| Bringing AI and Person-Centered Care Together in Emotional Vital Signs | <p><img src="/Articles/PublishingImages/2026/186136026.jpg" class="ms-rtePosition-2" alt="" style="margin:5px;width:500px;height:333px;" />Long term and post-acute care providers are under pressure to manage complex dementia symptoms with fewer staff, rising acuity, and closer scrutiny of psychotropic use. At the same time, interest is growing in whether artificial intelligence (AI) can support person-centered care rather than replace it.</p><p>A multi-site memory care operator in Oregon recently completed a second pilot of AI companions in six secured memory care communities. The goal in this second phase was not simply to see whether residents would talk to an AI avatar, but to understand how this technology might fit inside an already strong person-centered model—and what it might reveal about residents’ day-to-day mood and behavior.</p><h3>Inside Pilot 2</h3><p>Pilot 2 followed 21 residents with diagnosed dementia living in six memory care communities. The residents represented a clinically complex group: varying dementia etiologies (Alzheimer’s, vascular, Lewy body, alcohol-related, and mixed types), multiple chronic comorbidities, high assistance needs with activities of daily living, and existing behavior plans addressing concerns such as sundowning, wandering, trauma-linked distress, depression, and anxiety.</p><p>All participating communities were already operating with an HCBS-aligned, person-centered care model, using a “Best Friends”–style approach that emphasizes knowing the person, preserving autonomy, and prioritizing non-pharmacologic strategies before medications.</p><p>Over a 29-day observation window, the project team integrated five sources of information for each resident: standardized clinical and behavioral summaries, daily mood and sentiment documentation, PRN medication records, AI usage logs, and narrative descriptions of triggers and responses. This design allowed the team to view the AI companion as one intervention among many inside a complex care environment—not a stand-alone solution.</p><h3>Emotional Vital Signs: What the Mood Data Showed</h3><p>For 18 of the 21 residents, complete numeric sentiment scores were available. Staff documented daily mood using descriptors such as calm, cooperative, tearful, or engaged, along with a numeric score on a –2 to +2 scale (–2 = very negative, 0 = neutral, +2 = very positive).</p><p>Across the group, average sentiment scores ranged from 1.5 to 2.5, with an overall mean of 1.97, indicating day-to-day emotional tone was mildly to clearly positive. Notably, no resident had a neutral or negative average mood during the period.</p><p>To make this more actionable for frontline teams, the project categorized residents into three “emotional vital sign” bands: mild positive (1.5–1.89), moderate positive (1.9–2.19), and high positive (2.2 or higher). Most residents clustered in the moderate positive band, with a smaller subset in the high-positive range.</p><p>Qualitative notes frequently included words like pleasant, smiling, redirectable, and cooperative. When negative descriptors appeared—tearful, worried, or irritable—they were usually linked to understandable events such as pain, constipation, noise, personal-care tasks, or concerns about belongings, and they generally resolved with targeted non-pharmacologic approaches.</p><p>Operationally, this suggests that even in a high-acuity memory care population, teams can sustain broadly positive emotional baselines when person-centered, non-pharmacologic care is consistently delivered. The AI companion layered onto that foundation rather than replacing it.</p><h3>How Residents Actually Used the AI</h3><p>AI usage data offered a nuanced picture. Across residents with available data, the average over 29 days was 18.6 total calls and 46.5 total minutes. Many residents engaged with the AI in short, “snack-sized” sessions: a few minutes of conversation, singing, or reminiscing, often paired with another calming activity.</p><p>Some residents used the companion frequently and for longer durations, while others did not engage with the AI at all during the window yet still maintained mildly to clearly positive mood averages. When the team examined only residents with non-zero AI usage and sentiment scores, more minutes tended to correlate with slightly higher average mood, but variability and small sample size prevent any causal claims.</p><p>The practical takeaway for operators is that AI companions appear safe and potentially supportive for some residents, and resident preference will drive usage patterns.</p><h3>PRN Use and Behavior Outcomes</h3><p>A central concern for regulators and families is whether new technology will alter PRN medication patterns, especially for psychotropics. In this pilot, psychotropic PRN use was rare, and when administered, doses were generally effective without escalation.</p><p>Most PRN medications given during the period were for pain, constipation, and other physical comfort needs, not behavioral crises. Serious behavior incidents—severe agitation, aggression, or elopement—were uncommon, even among residents with prior histories of those concerns. Updated behavior plans, consistent routines, and environmental adjustments appeared to carry most of the clinical weight.