Tag Archive for: Senior Living Industry

Sarah Thomas joins Sentrics Advisory Council

Nexus Insights Fellow Sarah Thomas joins Sentrics Advisory Council

Sentrics, an emerging technology leader in the senior living industry, has welcomed Sarah Thomas, CEO of Delight by Design and Nexus Insights Fellow, to its Advisory Council. Thomas is an accomplished leader and innovator, with nearly 20 years of experience as a global aging expert, advising startups, large corporations and investors. Her technology perspective is shaped by her experience helping some of the largest senior living companies develop and implement strategic change management initiatives and innovative human potential products.

“Sarah Thomas has consistently intersected technology and aging to transform the aging experience,” said Darin LeGrange, CEO of Sentrics. “Her first-hand knowledge launching solutions that are more purpose-driven will help us address the ongoing need for usability, portability, simplicity and the ultimate engagement of the resident, family and healthcare ecosystem.”

Founded in 2016 and headquartered in Dallas, Texas, Sentrics helps senior living communities nationwide transform into more sophisticated, clinically oriented, risk-management businesses. Its Sentrics360 suite creates a 360-degree view—physical, medical, social and behavioral—of the wellbeing of each resident. Sentrics systems collect vital data, while machine learning and AI analyze and interpret the data, empowering families, senior living communities, and healthcare providers to make the best care decisions and optimize their operations.

“The best way to support an age-inclusive experience is to integrate technology and the human touch,” said Thomas. “Sentrics is pushing senior living forward by acquiring and developing technology that puts the residents at the center of everything it does. This human-centric, purpose-driven design makes technology more accessible and adoptable.”

See the full press release.

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meaningful reform in nursing homes

Seize the moment: Bob Kramer lays out path for meaningful reform in nursing homes in new Health Affairs blog

“The American long-term care system, particularly in skilled nursing facilities, has been exposed as deeply flawed, chronically underfunded, and in need of reform.” This bold statement is from Robert Kramer, Founder and Fellow of Nexus Insights, and Co-Founder and Strategic Advisor for NIC. It’s the opening line of his recent blog in Health Affairs.

Kramer delves deeply into the urgent problems facing nursing homes that have been spotlighted on the national stage by the pandemic and its tragic death toll among nursing home residents and staff. Kramer predicts the likely responses we can expect to see from nursing home operators, federal and state regulators and policy makers, and seniors and their families. But he urges, instead, a more thoughtful, complex and multi-faceted approach to solving the challenges of long-term care in nursing homes that involves dispensing with out-of-date assumptions, acknowledging the problems, and aligning the different stakeholders involved.

The problems he sees stem from undervaluing and undercompensating the work of caregivers, and the too-narrow focus of regulatory metrics on physical care needs, rather than the personal goals and aspirations of the residents themselves, and their quality of life. Other challenging problems include the long-term shortage of caregivers for a rapidly growing population of seniors, the lack of financial transparency, inadequate reimbursement models that incentivize the wrong behaviors, the age of nursing home infrastructure, and the financial impact of the COVID-19-related lawsuits that are certain to hit the beleaguered industry as the pandemic winds down.

“Every stakeholder must understand that this is a disruptive moment.” – Bob Kramer

The solutions Kramer proposes will require thoughtful cooperation and coordination among all the players in the industry, including industry providers, organized labor, consumer advocates, investors, and regulators. And it won’t be easy. But as Kramer points out, “Every stakeholder must understand that this is a disruptive moment. SNFs and long-term care are, for a moment, center stage. Those of us who care about this sector, and the millions of Americans it serves, must seize this moment.”

Link to full blog

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