The nation’s largest senior housing provider has entered into a new partnership in the hopes of remaining nimble and innovative, despite its massive size.
Brentwood, Tennessee-based Brookdale Senior Living (NYSE: BKD) has partnered with Health:Further, another Tennessee-based organization specializing in innovation partner programs, to stay connected to the latest senior care information, trends and potential collaborators that will foster growth.
This is something Brookdale already tries to do, but executives know the company can benefit from additional, outside help.
“Technology and innovation are the key drivers in constantly elevating [the] customer experience,” Ryan Wilson, Brookdale chief growth officer, SVP of sales and marketing, told Senior Housing News. “We have dedicated innovation people and groups already within the company. This is to augment those efforts. Health:Further is a partner that will help us move faster when we find specific areas in which we want to excel.”
Brookdale hopes to learn about new innovations through Health:Further, which CEO Marcus Whitney described to SHN as “a community focused on the future of health” that’s open to everyone from individuals to large-scale organizations. Health:Further’s mission is to connect health care service providers to professionals and companies that try to improve the quality of care that patients receive.
Health:Further first launched its innovation partner program with insurance companies, including Blue Cross Blue Shield, United Healthcare and Amerigroup.
Brookdale is the first senior living provider that the organization has partnered with, but Health:Further feels confident that the two organizations will work well together.
“What we are good at is scanning the market, initiating conversations, and gathering data on health care companies large and small, some of which Brookdale may be interested in talking to,” said Whitney.
At this point, Brookdale and Health:Further would not comment on what sorts of partnerships may develop because their own partnership is still new.
For Brookdale, the Health:Further association will bring greater awareness of the innovation landscape around senior living and complementary industries, the opportunity to have efficient meetings with high-potential partners, and access to key data about the market that will augment the company’s proprietary intelligence, said Whitney.
“Organizations like Brookdale understand that not all innovation will come from within their four walls, and have many competing and important initiatives that require their team’s attention,” said Whitney. “Working with Health:Further allows them to leverage our expertise and relationships with emerging companies to engage with the most strategic potential partners in an efficient way, without distracting their team.”
Written by Elizabeth Jakaitis
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