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.

These findings come from the newly released 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, prepared this ranking and analysis of the nation’s 200 largest not-for-profit senior living organizations as of Dec. 31, 2019.

This year’s report represents more than 300,000 market-rate units and nearly 1,600 market-rate communities across the country. It includes more than 200 providers of multi-site systems, more than 150 single-site campuses, and government-subsidized multi-site housing providers. It also outlines relevant business trends in the industry to showcase the variety of older adult services and offerings provided in this sector.

Technology findings in the 2020 LZ-200 report reflect adoption in 2019.

Social Connectedness/Engagement Tech on the Rise

New this year is the increase in adoption of social connectedness/resident engagement technologies, which rose from 50% to 61% in 2019.

“Social connectedness and engagement technologies became critically important early on when the COVID-19 pandemic began,” said Majd Alwan, Ph.D., CAST executive director and LeadingAge senior vice president of technology and business strategy. “Lockdowns intended to prevent the spread of COVID-19 brought about loneliness that these technologies could alleviate, to improve residents’ mental health and sense of well-being,” he said. “We hope and expect to see even more adoption in this area over the coming year.”

Another new 2020 category is health information exchange (HIE) technologies. Among LZ-200 members queried for the 2020 report, slightly over half have adopted an HIE. Of those, 33% said they have an HIE/Network, and 18% have a direct connection. The remaining 49% do not have an HIE.

The 2020 survey also asked for the first time about the use of advanced analytics tools, finding that 31% of respondents adopted them. 

Increase in New Technologies

Overall, adoption of new technologies is increasing. “We were pleased to see LZ-200 members using new technologies at 5% above the previous year’s levels,” said Lisa McCracken, Ziegler’s director of senior living research and development. “The findings show these organizations understand how important it is to stay ahead of evolving technology, both for their teams’ efficiency and for their residents’ health and wellness.”

The LZ-200 found that 80% of providers use electronic point of care/point of service documentation systems, and more than 75% implement electronic health/medical records. Adoption is generally lower for health and wellness technologies, such as medication monitoring or telehealth remote monitoring.

In addition, adoption of care/case management and coordination software increased slightly in the past year, from 57% to 60%. 

• Adoption stayed stable from 2018 to 2019 in these categories:
• Access Control/Wander Management Systems at 76%.
• Automatic Fall Detectors at 35%.
• Medical Monitoring Technologies at 54%.
• Physical Exercise and Rehabilitation Technologies at 64%.
• Telecare/Telemonitoring/Behavioral Monitoring at 17%.
• Telehealth/Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM) at 20%.
• User-activated Emergency Response Systems (PERS) at 75%. 

EMR/EHR Technologies

The following electronic medical records/electronic health records (EMR/EHR) technologies were mentioned most often by LZ-200 members, in this order:

• PointClickCare, a LeadingAge Gold Partner with CAST Focus.
• MatrixCare.
• Netsmart, a LeadingAge CAST Supporter.
• American Data.
• Eldermark.
• CAST Business Associate American HealthTech, Health MedX, and ResiDex. 

To learn more, download the full report.