</p><p>Importantly, there was no evidence that AI usage increased agitation, PRN reliance, or problem behaviors. Instead, staff often used the AI companion as an additional non-pharmacologic option while addressing pain, comfort, or environmental triggers.</p><h3>How Teams Integrated the AI Companion</h3><p>Narrative documentation revealed how staff folded the AI into everyday routines. Teams paired AI time with known calming moments—after meals, during sundowning, or while waiting for family visits. Residents who enjoyed conversation, faith-based topics, or music often gravitated toward the AI as another friend.</p><p>Staff noted that laughing, reminiscing, or singing with the avatar sometimes helped reset tense situations, buying time to address underlying needs before medications were considered. At the same time, staff emphasized that the AI companion did not replace human relationships. Rather, it functioned as a consistent, patient conversation partner and a structured way to document and visualize mood trends.</p><h3>Lessons for Providers</h3><p>Several practical lessons emerge for organizations considering similar technologies:<br></p><ul><li><strong>Keep person-centered care first. </strong>Positive mood patterns were rooted in an existing, robust care model. AI sharpened and supported that work but did not substitute for it.</li><li><strong>Treat sentiment as an emotional vital sign.</strong> Simple visuals summarizing average mood by resident and over time can act as an early warning system, prompting earlier non-pharmacologic interventions before small declines become crises.</li><li><strong>Expect wide variation in resident use.</strong> Some residents will engage frequently; others rarely or not at all. Respecting those preferences is essential to person-centered practice.</li><li><strong>Invest in staff training and boundaries.</strong> Short scenario-based training, clear privacy expectations, and reassurance that AI is a support—not a replacement—help ensure the tool feels like a resource rather than a burden.</li><li><strong>Acknowledge limitations.</strong> This pilot had a short time frame, a small analytic sample, and no comparison group, so findings should be viewed as directional rather than definitive.</li></ul><h3>Looking Ahead</h3><p>As dementia prevalence rises and workforce challenges persist, providers are searching for tools that can amplify human care, not automate it away. Early results from this second AI companion pilot suggest that, when implemented within a strong person-centered framework, AI companions may help teams visualize emotional patterns, add another non-pharmacologic option, and maintain positive mood in a clinically complex memory care population.</p><p><img src="/Articles/PublishingImages/2026/Monica-Tsai.png" class="ms-rtePosition-2" alt="" style="margin:5px;" /><span><span><span><strong><img src="/Articles/PublishingImages/740%20x%20740/Chris-Mason.jpg" alt="Chris Mason" class="ms-rtePosition-2" style="margin:5px;width:175px;height:175px;" /></strong></span></span></span>Further work—longer follow-up, larger samples, comparisons with non-AI communities, and staff-focused outcomes—will be essential. For now, emotional vital signs offer a promising way to bring data and person-centered practice together at the bedside.<em><br></em></p><p><em>Christian A. Mason, D.B.A., is managing member of Pacific Living Centers and can be reached at <a href="mailto:chris.mason.shm@gmail.com" data-feathr-click-track="true" data-feathr-link-aids="60b7cbf17788425491b2d083" target="_blank">chris.mason.shm@gmail.com</a>. Monica Tsai, DSocSci, is CEO of CloudMind US Inc. Carl Mason is president and COO of Senior Housing Managers, Caitlin Buckley is chief people officer with Senior Housing Managers, and Michele Nixon is vice president of operations at Pacific Living Centers.</em></p><p><strong class="ms-rteForeColor-2">Listen to our Perspectives in Long Term Care podcast: </strong><a href="/Video-Resources/Podcasts/Pages/Artificial-Intelligence-in-Long-Term-Care.aspx" data-feathr-click-track="true" data-feathr-link-aids="60b7cbf17788425491b2d083" target="_blank"><strong class="ms-rteForeColor-2">Artificial Intelligence in Long Term Care.</strong></a></p><p><span class="ms-rteFontSize-1">Provider <em>magazine includes information from a variety of sources, such as contributing experts. The views expressed by external contributors do not necessarily reflect the views of </em>Provider <em>magazine and AHCA/NCAL. </em></span><a href="/About/Pages/Submit-Article.aspx" title="https://www.providermagazine.com/About/Pages/Submit-Article.aspx" data-outlook-id="badae440-b0ce-4219-9c08-f7e349a8e3d6" data-feathr-click-track="true" data-feathr-link-aids="60b7cbf17788425491b2d083" target="_blank"><span class="ms-rteFontSize-1"><em>Learn how to submit an article.</em></span></a><br></p><p></p> | 2026-02-03T05:00:00Z | <img alt="" src="/Articles/PublishingImages/740%20x%20740/dr_senior_tech.png" style="BORDER:0px solid;" /> | Dementia;Caregiving | Christian A. Mason, D.B.A., and Monica Tsai, DSocSci, with Carl Mason, Caitlin Buckley, and Michele Nixon | As dementia prevalence rises and workforce challenges persist, providers are searching for tools that can amplify human care, not automate it away. |
