The ability for seniors to age in place stems partially from the use of senior care technology, and just like the aging-in-place movement, senior living providers have the opportunity to take advantage of technological advances within their facilities rather than view them as a threat.
“Technology is both a threat to our industry and an opportunity,” says Andrew Carle, a former senior living administrator who is the founder of George Mason University’s senior housing administration program. But here’s the thing: “You can’t do anything about the threat—you can’t control that. That means you only have one decision to make as a senior housing industry: that you either will, or will not, address the opportunity.”
The opportunities afforded by technology allow administrators to provide services in senior housing that can’t be done in peoples’ homes, says Carle, and it can make providers more productive and efficient in the way they conduct business.
Impending Labor Shortage
The need for senior care workers is exploding as the population ages, but estimates show that there won’t be enough people trained to do the necessary work, according to a study published in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons.
The demand for nurses will grow exponentially, projects the Bureau for Labor Statistics, and registered nursing will experience the largest increase of all occupations between 2010 and 2020.
“In not too many years, you’re going to be competing with everybody in your market for employees,” says Carle. “How is the industry supposed to triple when we already don’t have enough nurses and nurse’s aides?”
The obvious answer, he says, is technology.
“There’s a tremendous opportunity for us to be able to staff our buildings with technology,” Carle told SHN. “We need technology that will make one nurse’s aide, in the future, as productive as three, today, which is how you’ll get the equivalent of six million workers [the estimated number that will be necessary] out of two million people.”
How to make labor more productive, he says, is where the industry should be focusing technology.
“We’ve done it before with Henry Ford and his assembly line model,” says Carle. “We just have to do it ourselves [this time].”
Reduce Injuries and Lost Time Through Technology
When considering where it’s most important to implement technology, take a look at production capabilities and where workers spend most of their time, or where they’re getting the most injuries, says Carle.
Back injuries, for example, are the number one cause of healthcare workers’ comp, and Carle says that providers should use technology to do heavy lifting and thus nearly eliminate danger of injury to employees, as well as limit the hassle of needing to find replacement workers.
“Japan has already been developing robots that do lifting,” he says. “If you could eliminate back injuries, how big a difference with that make?”
Another area that could be made more time- and cost-efficient is medication administration, he says.
Many of those within an assisted living facility, for example, don’t really need help taking their medicine, Carle points out. If they don’t have trouble swallowing, the most important thing is for them to take the appropriate medication, and to be reminded to do so.
This could effectively be done with a robotic medication dispenser, he says. An individual’s specific medications are placed in pill cups on a carousel that can be pre-programmed to remind the person to take his/her pills at a certain time each day.
“Facilities right now make money charging for that medication administration,” Carle says. “They don’t want to give up those revenues, since most of their profit margin is in ancillary revenues. But the reality is, people will pay for that until there’s a better option; if people can get this machine at home, they’re going to do that.”
And, he says, the medication dispenser he described is already on the market and available to consumers.
Documentation is another area where many senior living employees spend a considerable amount of time. What needs to be developed, says Carle, is a better electronic health record system.
Some providers are already using PDAs or iPads and recording information electronically, he says, but it needs to get even more efficient, to the point where a nurse can speak into a device rather than have to manually enter information.
“Administrators know where their staff is losing time,” he says. “Strategically, think about how technology can save you time.”
He estimates that implementing technology in these three areas could at least double productivity.
It’s OK that Technology Helps Some Age in Place at Home
There is a flip side, says Carle, in the threat that better senior care technology means people can stay at home and not need assisted living.
But that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Some people should stay home, if they don’t actually need assisted living. And projections show the industry will be short of staff, Carle points out, so there’s a possibility that it will actually need some seniors to stay at home.
At the same time, though, Carle believes the downside of technology is its ability to sometimes keep seniors as “prisoners in their own homes” without human interaction.
Carle’s advice, ultimately, is for senior living administrators to take advantage of situations over which they have control and to implement technology where it can save labor, time, and money.
Written by Alyssa Gerace
Join the Conversation (6)
see all
This is a professional community. Please use discretion when posting a comment.
Comments are closed.
Hmm. Take a look at tech-sparse exhibit halls at ALFA and Leading Age, talk to struggling tech vendors of the named categories above trying to sell into this industry, see brand new construction with underground fiber leading into every building and observe that they may NOT activate the Internet jacks in each room in assisted living. I don't believe that resistance to technology in senior housing has anything to do with threats. To me, it is inertia.
