While the Medicaid increase included in PA’s 2024-25 operating budget will be vital to senior living operators in meeting financial obligations, it is not the complete answer to the current industry challenges. Shortfalls will continue for many providers.
Providers are also tasked with ensuring their operations are running in the most efficient manner to produce the most effective outcomes. Often, senior living executives who oversee daily operations are pulled in multiple directions, making it challenging to keep the proverbial finger on the pulse of operational outcomes and prioritize performance improvement efforts. But doing so is crucial to improving efficiency, monitoring effectiveness, supporting your team, and innovating care for your residents, all of which will be necessary for continued viability.
Conducting a internal assessment is one strategy to key performance indicator monitoring, but can be limited by the experience, expertise, and resources of your team. Partnering with an objective third-party strategic consultant to offer an unbiased assessment and opinion about your current realities can be integral to continuing your mission. An independent consultant will bring fresh eyes and a different perspective to your processes and procedures, offering insights that your internal team may overlook.
The goal of an operations assessment is to identify opportunities to optimize your operations, team, technology, and resources. The process typically begins with a thorough analysis of the organization’s outcomes compared to industry standard and/or best practice performance, and adjusted for known variances to the organization’s operations. Once the benchmarking comparison is complete, a seasoned team of experts that span all aspects of operations will begin to explore the organizations’ current business practices to understand the true reality and offer recommendations for improved performance. This assessment can be used to validate solid performance for lenders, board members, and the executive team, but also utilized to establish a blueprint, often in the form of operating plans, that will help the organization to make the necessary adjustments to realize its strategic goals.
Establishing key performance metrics post-assessment to measure and monitor progress of the organization is another critical step that is often overlooked in this process. A good senior living consulting partner can assist with establishing appropriate performance measurement tools to monitor both improvement and sustainability.
Affinity Health Services has a team of conscientious professionals, with expert knowledge and relevant experience that spans nursing homes, personal care, independent living, and life plan communities in all sectors. Our consulting division supports clients in every aspect of operations including revenue cycle management, operational assessments and support, financial advisory, regulatory compliance, clinical support, marketing and business development, and leadership team placements.
As a full-service senior living provider, we are better positioned to serve our consulting and advisory clients because we face the same day-to-day challenges, and we can provide solutions that have been field validated. We are intimately aware of the challenges facing senior living providers today.
For over 28 years, Affinity Health Services has been a trusted partner operating in the senior living and post-acute space. We offer full-service management and customized consulting and advisory services to support providers operating in all sectors, including government operated facilities. We customize our service based on each client’s strategic goals and work closely with leadership to establish a path forward. Your success is our success!