| Five Days to Save a Life | <p><strong class="ms-rteForeColor-2">ADVERTORIAL</strong></p><p>Unexpected hospitalizations carry a tremendous cost. There is the most obvious one of course: patient health. For an elderly nursing home resident with multiple health issues, the hospital can be a very dangerous place, not to mention the potential hazards of a late-night drive on icy, snowy, or rainy roads. Then there is the cost to the facility’s reputation, the cost of an empty bed, the cost of sending someone to accompany the resident, and too much more. Each year, thousands of nursing home residents are put at risk, and the greatest shame of it all is that most of those hospitalizations could have easily been avoided.</p><p>Unfortunately, in most cases when a staff nurse realizes that a situation has accelerated to the point that hospitalization may be necessary, it is usually too late. They probably have only about five hours to try and stabilize the patient before the call is made. Often even less.</p><p>Enter technology to the rescue. For the past several years, TapestryHealth has been expanding their data to the point where their artificial intelligence is basing predictions on TRILLIONS of bits of data. Since Covid, Tapestry has been providing advance notice of viral outbreaks and potential hospitalizations as much as 72 hours in advance of symptoms being detected by staff. That much notice allowed the facilities relying on Tapestry to begin treatments and in most cases, to avoid hospitalizing the resident.</p><p>More recently, TapestryHealth has added a whole new dimension to their AI. Radar-wave technology from Neteera is the newest addition to their suite of services, and it is dramatically increasing their advance warning time. By adding 24/7 contactless radar-wave technology to measure things like respiration and heart rate, TapestryHealth’s advanced AI is accurately predicting potential hospitalizations on average, as much as five days in advance. Five days of clinical intervention can completely change a patient’s outlook. In almost all cases, hospitalization can be avoided and the patient successfully treated in their own room.</p><p>Perhaps one of the most important aspects of this radar-wave technology is that it enables Tapestry to differentiate its AI among patients. Because each patient is monitored individually, Tapestry establishes a unique baseline for every patient so that their predictive analytics relate specifically to that individual. Prior models based their predictions on similar data sets among a population of thousands of similar patients. Now those predictions are based on a combination of thousands of similar patients and the specific individuals’ unique history. This constant monitoring makes spotting trends in both the facility and the individual patients fast and accurate, and those trends can be analyzed against thousands of others. The end result is that Tapestry can now see even further into the future. </p><h3>Clinically Proven Results</h3><p>In their recent joint efficacy study, Tapestry and Neteera have revealed significant advantages when their two technologies are paired together:</p><p><img src="/Articles/PublishingImages/2026/Tapestry%20Health_Chart%20Graphic.png" alt="" style="margin:5px;" /><br><br><img src="/Articles/PublishingImages/2026/MordyEisenberg.jpg" class="ms-rtePosition-2" alt="" style="margin:5px;" />This study proves that continuous evaluation and integration of technologies can demonstrably improve post-acute care. Clearly, pairing the right technology with right provider creates transformational outcomes. TapestryHealth has added Neteera’s technology to their suite of services as part of their ongoing Tapestry Guarantee that assures clients that any new technologies Tapestry adds in the future are automatically included for every client at no cost to them. Now, regardless of size, location, or financial position, earlier intervention than ever before, dramatically fewer emergency transfers, better outcomes, and improved cost-efficiency are within the reach of every skilled nursing facility in the country. <br><br><em>Mordy Eisenberg is the Co-Founder and Chief Growth Officer of TapestryHealth. Learn more at </em><a href="http://www.tapestryhealth.com/" data-feathr-click-track="true" data-feathr-link-aids="60b7cbf17788425491b2d083" target="_blank"><em>www.TapestryHealth.com</em></a><em> or contact Mordy directly by email at </em><a href="mailto:meisenberg@TapestryHealth.com" data-feathr-click-track="true" data-feathr-link-aids="60b7cbf17788425491b2d083" target="_blank"><em>meisenberg@TapestryHealth.com</em></a><em> or call, text, or What'sApp to  845-694-7288.</em></p> | 2026-01-27T05:00:00Z | <img alt="" src="/Articles/PublishingImages/740%20x%20740/dr_ipad2.jpg" style="BORDER:0px solid;" /> | Technology | Mordy Eisenberg | Each year, thousands of nursing home residents are put at risk, and the greatest shame of it all is that most of those hospitalizations could have easily been avoided. |
