On Election Day, we at LeadingAge CAST encourage you to exercise your Constitutional right to vote! Exercising this right during these challenging times elevates this right, in my personal opinion, to a personal and societal responsibility regardless of your political affiliation, so I do hope you do go out and vote, if you haven’t already! For voting information, please see the nonprofit, nonpartisan get-out-the-vote technology platform Vote.org.
Later this month, LeadingAge and CAST will offer a Virtual Experience Nov. 10-12 and 17-19 to give you the latest on screening, social connectedness, and telehealth technologies that can assist with your COVID-19 response. Be sure to catch these and other invaluable sessions, including our online CAST networking reception.
In this issue of Tech Time, learn more about these technologies, findings from the latest LeadingAge Ziegler 200 survey, and a LeadingAge survey of affordable housing providers. Read on!
Register Today for CAST Virtual Experience Sessions
Don’t miss the chance to join CAST’s special technology sessions at this year’s LeadingAge Annual Meeting Virtual Experience, taking place November 10-12 and November 17-19, 2020. Please register to attend these key sessions:
- Staff and Resident Screening Technology During COVID-19
- Leveraging Social Connectedness Technology During COVID-19
- Telehealth: Case Studies from the Trenches
- Virtual CAST Networking Reception (RSVP required; registered attendees only)
Join LeadingAge, VNAA/ElevatingHOME, and the Global Ageing Network to gain key insights that will help you at this challenging time. We look forward to reconnecting with you. Register today!
LeadingAge and Ziegler Release Latest LZ 200
For the first time, a majority of the nation’s 200 largest not-for-profit senior living organizations have adopted social connectedness/resident engagement technologies. Just over half are using health information exchange (HIE) technologies, and nearly one-third have adopted advanced analytic tools, the latest technology categories added this year.
Be sure to review a summary of key findings from the 17th Annual LeadingAge Ziegler 200 (LZ 200) report. LeadingAge and Ziegler, a LeadingAge Gold Partner with CAST Focus and one of the nation’s leading underwriters of financings for not-for-profit senior living providers, have teamed to bring you this valuable research.
LeadingAge Survey: Social Isolation a Top Challenge in Affordable Senior Housing
New research from LeadingAge reveals that 84% of affordable-senior-housing providers worry about social isolation among their residents more than any other challenge. Yet nearly 40% of residents face difficulties in gaining access to the internet, which can ease loneliness, as we all know.
Recent Cybersecurity Attacks Target Retirement Communities
The FBI, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) have warned that cybercriminals are stepping up ransomware attacks on health sector groups as the organizations grappled with a new wave of COVID-19 cases, said a recent article in The Hill. Cybersecurity group FireEye, which released a report detailing the attacks, noted that retirement communities have also been targeted.
In a new HealthTech article, I noted that providers in the aging services sector are, by some assessments, less prepared in this area than their acute-care counterparts. LeadingAge President and CEO Katie Smith Sloan noted that care providers are responsible for handling and protecting a lot of personal data. “You want to make sure you’re not in a situation where you can be easily hacked or easily spammed.” Read “Boost Cybersecurity Measures to Protect Senior Care Residents and Staff” for more tips.
In addition to managing residents’ physical safety, care providers “are responsible for handling and protecting a lot of personal data,” Katie Smith Sloan, president of LeadingAge, an association of nonprofit providers of aging services, tells HealthTech. “You want to make sure you’re not in a situation where you can be easily hacked or easily spammed.”
To protect your organization, please review and implement recommendations in the CAST Cybersecurity Resources. They will help you to understand and mitigate cybersecurity threats and to respond if attacked. A cybersecurity white paper, case studies, and a benchmarking questionnaire will help you to plug any vulnerabilities.
If you are working with voice technologies, please also make sure to check out “Opportunities, and Risks, with New Smart Voice Technology in Senior Living.”
New Solutions Address Resident Security
As the pandemic continues, so does the evolution of innovative solutions that can help keep residents safe. See my thoughts on emerging technologies that provide resident security.
Google Nests See Continued Engagement
See why Google Nest Hub Max devices adapted for older adults have been so popular, for so long, at Merrill Gardens. Then consider whether they, or other social connectedness and engagement products, could work for your organization.
Residents Need Robust Wi-Fi and Tech Support
Learn why Wi-Fi is now essential and how senior living organizations are uniquely positioned to support residents in using health and wellness technologies.
CAST Members in the News
Please join me in congratulating CAST members in the news for their successes, and media mentions.
Contact Me
If you have any questions, information, or news to share with CAST, or if I can be of assistance in any way, please don’t hesitate to contact me. My thoughts are with you!