senior living leaders looking to develop an effective, organization-wide approach to AI, the process matters. Specifically, you want to determine where you want to go, how you’re going to get there and what tools you’ll need to succeed.

1. Establish direction by identifying specific problems you want to solve

A good AI strategy doesn’t mean buying your team a ChatGPT Pro subscription. Instead, identify specific problems within your organization where AI could make a difference.

For example, if your organization is struggling to find skilled healthcare workers to fill key roles, consider whether AI could allow you to deploy your existing team more effectively by automating certain lower-level tasks so your staff can focus on more patient-centric work. Or can AI analyze data from your EHR to identify patient health trends you can use to improve care?

Here, it can be good to lean on an advisory firm to help assess your current systems and processes and find gaps that AI could fill. You can also do this entirely in-house, so long as you keep the focus on looking for problems to solve.

2. Design your AI implementation strategy

Once you’ve identified how you want to use AI to help grow your organization, you need to build a framework for implementation. This means designing an organization-wide AI strategy to help put new solutions into place.

This includes laying out specific steps in the implementation process, identifying leaders or change champions to actually spearhead the rollout and establishing KPIs. It’s also essential to evaluate your existing data sources and prepare them for use by AI tools, a process that can include establishing a centralized data repository or warehouse.

During this effort, you’ll need to consistently communicate with your whole team about why change is happening here and how they can help, as well as consider what training or upskilling opportunities you’ll need to provide.

3. Deliver by implementing specific tools that fit your strategy

At this point, you can start implementing AI tools to address growth objectives you’ve chosen to target. However, this isn’t just a one-and-done event but an ongoing process that involves both choosing the right tools and embracing the human, change-management side of the equation.

Your advisor can help you decide which AI solutions make sense for your needs, as the market has brought forth a dizzying array of options. Within your organization, communication remains essential, as you need to not just establish momentum, but maintain it.

How can leaders prepare for AI?

An effective AI strategy typically starts at the top, with commitment from leadership. So how should leaders prepare to oversee this effort with an eye towards more effective change management?

Here are key leadership pillars to consider:

• Self-awareness: Before you ask your team to change by implementing AI, are you prepared to do the same?
• AI literacy: Your leadership team and organization need a shared understanding of what AI actually is and how you’ll be using it.
• Change leadership: Don’t just throw change at your team, but implement thoughtfully through planning, clear communication and celebrating wins or milestones.
• Effective use of resources: Throughout your AI implementation process, consider what work is being done, who will perform it, when it should happen and why it matters.
• Coaching and upskilling: Create training or coaching opportunities for your whole team to adapt to the changes within your organization.

How Wipfli can help

We advise senior living organizations on how to strengthen performance, deliver a high-quality experience, navigate change and grow. Let’s talk about your goals and explore how innovative solutions like AI can help you reach them. Start a conversation or listen to a podcast interview with the authors of this article to learn more about AI for senior living.

Let’s strengthen your organization

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