| Long Term Care 2026 Trends and Outlook | <p>With the new year comes a long-awaited demographic milestone: in 2026, the oldest baby boomers finally turn 80, heralding the <a href="/Issues/2025/Spring/Pages/Finding-Solutions-for-the-Booming-Long-Term-Care-Population.aspx" data-feathr-click-track="true" data-feathr-link-aids="60b7cbf17788425491b2d083" target="_blank">silver tsunami</a> that promises to reshape senior living. Over the coming year, providers will face intense pressures and foster exciting innovations as they strive to deliver quality care to the next generation of customers.</p><p>“In 2026, long term care is sitting at the fulcrum of change: on one side are the pressures of the here-and-now; on the other, the blue-sky potential of what lies ahead,” said Clifton Porter II, president and CEO of AHCA/NCAL. “Our constant challenge is to deliver for our residents in our current environment while also shaping the future. AHCA is focused on helping providers strengthen our workforce, address concerns around Medicare Advantage, and rationalize the regulatory environment. As we pursue a better way forward, long term care will come out stronger, wiser and even more prepared to answer the nation’s call for care.”</p><p>As they answer that call, providers will negotiate a complex array of trends and challenges, including evolving care models, cutting-edge new technologies, and dynamic new design paradigms. </p><h3>Mastering New Care Models</h3><p>One of the most significant trends is the growth of value-based care and managed care models, fueled by the expansion of Medicare Advantage (MA) and Managed Medicaid. In early January, the accounting and business advisory firm Plante Moran released its <a href="https://www.plantemoran.com/explore-our-thinking/insight/2026/01/2026-snf-benchmark-report" data-feathr-click-track="true" data-feathr-link-aids="60b7cbf17788425491b2d083" target="_blank"><em>2026 Skilled Nursing Facility Medicare Benchmarking Report,</em></a> based on data from 2023-2024. “MA penetration has surpassed traditional Medicare enrollment and is expected to keep climbing,” the report found, meaning tighter margins and higher administrative burdens for providers. </p><p><img src="/Articles/PublishingImages/2026/60622809.jpg" class="ms-rtePosition-2" alt="" style="margin:5px;width:400px;height:298px;" />Denise Leonard, a partner at Plante Moran who specializes in senior care, acknowledged that it can be challenging to navigate this new terrain. When it comes to Medicare Advantage, she recommends providers ensure their entire teams have a granular understanding of their Medicare contracts. “They need to know which days and services are covered and work with the plan if additional days or services are required,” she said. “Otherwise, you’re likely not going to get paid for those services.”</p><p>As providers are likely all too aware, MA rates have stagnated and in many cases are simply too low to cover expenses. “I would recommend that people be proactive with those contract negotiations—ask for rate increases, share your five-star ratings, your quality results, and what your hospital readmissions look like,” Leonard advised. “Be prepared, going into those meetings, with your data and your story, and also understand financially what your expenses look like. What is your margin on providing care? I find often that the team or the facility don’t have the contract data, and it’s important for them to understand that.”</p><p>Much of Leonard’s advice for providers embracing value-based care (VBC) models boils down to something simple but vital: do your homework. “Organizations need to be intentional and educated on the drivers of these different VBC programs, because they’re all different,” she said. (AHCA/NCAL has rolled out <span class="ms-rteThemeForeColor-2-0"><a href="https://www.ahcancal.org/News-and-Communications/Blog/Pages/AHCA-Announces-New-Provider-Toolkit-for-CMMI-Model-TEAM.aspx" data-feathr-click-track="true" data-feathr-link-aids="60b7cbf17788425491b2d083" target="_blank">provider toolkits</a></span> for some of the new VBP models.) </p><p>Depending on the program’s metrics, providers may need to adjust their workflows accordingly. Adapting to a program that relies on staffing data, for example, would require timely, accurate PBJ submissions—an area where Leonard sees a surprising number of organizations fall short, for reasons as simple as technology hiccups or a staff member going on vacation.</p><p>“Invest in staff education and have a backup plan during times of vacation, medical leave, or turnover,” she advised. “We often see these being the issues when an organization suddenly has a dip in their quality results.”</p><p>Plante Moran’s data point to another means of bringing in additional revenue while improving clinical outcomes: participating in <a href="/Issues/2022/SeptOct/Pages/Special-Needs-Plans-Improve-Care-and-Access.aspx" data-feathr-click-track="true" data-feathr-link-aids="60b7cbf17788425491b2d083" target="_blank">Institutional Special Needs Plans,</a> or I-SNPs, which are MA plans for individuals who require long term institutional-level care. I-SNP enrollment has seen marked growth over the last decade, from 50,000 in 2015 to 130,000 in 2025, according to the report. For providers, these plans help create value-based revenue streams inaccessible in fee-for-service models.</p><p>“There are definitely a lot of benefits to an I-SNP,” Leonard said. “This is an opportunity to be compensated for the great care that you're already providing. It means working to keep the individual in the facility versus sending them to the hospital, skilling in place, and improving outcomes.”</p><p>In addition to the revenue opportunities, I-SNPs typically place a nurse practitioner in the facility, benefitting residents and staff alike. “The families appreciate having a nurse practitioner involved,” Leonard explained. “From the nursing staff standpoint, it's a great opportunity to have them learn from someone with incredible clinical knowledge.”