Information and communication technology (ICT) infrastructure remains the most popular technology investment among aging services providers, although these investments continue to decline over time. Data analytics tools are the next investment on providers’ lists, and robotics technologies are showing promise. These findings come from the Ziegler CFO Hotline^SM Technology Spending Report released in July 2024.

LeadingAge CAST offers input on this bi-annual survey started in 2012. Ziegler is a LeadingAge CAST Gold Partner.

Leaders of more than 100 aging services organizations completed the survey, including chief financial officers, finance contacts, and chief technology/information officers. Approximately 61% of respondents were single-site organizations, with 39% representing multi-site organizations.

The results indicate that providers are planning for the future. “As providers increasingly collect vast amounts of data, they are not just looking to understand what has happened in the past, but also to gain insights that can help predict future trends and needs,” said Scott Code, vice president of LeadingAge CAST. “This shift toward predictive analytics is crucial for anticipating resident needs and optimizing operations. At the same time, automation is making inroads in senior living, offering new ways to enhance efficiency and care delivery.”

Top Five Technologies

The survey pinpointed the top five technology investments that senior living providers made over the past year.

ICT infrastructure, such as high-speed internet connectivity and wired/wireless infrastructure, remains the top investment, at 58%. However, the percentage of respondents investing in ICT dropped 16% from 2022 to 2024, continuing a steady decline over the past 12 years.

Investments in the remaining top technologies stayed relatively stable, moving only a few percentage points in the past two years:

• 51%: Electronic Medical/Health Record Systems (EMR/EHR)
• 48%: Workforce/Staffing Scheduling Systems
• 47%: Electronic Point of Care/Point of Service Documentation Systems (POC/POS)
• 44%: Access Control/Wander Management Systems

Future Investments

In the next year, respondents expect their organizations to invest in these top three technologies:

• 40%: Data Analytics Tools, including Dashboards/Decision Support
• 30%: Access Control/Wander Management Systems
• 29%: Electronic Medical/Health Record Systems (EMR/EHR)

In addition, nearly one-quarter of respondents plan to invest in these technologies:

• 24%: Robotic Process Automation (RPA)
• 24%: ICT Infrastructure
• 24%: Workforce/Staffing Scheduling Systems
• 23%: Automatic Fall Detectors

Robotics Adoption and Benefits

The survey indicates a large growth potential for Robotic Process Automation (RPA) tools, as 24% of respondents plan to invest in them. Currently only 9% of respondents are investing in RPA. However, that number is up 6% since 2022.

The future also looks bright for artificial intelligence (AI) robotic technology. Of the 13% who said they use these technologies, most are tapping AI robotics to assist with simple dining tasks like serving food and cleaning tables. Some organizations are using text-based capabilities of AI, writing policies and code with ChatGPT and using built-in AI assistant functions on internal messaging systems.

Of the 87% who are not using AI robotic technology, 46% said they are planning to tap it in the future, and 54% are not.

Respondents who are using these AI tools are seeing less staff stress, automated processes, and lower labor costs. Several providers said it was too early to tell what impact AI would have on their organization.

Technologies on the Wane

Over the past year, only 14% of organizations invested in shared care planning and care coordination tools. Interoperability is also seeing a decline, with investments in health information exchange tools dropping from 23% to 14% between 2022 and 2024.

Continuing post-pandemic trends, organizations are investing less in several types of technologies. Video conferencing capabilities for residents/clients are leveling off after a sharp increase during the pandemic. In the past two years, those investments have dropped from 41% to 18%.

Other solutions seeing decreases over the past two years are telehealth solutions (dropping from 26% to 16%), infection control systems (decreasing from 41% to 16%), and staff and resident screening technologies (shrinking from 42% to 15%).

Budgets

The budgets to enable technology investments remain fairly stable.

Among all sites, the percentage of capital budgets devoted to technologies in the past year is 8.8% on average, with a 6% median. At multi-sites, the average is 8.9% and 8% median. Those numbers have increased slightly since the 2022 survey, growing 1.8% and 3%, respectively.

However, on average, organizations devoted more capital budget to campus, building, and facility expenses. These investments increased slightly since 2022, with an average of 15.5% and a median of 7%.

See the Full Results

For additional insights on trends in technology investments, download the Ziegler CFO Hotline^SM Technology Spending Report.