Adapting to AI in Senior Living
April 9, 2024
Solving Increased Demand and Strained Labor Force
The Baby Boomer generation is proving to be one of the most influential demographics concerning senior housing. With such a large influx of the population needing housing in the coming decade, it means that an already strained workforce will be under even more pressure.
Additionally, Baby Boomers aren’t looking for the senior housing their parents had; they are looking for housing that offers a strong sense of community alongside more advanced health and wellness options.
This increase in demand, alongside a decreasing workforce in this sector, means workers are under the most intense strain the industry has seen. Overworked support staff are ultimately less beneficial for seniors because there will (by necessity) be a decreased focus on their needs. So, something has to be done.
How Can AI Help?
AI provides support in key areas of senior living technology, such as the ability to perform tedious or repetitive tasks at as much as 80 percent faster than humans can. This includes things like rent roll analysis, dataset analysis, document reviews, and more. In fact, support agents who used AI could handle 14 percent more per hour.
Using AI in senior living effectively and ethically involves incorporating the key principles of acceleration, up leveling, and enrichment:
- Accelerate aspects such as automating repetitive tasks to relieve staff and allow them to focus where their human dedication and empathy are needed most.
- Uplevel by using AI specifically built with senior living solutions rather than relying on one-size-fits-all AI. This allows the data analysis that the AI does to truly capture the industry.
- Enrichment through AI that can present contextualized and highly curated information. Best practices to implement these key principles include training staff on using AI, choosing an AI application that is custom-built for the industry, and ensuring that even when using AI, you still have a human oversight element.
Staying Ahead of Technology
Failure to adapt to new technologies has a history in every business, from Blockbuster to Betamax. Understanding when a new technology is important to your industry is the sign of a savvy operator in that industry. However, you may be nervous about some of the downsides of AI, which is understandable. Luckily, many of those downsides can be corrected with the right usage.
AI may lack emotional intelligence, for example, but correctly used AI overcomes this. Combining human knowledge of the senior industry with AI designed for the industry can mean that stumbling blocks of incorrectly interpreted data, for example, can be eased.
Embarking on a journey with AI in senior living is like learning to walk; it starts with small, confident steps. Correctly deployed AI can ensure that you can accelerate, enrich, and uplevel your future in senior living. AI applications allow you to get the benefits of outsourcing tedious tasks, while keeping the tasks themselves in-house ensure the trustworthiness that your clients look for.
As AI reshapes our world, it’s transforming how we approach senior living. If you’re interested in learning more about AI applications in the senior living industry, we’re happy to demo features or talk through your concerns. Ready to witness this revolution?
NIC MAP Vision gives operators, lenders, investors, developers, and owners unparalleled market data for the seniors housing and care sector.