There are exceptions, but my perception is that they are waiting until the consumer demands a tech-enabled environment and they won't move in without it, until assessors and inspectors force elimination of the use of paper charting, and until the companies themselves become serious about offering tech-enabled services inside and offering similar (for a fee) to the aging residents living of communities.
A couple issues to address–
Nursing shortage- This problem will continue to increase due to patient/nurse ratios (and CNA's) and their responsibilities. I have been a nurse for 34 years and have changed my career along with many other nurses I know.
Technology (as ITT)- It's great but only as good as the person who logs in the information. Nothing can replace the love, care and compassion from a human being.
Technology for prevention is much needed. Many facilities are bringing back the "visiting doctor and nurse practitioners" which defer unnecessary emergency room visits, risks on transport and continuity of care. Such as wheelchair/bed alarms, only work if staff is available immediately to respond. New simple products (not high tech) are needed as a new product SafetyBunns Non-Slip Pants. They prevent falls and injury not only to the resident but staff also. Workers compensation pays out a 2:1 ratio for use.
Each seniors case is different and has to be professionally evaluated in all realms, as safety, medically, psychologically to name a few.
The premise that fear is a main reason that technologies being developed today that are focused on helping people stay in their homes are not being adopted by Senior Living Facilities is a bit misleading. While this may be true of many facilities, there are those facilities that will seek to differentiate themselves from the masses by adopting a technology edge.
With the amount of individuals aging and the upcoming labor shortage as mentioned in the blog the main focus needs to be on keeping individuals safe and healthy while they age. Now it appears that this may need to be accomplished with limited human resources. We agree that using robots for lifting will be beneficial. Many individuals that are of boomer age and beyond are already using medication reminders so we foresee that just moving directly into Senior Living Facilities. Additionally the integration of other systems such as Electronic Health Records (EHR’s) and Personal Health Records (PHR’s) along with wireless health devices already are being adopted within other communities and we believe will be demanded by those that end up in a facility.
We believe that many families will pay additional fees to be able to stay better connected to their loved ones that are in a Senior Living Facility and whether that technology is as simple as an amplified phone so that the individual can have a conversation or specialized software to keep the family connected to the nurses and caregivers we are betting that adoption will mean better care and happier families.
My mantra is that we are at a stage where demographic aging is already beginning and will soon accelerate. In the meantime, the deployment of computers, the Internet and mobile communications in all aspects of the economy, services and everyday life continues apace. The two trends can hardly pass each other without interacting in a multitude of ways. The shift from reactive to proactive healthcare and wellness is fueling an increased vigilance & senior care service providers should take a more optimistic (perhaps opportunistic) view in how they can leverage technology to their advantage & perhaps shake up the status quo.
Proactively providing community outreach by potentially offering health tech. services in -home (such as remote monitoring for boomers needing to better manage chronic disease) might even help to build the yellow brick road (and establish a relationship earlier in time with a prospective ALF recruit as they age) that could lead a more direct pathway from one's home to the front door of an ALF. Nothing ventured … nothing gained?
It is no surprise that many of these technologies, whether in individual or multi-unit housing, are not more prevalent. Decisions based on costs/marginal utility are barriers. Perhaps it's inertia, as Laurie suggests. It may also involve market timing, availability of cost reimburement, and costs associated with retro-fit vs. new construction. (cont'd)
(cont'd) Carle's med management example reminded me of a similar technology from the early 1990s, when I was directing a forecasting program at AARP. One advisory group meeting included a demo of "HANC" (home assisted nursing computer), patented by Steve Kaufman (then HealthTech Services). The test model was a small stand-alone device with a video screen, BP cuff, pre-programmed medication dispenser (multiple times/day/week) and ability to contact a health care provider, to whom BP readings could be automatically transmitted. Despite rave reviews and substantial private sector investment, HANC never made it to market. Was it ahead of its time? The marketing plan included the adult children of seniors, since both would benefit. Initial projected costs per unit were one barrier, although a rental program was envisioned. Medicare or other insurance reimbursement did not exist. With no mass production because of the unknown market, HANC was never launched. Today, the same functions (and then some) are far more efficiently available at relatively low cost. Inertia? Perhaps, but forward-looking supportive housing organizations should be a strong market for these technologies.