How Could Artificial Intelligence Change Assisted Living Facilities?
How Could Artificial Intelligence Change Assisted Living Facilities?



An estimated 10,000 people will turn 65 every day for the next 19 years, according to the Pew Research Center. While many people prefer to retire at home, certain health and financial conditions compel them to move to an assisted living facility (ALF). But due to a fragmented market and lack of standard processes, I've observed that ALFs face a number of challenges including, but not limited to, high employees turnover, increasing regulations, falls prevention and family’s distrust.

The technologies commonly used in ALFs are not much help. Most are outdated, difficult to deploy and add to the staff workload. This begs the question of how future technologies equipped with artificial intelligence can change the way ALFs might operate and provide care. 
Falls Prevention
According to CDC data, older people are treated in the emergency room for fall-related injuries every 11 seconds. There are a number of technologies that detect falls, but hardly any that can predict and prevent them.


“If unwitnessed falls happen late at night, or at other times when there may not be a licensed professional on site, then staff are required to call 911. This can put an undue or even unneeded burden on 911 services,” said Sheila Garner, Vice President Strategic Programs at Oakmont Senior Living. “Now, it’s upon taxpayers to pay the bills of services provided ... We hope that AI systems will be able to digest clinical data from [electronic health records], activities data from devices, observations from staff and change in conditions from the hospital, and use all that to create alerts with high accuracy on the possibility of a fall."

The complexity of the human body will be a daunting challenge for AI systems to make predictions on. The diseases are often triggered by genetic background and past lifestyle, which are unique to each individual and so hard to be trained on. Nevertheless, AI researchers have made impressive progress and while many challenges still exist, having AI system to predict falls doesn't seem far-fetched.
Reducing Employee Turnover
The big challenge ALFs face is staff retention. Industry leaders suggest there are many reasons for this, but chief among them is the increase in regulations. “We put a lot of pressure on an hourly wage employee and the consequences of a little negligence can be very high,” said Moulay Elalamy, VP of IT at Benchmark Senior Living. “If AI can be part of their workflow, and suggest them what to do, when to do and in some cases do it for them, it can be a game changer. They will spend more time in doing what they signed up for ... and less time in documentation and compliance.”

Other AI applications that can help with employee's retention and quality include voice-activated devices and smartphone apps that staff can use to receive guidance, automatically log mileage, capture notes, send messages to families, talk to physicians and more. Andrew Smith, Senior Director of Innovation and Sales Strategy at Brookdale Senior Living adds, “The staff members are always on the run. They hardly get the time to sit in front of a computer. If they can have a wearable device with voice recognition, they can get a lot of tasks done.”
The quality of life for employees is as important as it for senior residents. If technology can help improve inefficient processes and support in their day to day tasks, job, they will feel empowered and it can result in high job satisfaction.
False Alerts
False alerts have become increasingly popular with modern day monitoring devices. In recent years, we have observed a number of sensors capable of tracking the health and behaviors of senior residents. They give access to critical insights on residents change in behavior. However, facilities have failed to leverage them as much as they wanted to, primarily because there were a number of false alarms. 
“When you ask [staff] to take action on false alerts from devices, it puts them in a difficult position,” said Chris Dana, VP of IT at Episcopal Senior Communities, a customer of ours. “This is where AI can...provide contextual alerts and not those based on a temporary change in conditions.”

Unengaged Families
When a loved one is in assisted living facility, it can be a financial as well as an emotional stress on families. The "sandwich" generation is responsible for caring for their aging parents while supporting their own children, which is already a herculean task. 
“Our generation is having to make decisions that our parents never had to. We are becoming parents to our parents which there is no manual for,” said Marianne Cooke, a friend whose mother is in assisted living. “You have to have confidence that your more vulnerable parent is under someone’s watchful eye to whatever extent your parent requires. One way to build the confidence is by a timely communication from staff."
The staff are just too busy in day-to-day care services to keep the families updated. This is where AI-based systems can be instrumental. They can help keep families up to date on the services provided, answer their questions and initiate intelligent conversations to learn more about their loved ones, thus allowing staff members to provide personalized care for residents.
In this most competitive market, families are the best source of referrals and therefore ALFs are in need of technology to build their trust.
Conclusion
Artificial intelligence technology has become part of our everyday life and has very important applications in changing the way assisted living facilities operate. The biggest reason to believe AI will be huge in ALFs is that it is not a standalone technology. It can complement existing technologies and make them more impactful. And since that is the case, then there is less pushback on adopting it and we will see most of the ALFs benefiting from it in next few years.