</p><h3>Clinical Diversification and High-Acuity Care</h3><p>As the population ages, the complexity of care required in long term care settings will grow accordingly. “For nursing homes, the headline trend is acuity and complexity,” said Mark Prifogle, chair of the American College of Health Care Administrators (ACHCA). “Providers are increasingly asked to serve residents with greater clinical and behavioral needs, while demonstrating measurable outcomes and reliably managing transitions to and from hospitals."</p><p>With greater complexity come greater costs. To meet evolving clinical needs while mitigating financial pressures, providers are finding new, innovative ways of diversifying their revenue streams. As the Plante Moran report highlights, some expansions include the addition of high-acuity services like memory care, ventilator units, and onsite dialysis. “With the ventilator services specifically, it provides a better placement option than a hospital for those individuals who have a prolonged need for ventilator use,” Leonard said. “Onsite dialysis is less taxing on the individual, as they are able to avoid transportation and remain in the nursing community.”</p><p>A successful diversification strategy is intentional and data-informed. Leonard advises providers to complete a robust due diligence process before expanding, including market analysis, competitor analysis, and a careful look at state Medicaid reimbursement models for specialized services. She also recommended speaking with hospital and health system partners to understand their needs and identify potential avenues for collaboration.</p><p>The pressure to innovate extends across the care spectrum, from skilled nursing facilities to assisted living. “Assisted living continues to play an important role in the long term care continuum,” said LaShuan Bethea, executive director of NCAL, in a statement about the challenges ahead. “We know the population is aging, and an increasing number of people with a focus on preserving health and wellness will need our care. We will continue to advocate at the state and federal levels for impactful change, offer solutions for more affordable assisted living options, and innovate in ways that allow providers to deliver the highest quality care to current and future residents.”</p><h3>Leveraging Artificial Intelligence, Intelligently</h3><p>Caregiver technologies continue to advance, powered by the rapid clip of new developments in artificial intelligence. Consider fall detection technology, which typically uses accelerometers to measure abrupt changes in speed. Chia-Lin Simmons, CEO of the personal safety, health, and caregiver tech developer LogicMark, suggested that AI can help capture the broader range of experiences involved in falls.</p><p>“Falls, for the elderly, are not just a one-dimensional experience,” she explained. “It’s not just about speed and then a stop: a lot of seniors slump, for example. How would you capture that in an accelerometer-based algorithm? We’re interested in understanding how that is applied to caretaking technology.”</p><p><img src="/Articles/PublishingImages/2025/AI_memory.jpg" class="ms-rtePosition-1" alt="" style="margin:5px;width:365px;height:365px;" />Another frontier is the use of predictive AI to make sense of massive datasets and flag potential health risks, facilitating the broader shift from reactive to preventative care. One example Simmons offered is whether medication adherence data, or subtle changes in daily activity, might be able to identify patients at increased risk of falls and other serious conditions.</p><p>“Our job is to focus not just on figuring out if someone had a fall and getting them help as soon as possible—that’s a 100 percent table stakes, must-be-done kind of thing,” she said. “But are we seeing someone who is less active or are we seeing a pattern of inconsistencies that can give us a marker for potential early mental health deterioration, early Alzheimer’s, or dementia? Those things are, I think, the most exciting parts of what we can expect to see.”</p><p>“Can we try to look for a problem before it occurs?” Simmons added. “What are the markers that we can reveal using AI from a dataset perspective to say, ‘This looks like a risk for heart conditions,’ for example? I see 2026 as a year where a lot of companies are going to put more focus on that.”</p><p>Bruce Rosenblatt, owner of Senior Housing Solutions, echoed Simmons’ prediction that AI will play more of an active role in resident monitoring and safety. At the same time, he cautioned providers to bear in mind that their customers may be wary about new technologies, and to integrate them carefully. As an example of thoughtful, patient-centric design, he described one community that installed movement sensors in light fixtures. </p><p>“It’s noninvasive, but it’s a way to keep track of whether someone has fallen, or if they’re not moving in their residence,” he said. “We're with a generation of people that are not so familiar with technology and it could be frightening to people, so I would say take it slow.”</p><h3>Higher Quality Environments</h3><p>As industry leaders are well aware, the modern senior living consumer is in search of a <a href="/Issues/2025/Summer/Pages/Matching-the-Mindset-of-Active,-Independent-Baby-Boomers.aspx" data-feathr-click-track="true" data-feathr-link-aids="60b7cbf17788425491b2d083" target="_blank">lifestyle product as well as a care product.</a> In 2026, the demand will only increase for resort-style communities with wellness amenities, opportunities for social engagement, and beautiful design.