Ben Pierce had said, "Poor risk management will empty a building faster than good marketing will fill it." And so just kind of taking that concept and identifying what needs to happen as people are coming and going into buildings and how you can protect the residents as well as the staff. Welcome to Season 7 of Bridge the Gap, a podcast dedicated to informing, educating and influencing the future of housing and services for seniors. Powered by sponsors AccuShild, Align, NickmapVision, ProCare HR, Sage, Hamilton CapTel, Service Master, the Bridge Group Construction and Salinity, and produced by Salinity Marketing. Welcome to Bridge It Got Podcast, this senior living podcast with Josh and Lucas. We are in Atlanta, the headquarters of AccuShield, right? This is where the headquarters is, right? And we've got one of AccuShield's very own, we've got Peggy White on the show today, welcome to the program. Some people want to, when they hear the topic of risk mitigation or risk management, a lot of people just want to be like, you know, they just want to cover their ears and say, "I don't want to think about this, I don't want to talk about this." Then there's a whole other group of people that actually have to deal with this on a day-to-day basis, a large group of our audience and they're saying, "No, no, no, we cannot ignore risk management in senior care." And it's just such an important topic and there's so many different tools and resources that every operator of all the hats they have to wear and all the stuff they have to juggle, risk management is one that cannot get left unchecked on a consistent basis. And our listeners know AccuShield has been a long time supporter of Bridge The Gap and has been a big force in helping us underwrite the cost of bringing this free content every single week. So we're very, very grateful and also very excited to have you Peggy on to the show. So risk management, this is something that is obviously near and dear to your heart. Your head down in the weeds on this every single day, so I'm excited to pick your brain and what our listeners will gain from this. So lead us down the risk management, risk mitigation path. As you said, not something that's super exciting to talk about, but really, really important. And there was a quote that I want to read because I just think it's kind of impactful. Ben Pierce had said, "Poor risk management will empty a building faster than good marketing will fill it." And so just kind of taking that concept and identifying what needs to happen as people are coming and going into buildings and how you can protect the residents as well as the staff. And so that's part of our mission. It's always been that safety and security component. We feel that obviously coming out of the last couple of years, being able to identify why people are there, who they're seeing, whether they should be there, is a really important part of every senior community. I think a lot of providers were forced over the last four or five years during the pandemic. COVID to track who is coming in because of natural reasons and infection control and things like that. It forced our industry into doing things that we probably should have been more aggressive on in the beginning. But it's been probably as we're past that, getting past that, it's real easy to go back to and relax and maybe let our guard down a little bit. So what are you seeing some of the trends and things that operators are concerned about that they're seeking to address? How are you helping them address these issues on the topic of risk mitigation? So there's probably one of the more important things is being able to identify that people have somehow signed in, whether it's signing in at a kiosk or signing a guest book, but being identified as to why they're there, very, very important, not just for the safety of the residents. Actually, the residents are sometimes the most vocal about making sure that they want to see a badge on everybody that's walking down their halls. But also for the enterprise, the owners and the operators to know who's in the building. If there's some kind of trends going on, has there been an increase in home health coming in or hospice in the building, knowing why somebody's there is really important. Also conversely, knowing if somebody hasn't been into a certain residence is also a really helpful thing for an operator to be able to identify. So and in one other part that's happened a lot probably within the last year we've seen the most of this is where enterprises are asking for consents and waivers to be acknowledged when people come in. Let's say that they're a third party care provider and they are coming in first time to the building. They may want them to sign a waiver or consent, self-employed third party care providers. These are all being included in that. Along those lines, I'm assuming there are so many data points that you can also collect because this digital system, knowing who's in your building, the frequency of the visits, what organizations and even understanding what kind of credentials do those organizations have as they're entering your system. Outside of just the residents, I would imagine families, this is a huge thing. I think most of the senior living providers here where at the interface conference in Atlanta as I'm talking with many operators, a good portion if not almost all of the operators have assisted living and memory care type of communities as well as more independent settings. But they're primarily telling me they're marketing to the adults, sons and daughters that are placing their most valuable asset, which is their loved ones. Many times their mom, their dads, their aging parents into these communities and I've talked with so many providers here because you're right. You made that quote earlier. We spend so much time in marketing our services, our amenities, the excellent work, our staff, our teams do, our food and all