As long term care providers navigate a complex web of economic and policy pressures, from historic labor shortages to ballooning operational costs, their survival increasingly depends on quality data. The challenge is not quite as simple as going and looking up the data they need, however, it’s also a matter of organizing and transforming that data into actionable insights.
Enter Long Term Care (LTC) Trend TrackerTM.
Launched in 2013, LTC Trend Tracker is a powerful web-based platform for AHCA/NCAL members. In short, it’s a one-stop-shop for providers, consolidating mammoth quantities of information into a single, user-friendly interface. AHCA/NCAL receives data from user uploads and government agencies such as the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), cleans it up, and provides it to member organizations for free.
As KeShawn Franklin, a project manager at AHCA/NCAL, explained, the tool solves a common problem for providers: “People just aren’t aware of where to go to find the data they need,” she said. “When they do find out where to go, they have more opportunities to make better-informed decisions about their operations.”
Tailored Tools for Every Provider
For skilled nursing facilities (SNFs), LTC Trend Tracker provides a centralized data hub at the click of a button. For assisted living communities, which are regulated at the state level, it provides a system for providers to upload their own data and generate detailed reports across a variety of metrics. Once users log in, they can use the system platform to zoom in to their own operations at a granular level, or zoom out to a bird’s eye view, comparing their own organization against peers and competitors at the local, regional, and national levels. Every provider’s data is private and secure—users can only see their own information, while other organizations’ data are reported in aggregate.
LTC Trend Tracker is a valuable tool for small, independent providers as well as large corporations that operate across multiple regions. At John Clarke Senior Living, a nonprofit SNF in Rhode Island with 60 beds, CEO Joan Woods described the Trend Tracker as “indispensable.” “I don’t think I could do strategic planning without it,” she said.
Meanwhile at Areté Living, whose portfolio includes assisted and independent living as well as memory care facilities in nine states, Director of Quality and Compliance Jennifer Svoboda offered a similar perspective.
“Areté Living has been a user of LTC Trend Tracker for many years,” she said. “The ability to track and compare performance both against our peers and within our own teams allows us to identify when metrics fall outside of standards and develop action plans for continuous improvement.”
LTC Trend Tracker makes complex data clear, legible, and actionable. When users log in, their dashboard provides an instant snapshot of their performance in key metrics, as compared to their peers. (These metrics include staffing, survey citations, hospitalizations, and average Medicare rates.) They can use the tool to generate reports based on these metrics, and then use these reports for planning, marketing, collaborating with partner organizations or policymakers—whatever they need.
Woods, for instance, distributes customized reports to her board members and department heads at John Clarke ahead of strategic planning sessions. “One of the things we learned is that getting this information out prior to the strategic planning session is important, so that people have time to digest,” she said. “I give my staff the opportunity to come back and ask for information presented in a different way, so that we're getting the best data that we use to make strategic decisions about where we're going to go.”
She also finds the tool essential in her work with legislators. “We try to have our congressional delegation in here as much as we can, so having that data and information available is really important,” she explained. “It’s invaluable to be able to say, ‘Here’s how we’re doing compared to…’ or ‘This is how our whole community is doing.’ To be able to show your delegation that information, that's important to them. That gets their interest.”
Equally important to her is the quarterly Top-Line publication, which includes progress reports on each member facility’s Five-Star Performance, Quality Initiative, and Quality Award status. “It's a very simple, condensed way to demonstrate how well we're doing,” she said. “I always roll that into my quality assurance meetings and board meetings. If you’ve got investors, it’s a great way to show your investors how well you’re doing.”
From Raw Data to Actionable Insights
Although LTC Trend Tracker asks a little more of assisted living providers, who have to manually upload their own data into the system, the resource is no less valuable for the effort. “By analyzing the data from Trend Tracker, we have a clearer, data-driven foundation for our strategic planning process,” said Svoboda at Areté Living. “With Trend Tracker, we can pinpoint areas that need focused attention and resources. Additionally, analyzing trends in our data helps us identify areas where we are meeting expectations, making progress, or falling short of our goals.”
By transforming raw data into specific, customizable reports, LTC Trend Tracker gives administrators a vital edge when it comes to monitoring performance and ensuring accountability. “Leaders can quickly access key quality metrics, allowing for timely interventions when metrics are not within the company standard,” Svoboda added. “Being able to benchmark against peers is critical to understanding market position and identifying areas of excellence and areas of needed improvement. Outside comparisons allow us to be further accountable for how we are doing in the context of the market.”
In 2024, at the request of assisted living providers, LTC Trend Tracker added a new measure tracking falls and falls with injury. Svoboda said that this is an especially valuable metric for her organization, though she stressed that all the quality metrics are important. “This measure is important because major injury can have a profound impact on the quality of life of our residents,” she explained. “It is a powerful indicator of clinical effectiveness and our ability to provide proactive and comprehensive care.”
Leveraging Predictive Powers
Users can also avail themselves of LTC Trend Tracker’s predictive tools. The Five-Star Quality Measure Predictor Tool, for instance, allows buildings to input hypothetical improvements to individual quality measures and predict how those changes would affect their Five-Star rating. Then there’s the SNF Value Based Purchasing (SNF VBP) Predictor Tool, which allows providers to see their predicted Medicare reimbursement and, therefore, plan for its potential effects. “The value-based purchasing tool is fabulous,” Woods enthused.
From a practical standpoint, LTC Trend Tracker is straightforward to use, with AHCA/NCAL providing detailed guides and virtual training. Franklin’s team routinely adds new features, like the recent Provider Network Data Dashboard, and engages in quarterly feedback sessions with a work group of member-users. “Most of the feedback has been positive,” she said. “Just the fact that they can log into one place and be able to access different types of reports has definitely been the highlight of this particular data tool.”
Looking to the future, Franklin said that there are significant enhancements—including a major user interface upgrade—planned throughout the next year. On the provider side, both Woods and Svoboda encouraged their peers to make use of the tool.
“To understand how you stand up against other organizations—community-, state-, county-, nation-, whatever-wide—is really important,” Woods said. “As an independent owner of a small business, not-for-profit organization, I don't have the benefit of being able to compare myself to other members of a corporation. So, this is extraordinarily valuable to me.”
“It allows for a data-driven approach to addressing clinical and operational challenges,” Svoboda agreed. “While there is some comparative data out there, specifically for assisted living, LTC Trend Tracker provides the ability to compare against peers. LTC Trend Tracker is a valuable, approved resource, not available anywhere else.”
Steve Manning is a journalist based in New York City.