</p><p>“In senior housing, the pressure is on to prove value,” said ACHCA’s Mark Prifogle. “Older adults and families are more discerning about pricing, experience, wellness offerings, and flexibility—so operators must connect lifestyle, community, and access to supportive services in ways that feel simple and trustworthy.</p><p>As Rosenblatt looks to the year ahead, he anticipates more spacious living spaces, including ones that blur traditional boundaries. “I’d say larger residences are on the horizon, which is a great trend where they’re offering larger two-bedrooms and three-bedrooms,” he said. “The other trend that is occurring is that independent living and assisted living are being combined so people can age in place in their residences and not have to transfer to a separate wing or a separate building.”</p><p>Martin Kimmel, president of Kimmel Architecture, hopes providers embrace those blurring lines. “It is important that communities get better at allowing residents to age in place and receive care in their home rather moving folks into different levels of acuity care. It improves residents’ sense of well-being when they have in-unit care instead—when residents don't feel like they have to move to a new wing, their anxiety levels go down. Staying at home eliminates the trauma and indignities associated with a move,” he said. </p><p>“Conventional thinking has been that in-unit care is more expensive than consolidating all those that need care into a dedicated wing,” said Kimmel. “I think that people are starting to embrace the reality that it is not more expensive when you look at ALL of the costs. When you consider the true cost of dedicated units including staffing and keeping them full to optimize labor versus the stabilized costs of keeping residents in a unit, it can level or even lower the costs,” Kimmel added. “I believe the best operators are starting to embrace this and moreover, it creates a market advantage when considering how much peace of mind it gives residents and family decision makers. There may be some small risks in a new approach, but there’s great opportunity too.”</p><p><img src="/Articles/PublishingImages/2026/107196504_window.jpg" class="ms-rtePosition-2" alt="" style="margin:5px;width:400px;height:278px;" />As a designer, Kimmel predicts another important trend in senior living spaces: more sunlight. Whereas it used to be prohibitively (or at least significantly) expensive to provide ample natural light, the cost of windows has come down, making it easier for communities to give their residents bright sunlit interiors.</p><p>“With the way building codes have evolved, windows now cost equal to or less per square foot than walls do, which is kind of counterintuitive,” Kimmel explained. “The window industry has become so mechanized that you can now buy windows very cost effectively. Walls include huge amounts of labor, materials, layers and moisture protection, even the insulation that’s required. Over time, walls have gotten more expensive while window costs have proportionally declined.”</p><p>Crucially, the economics favor <em>larger</em> windows rather than <em>more</em> windows. “Lots of openings cost more money, because each opening has to be individually treated, flashed from the outside, and trimmed from the inside,” Kimmel said. “But if you can have fewer larger window openings where manufactured units are grouped together, you create a double benefit: it costs less and it's more daylight. It's beautiful and the units are more attractive.”</p><p>Beautiful, well-designed environments don’t have to cost more when creativity is used to design waste out. Kimmel argued that when you choose to invest more in a particular area, it can be well worth it. “The owner operators that we know of are embracing the idea that making a better, higher-quality environment is worth the investment on all levels—absorption, retention, well-being, and wellness,” he said. “I think it's easier to keep people employed in facilities that feel better than ones that feel not so good. And I feel like the industry pivot to that is good on all levels.”</p><h3>The Path Forward</h3><p>As the senior living industry enters 2026, it still faces real challenges in the form of workforce shortages, changing regulatory frameworks, and funding cuts. Still, providers and experts see immense opportunities to innovate, adapt, and transform the standard of care for a rapidly growing elderly population. </p><p>“Across the continuum, the winning organizations will be the ones that treat workforce stability as a core strategy, equip frontline leaders with real decision-making tools, and use technology to remove friction, rather than replace relationships,” Prifogle concluded. “I’m optimistic about 2026 because the path forward is clear: deliver a consistently excellent resident experience, communicate transparently, and partner effectively across settings so that every transition feels safe, coordinated, and human.”</p><p><em>Steve Manning is a journalist based in New York City.</em></p><p><em><br></em></p><p><em><span style="font-family:aptos, sans-serif;font-size:14.6667px;color:#212121;">Provider<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><em>magazine includes information from a variety of sources, such as contributing experts. The views expressed by external contributors do not necessarily reflect the views of<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></em>Provider<em> magazine and AHCA/NCAL.