these things. But oftentimes when you survey the families and you find out what really caused you to choose our community, a lot of times it comes down to trust and to build trust and to keep trust. I think a simple ingredient of knowing who's in your community is such a critical piece to that. So I'm curious that as you're collecting this data, are there certain reports and things that operators are able to provide to the various stakeholders? And as we move more into everybody's talking about value-based care, do you think this is going to be even more valuable data and why? You're right. I am the daughter of a parent in a senior living community and safety is very, very important to me as well. And so being able to have that peace of mind that the community she's living in is taking that really seriously and that she is protected and it makes me feel a lot better. Yes, being able to push, I think we've probably all been in communities where there's a picture of somebody who's set up behind the desk, like do not let them in type of an alert. And so we talked a lot today about replacing manual processes with the aid of technology. And so being able to set up the communities for success, if there's somebody that's not supposed to be there, the system can be set up to stop them and prevent them or send alerts if event they attempt to sign in. Just to help kind of as you say, get that risk mitigation, prevent situations by having this technological assist. And then the insights that are pushed to communities, it's funny today listening to the folks talk about how they want to get all this data into different systems, value-based care is something that I do believe will be adopted in hopefully the near future. Knowing the people that are walking through the door to provide care is something that right now the system is not set up to capture. So by having a digital visitor management system and knowing that they are there to provide this type of care to these specific residents is going to be instrumental in putting that closing the loop on all the total care. Family members want to know, did hospice show up today? Did somebody come in to change mom's wound? And so again, having that system to kind of support the team, there's just not enough time for the folks in the community to be able to be on top of all that unless they've got the assistance of this kind of a system. In the days, you know, I can remember, I'm starting to feel older in the industry now, but it doesn't seem like that long ago where the notebook at the front desk that was hit or miss, you know, the page is getting turned and how difficult that was, even if you could get everyone to sign it and be compliant so to speak and help you mitigate the risk, to even be able to peruse through and figure out who those people are, even if you could read the writing. And so I'm curious, you know, so we're talking about who's coming in and out of your communities. Are communities also using this in any way to gate at residents sign in and sign out as well? Absolutely. And in the higher acuity, independent living doesn't use it as much, but in assisted living certainly in memory care, when a resident is leaving with a family member or going to be out of the community for, let's say, a doctor's appointment, being able to capture that that resident has left the building, how long they're gone for, who they're with, is also very, very important information for the community to have. And so they can then track through, in our situation, a digital method where they're able to see who's out of the building right now, obviously very important in the event of an emergency. And if you have to do an evacuation, knowing who has, you know, signed out for the last couple of hours is also important. And also talking about credentials, we have a number of our communities that are also extending kind of that credentialing into a more complete, rather than just signing somebody in, you can either do a driver's license scan to verify their identity. You also may want to have credentials. There's a group, Arbor Company actually does a full credentialing of all their third-party care providers, including a criminal background check. So if somebody's walking down the residence corridor to go provide care to a resident, knowing that that person has a clear criminal background check is a huge piece of mind to not only the families, but obviously everybody in the community. One of the things I have loved, you know, we're blessed here at Bridge the Gap for years. I think this is our eighth season, it's hard to believe. We've had partners like AccuShield with us for years making everything that we do. This information, education, possible to the industry. But one of the things, I just saw your CEO here walking the halls. I think one thing you all do really well is you're constantly, you're never satisfied with, hey, we've got this service, we've got this product and we're pushing it out here. But I mean, the number one question and conversations I'm hearing and overhearing when I'm seeing and interacting with you all is what do you need to be better, what you're asking operators, what can we do for you, what's keeping you up at night, what challenges do you have. I mean, Charles just asked me that question as an operator. He's like, what's keeping you upright right now, what in these communities you're acquiring. And so I have such an appreciation for that so that you guys have really become a partner to the industry and adapted tools, resources and the thought leadership that you have and channeled that into being a true partner for the industry. So with that said, can you give us any teasers because you're talking to a lot of operators, I think that's kind of your day job, right, and talking to some of the biggest influencers in the industry and what's keeping them up at night. So how is that informing what you're doing and shaping your product to be? Is