New Survey Reveals Inside Look into Assisted Living

Residents of assisted living communities across the nation are largely very happy with the services the receive and the quality of life they achieve by living within those community settings, according to a new report. This is the finding of an independent survey commissioned this month by the Assisted Living Federation of America and conducted […]

States Collaborating to Form Assisted Living Quality Standards

The assisted living industry’s role of caring for an often frail and vulnerable population—seniors—makes its commitment to quality all the more important. With some states’ regulatory resources falling behind, senior living providers in states including Wisconsin and Arizona are stepping up through collaborations that emphasize quality improvement and assurance. Assisted living is regulated state-by-state, with […]

Brookdale Launches Training, Compliance Partnership for 50,000 Staff

Brookdale Senior Living (NYSE: BKD) announced this week it has formed a five-year partnership with health care training software provider HealthStream (NASDAQ: HSTM) to provide training and compliance for Brookdale’s 50,000 employees.  Under the agreement, the organizations will co-develop a new course under HealthStream’s learning programs that is specifically geared toward the care provided by […]

Brandywine CEO Brenda Bacon Named New Chairman of ALFA

Brandywine Senior Living co-founder and CEO Brenda Bacon has been named Chairman of the Assisted Living Federation of America, the organization announced to its membership this week.  In her role as chairman, Bacon succeeds Mark Ohlendorf, co-president and CFP of Brookdale Senior Living. She brings more than 15 years of experience in senior living, having […]

Medications Changing Assisted Living from Hospitality to Nursing

Assisted living residents have always used pharmacies, but with acuity levels rising across the industry, the need for better integration has reached its boiling point. Des Moines, Iowa-based Life Care Services, an LCS Company that manages senior living communities, agrees that rising acuity levels in senior living makes managing residents’ medications even more important. “It’s […]

New Investigation Targets Minn. Assisted Living Fees

Assisted living providers in Minnesota are facing a higher level of state oversight due to “questionable” fees that have become the subject of consumer complaints.  The fees in question, which range from hundreds of dollars to thousands, have been deemed confusing, unfair or illegal by consumers, the Associated Press reports.  As a result, the Minnesota […]

Omnicare Sets Sights on Assisted Living With New Concierge Program

Omnicare (NYSE:OCR), an institutional pharmacy service provider based in Cincinnati, Ohio, has started to roll out a new Concierge program to meet the needs of assisted living residents. “Our strongest offering has been toward skilled nursing, but [we’ve started] rolling out new services targeted at assisted living,” said Patrick Lee, vice president of investor relations […]

Old State Laws Present New Problems for Senior Living

As the assisted living sector evolves and grows in popularity, so do consumers’ expectations of what care and services they can expect from this model. Yet state assisted living regulations haven’t uniformly kept up with rising demand. “My general sense is that [regulations] are falling behind, but it varies widely from state to state,” says […]

Study Links Hospital Admissions to Seniors’ ER Use

Medicare beneficiaries have the highest rates of hospitalization admission from emergency departments than any other payor group, and it’s likely assisted living residents have an even higher utilization rate, researchers say.  Emergency departments (EDs) play a pivotal role in the delivery of acute ambulatory and inpatient care, according to RAND researchers in a new report, […]