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></em></span><span style="font-family:aptos, sans-serif;font-size:14.6667px;color:#96607d;"><em><span style="text-decoration:underline;"><a href="/About/Pages/Submit-Article.aspx" title="https://www.providermagazine.com/About/Pages/Submit-Article.aspx" data-outlook-id="badae440-b0ce-4219-9c08-f7e349a8e3d6" data-feathr-click-track="true" data-feathr-link-aids="60b7cbf17788425491b2d083" target="_blank" style="color:#96607d;margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;">Learn how to submit an article.</a></span></em></span><br></em></p> | 2026-01-20T05:00:00Z | <img alt="" src="/Articles/PublishingImages/2026/desktop_data.jpg" style="BORDER:0px solid;" /> | Caregiving;Management | Steve Manning | Over the coming year, providers will face intense pressures and foster exciting innovations as they strive to deliver quality care to the next generation of customers. |
| Virtual Care and Wearables to Manage Chronic Disease in Long Term Care | <p><img src="/Articles/PublishingImages/2026/wearable.jpg" class="ms-rtePosition-2" alt="" style="margin:5px;width:350px;height:350px;" />Long term and post-acute care has always lived at the intersection of medicine, aging, and daily routine. Every resident brings a unique mix of chronic conditions, personal history, and day-to-day needs. Staff balance clinical complexity with daily schedules, and subtle changes often reveal themselves in small ways long before they become obvious problems. In this environment, catching early signs of decline is both essential and difficult.</p><p>In recent years, virtual care and wearable health devices have opened new possibilities by giving clinicians clearer visibility into residents’ health between visits. For the first time, long term care teams can see trends that were previously invisible: shifts in heart rate, nighttime oxygen levels, mobility patterns, and early signals of physiological stress. These insights offer a path toward more proactive and less crisis-driven care.</p><h3>The Chronic Care Reality in Long Term Care</h3><p>Residents in long term care often live with multiple chronic illnesses such as heart failure, COPD, diabetes, dementia, renal disease, and frailty. These conditions rarely worsen in dramatic episodes. Instead, they progress quietly:<br></p><ul><li>A small change in breathing.</li><li>A few disrupted nights of sleep.</li><li>Less movement or activity.</li><li>Slight agitation or confusion.</li><li>Irregular heart rate patterns.</li></ul><p>These are early signs of decline, but they’re easy to miss when daily routines are full. Historically, the industry has relied on intuition, experience, and routine vitals. Those skills remain indispensable, but they alone can’t cover the growing complexity of residents’ needs.</p><p>Wearables and virtual care don’t replace clinical intuition— they extend it.</p><h3>How Wearables Create Continuous Awareness</h3><p>Modern wearables used in long term care settings are not consumer gadgets. They’re lightweight, discreet, and designed for older adults who may not tolerate bulky devices. They can monitor:<br></p><ul><li>Heart rate and variability.</li><li>Oxygen saturation.</li><li>Sleep cycles.</li><li>Respiratory patterns.</li><li>Steps and mobility.</li><li>Gait changes.</li><li>Restlessness or nighttime wandering.</li><li>Indicators of stress or fatigue.</li></ul><p>The true value isn’t a single reading of the trajectory. A resident may look fine at 8 a.m., but the data from the previous night may tell a different story.</p><p>These devices quietly create a baseline for each resident, allowing clinicians to see when someone is deviating from their normal pattern—often days before symptoms appear.</p><h3>Virtual Care Turns Signals Into Meaningful Action</h3><p>Data doesn’t help unless someone is responsible for interpreting it. Virtual care teams, remote nurses, physicians, and advanced practice providers bridge that gap. They monitor trends, review alerts, and coordinate with on-site staff.</p><p>A typical workflow may look like this:<br></p><ol><li>Residents wear a device that passively collects vital data.</li><li>When the data deviates from baseline, an alert is generated.</li><li>A virtual clinician reviews the trend and confirms whether it’s clinically meaningful.</li><li>The virtual team contacts the facility to gather context.</li><li>If needed, a virtual consultation happens the same day.</li><li>Treatment adjustments, medication changes, hydration, breathing exercises, or closer observation are made quickly.</li></ol><p>This process doesn’t disrupt staff routine; it strengthens it. Instead of scrambling during emergencies, teams can address issues while they’re still manageable.</p><h3>Case Example 1: Preventing a Heart Failure Exacerbation</h3><p>A resident with chronic heart failure begins showing a subtle rise in nighttime heart rate and a gradual drop in mobility over three days. Staff hadn’t noticed major symptoms yet.</p><p>A virtual nurse reviewing the data flags the trend and contacts the facility. After a quick assessment, the provider adjusts the resident’s diuretic dose and orders extra monitoring. Within 24 hours, the resident stabilizes, avoiding what could have been a hospitalization.</p><h3>Case Example 2: Early COPD Detection Before an Emergency</h3><p>A resident with COPD experiences small drops in oxygen saturation overnight, still within “safe” ranges but lower than their personal baseline. The wearable catches the change long before the resident feels short of breath.