there any forecast for where you're going as a company? We actually have quite a few exciting things on the docket that are coming out. One thing that we did a local, participated in a local event at a community, it was Glamour's Grandma's Day and they got all dressed up and we helped them with makeup and hair and they put on fun clothes and did a runway show for the rest of the residents. And so a group of our team was over there, including Allen and Charles, and took every opportunity to talk to the resident care director. What are the things that are really going to be helpful for you? Something that they were able to share and we've heard from a number of other partners is that as somebody does come in, let's say from a third-party provider, any notes regarding the visit is usually going down on a piece of paper, getting thrown into a binder, thrown into a filing cabinet, and usually very infrequently referred back to. Obviously, it could be very important information into what's happening with the resident. So being able to capture that digitally and put that back in association with the visit and having the data pushed to the appropriate locations is definitely one of our top priorities. And then the second thing that I'll mention is, we all talk about how labor is an issue. A couple people today were talking about how important it is for volunteers. And so the pandemic kind of put a big halt on a lot of the volunteers that were coming into communities. Well, AccuShield has captured millions of people that have come into communities as volunteers over the years. So helping to kind of create a program that's going to be helping to facilitate matching residents that are in need of social visits, the volunteer networks. And AccuShield has a number of different ways in which we're going to be able to help with that. We'll help support, again, the happiness of the resident with peace of mind to the family members and then certainly kind of easing the burden on the communities who are trying to get everything done and just don't have enough resources. On any given day, and I'm sure you guys have data you could spit out that would tell us exactly these numbers. But on any given day, I think of any size community in any market, the number of visitors, family members, healthcare workers, partners, you name it, however you want to classify volunteers that come into a community that we don't really, we may know who they're coming to see, we may have an idea of generally what their position is, but you have no idea of what all the background they have, their interest, their passion, and I can only imagine a future where when you really understand the more you understand about who's in your community and can better communicate with them, what an opportunity, as you said for volunteers, potentially opportunities, I can only imagine even to potentially fill positions, just opportunities and I think of every single person that comes in, not only controlling that from a risk mitigation, but just the opportunity to touch those people with communication points, what a valuable resource that is, and it's great work that you guys are doing there, Lucas, I know you get to see tons of communities all over the country as you're repositioning communities and assets, I know you're seeing a lot of AccuShield across the country. I do, I get to personally sign in to many, many AccuShields. You guys let him in? I know, sometimes I'm just waiting for a band, Charles' face comes up laughing at me or something. Gotcha, you know. As I'm touring communities and we're there with our teams, and oftentimes we're kind of doing some inspections, so to speak, so we're going down the corridors, we're looking at different things, we may even be going into units with staff. The residents, they'll be going about their daily business and they'll be coming out of their rooms, and this is where they live, just like if you were to walk out of your bedroom and see somebody in your house, you want to know, who is this person? Are they with the staff here? Do they have an AccuShield tag on their shirts? I can just sense that when I make eye contact with them is that it gives them a little bit of sense of relief that, okay, I can see that this person has checked in, this person is clearly supposed to be as allowed into, you know, our community and our home, and so I witness that and notice it when we do that, and you talk about vendor management, it's a big piece of even for our construction teams that have multiple subcontractors and vendors that come into the building, it's actually a big part of how we maintain protocols and safeties to make sure that we are maintaining that level of expectation for our client, which is obviously the operator of the community. It's a great conversation, risk mitigation, risk management, you know, not often very fun to talk about, but it's a necessary thing to talk about, and it's very valuable for you, Peggy, to come and onto the program and have this discussion. So for our listeners that are taking notes, I can sense that there's probably people listening going, either yes or amen or, hey, you forgot to mention, you know, something like that. So we'd love to hear from our listeners, LinkedIn's a great place for that, and also on our website, BGGVoice.com, but we'll put all those links in the show notes and a link to Peggy and, obviously, AccuShield is one of our premier sponsors. Their contact information logo and links are always on our program. Peggy, thank you for your time today. Another great trip to Atlanta and a great round of podcasts. And for our listeners, please do go to BGGVoice.com, download this content and so much more, and thanks for listening to another great episode of Bridge the Gap. Thanks for listening to Bridge the Gap podcast with Josh and Lucas. Connect with the BTG Network team and use your voice to influence the industry by connecting with us at BTGVoice.com.