</p><p>A virtual provider evaluates the pattern, conducts a same-day virtual check, and adjusts inhaler use. The resident improves without needing an ER visit.</p><p>These small interventions add up: fewer transfers, fewer acute episodes, and more predictable care.</p><h3>The Benefits for Long Term Care Providers</h3><p><strong>1.    Fewer Avoidable Hospital Transfers.</strong><br>Early intervention can prevent many common causes of hospitalization fluid overload, infection, respiratory decline, dehydration, and medication complications.</p><p><b>2.    More Stable Workflows.<br></b>Instead of reacting to emergencies, staff can address issues earlier when they are easier to manage.</p><p><b>3.    Better Clinical Documentation.<br></b>Continuous data provides objective evidence for care plans, surveys, and family conversations.</p><p><strong>4.    Stronger Family Confidence.</strong><br>Families appreciate knowing their loved ones are monitored throughout the day and night.</p><p><strong>5.    Support for Staffing Challenges.</strong><br>In periods of staffing shortages, virtual monitoring acts as an extra layer of awareness, reducing the burden on on-site teams.</p><h3>Implementation Challenges and How to Avoid Them</h3><p>Long term care facilities must consider several practical factors when adopting wearables:<br></p><ul><li><strong>Choosing the Right Devices:</strong> Devices must be comfortable, durable, and suitable for older adults including those with cognitive impairment.</li><li><strong>Avoiding Alert Fatigue: </strong>Alerts need to be based on changes from each resident’s baseline, not rigid population-level thresholds.</li><li><strong>Training Staff: </strong>Clear roles are essential so staff know when to escalate concerns and when virtual teams will take the lead.</li><li><strong>Electronic Health Record Compatibility:</strong> Not all systems integrate smoothly; sometimes a middleware or dashboard is necessary.</li><li><strong>Resident Tolerance and Privacy: </strong>Consent, comfort, and respectful use remain central.</li></ul><p>These challenges are manageable with thoughtful planning.</p><h3>A New Model for Proactive Care</h3><p>Long term care has always valued early detection, but until recently, the tools weren’t available to consistently support it. Wearables and virtual monitoring allow teams to shift from a reactive model responding to visible symptoms to a proactive one where subtle changes trigger early action.</p><p>This isn’t about replacing people. It’s about giving clinicians the information they need but didn’t have access to. It allows nurses to intervene earlier. It helps residents stay stable in the place they call home. It reduces stress for staff and supports better clinical outcomes without adding to their daily workload.</p><p><img src="/Articles/PublishingImages/2026/Vaishnavi-Gadve.jpg" alt="Vaishnavi Gadve" class="ms-rtePosition-2" style="margin:5px;" />As chronic disease becomes more complex and resident needs continue to grow, facilities need tools that help them stay ahead, rather than catching up. Virtual care and wearables are not a luxury; they are becoming a foundational part of modern long term care. They help the industry move toward a future where fewer problems escalate, fewer residents experience preventable decline, and more care is delivered before and not after crisis strikes.<br><br><em>Vaishnavi Gadve is a research-driven health care engineer specializing in advanced language models and data-driven clinical decision systems. She works across the full lifecycle of digital health solutions building scalable pipelines, designing intelligent prototypes, and applying predictive modeling to solve real problems in care delivery. She can be contacted at <a href="mailto:vaishnavigadve143@gmail.com" data-feathr-click-track="true" data-feathr-link-aids="60b7cbf17788425491b2d083" target="_blank">vaishnavigadve143@gmail.com</a>.</em></p><p><em><br></em></p><p><em><span style="font-family:aptos, sans-serif;font-size:14.6667px;color:#212121;"></span></em></p><p><span style="font-family:aptos, sans-serif;font-size:14.6667px;color:#212121;">Provider<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><em>magazine includes information from a variety of sources, such as contributing experts. The views expressed by external contributors do not necessarily reflect the views of</em><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><em>Provider</em><em> magazine and AHCA/NCAL.</em><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="font-family:aptos, sans-serif;font-size:14.6667px;color:#96607d;"><span style="text-decoration:underline;"><a href="/About/Pages/Submit-Article.aspx" title="https://www.providermagazine.com/About/Pages/Submit-Article.aspx" data-outlook-id="badae440-b0ce-4219-9c08-f7e349a8e3d6" data-feathr-click-track="true" data-feathr-link-aids="60b7cbf17788425491b2d083" target="_blank" style="color:#96607d;margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"><em>Learn how to submit an article.</em></a></span></span><br></p> | 2026-01-06T05:00:00Z | <img alt="" src="/Articles/PublishingImages/2026/wearable.jpg" style="BORDER:0px solid;" /> | Caregiving;Technology | Vaishnavi Gadve | In recent years, virtual care and wearable health devices have opened new possibilities by giving clinicians clearer visibility into residents’ health between visits. |