Strategies to Navigate Growth in Your Senior Care Community

As senior care communities continue to grow and adapt to meet increasing demand, both residents and staff may face new changes and challenges. With the aging Baby Boomer generation driving a surge in the need for senior care, many communities will need to expand to accommodate larger populations. By approaching these growth periods with strategic planning and intentional management, communities can maximize the benefits of expansion while minimizing potential difficulties.

Common Challenges That Growth May Cause for Senior Care Communities

Henry Lukenge, founder of Nexim Healthcare Consultants, Inc.

While growth can be positive overall, senior care communities will need to be prepared to navigate some of the challenges that are common with expansion. Henry Lukenge, founder of Nexim Healthcare Consultants, Inc., explains that growth can come with cash flow challenges, since expansion requires working capital for wages, food, equipment, utilities, and other supplies. “Carefully planning cash flow to increase with growth or having alternative funding flows planned for times when, say, expected funding
is delayed should form a central part of contingency planning for any leader within a senior care community experiencing growth,” he advises.

The growth of senior care communities also brings a greater demand for human capital, including direct care providers, management, and administrative staff. Lukenge emphasizes the importance of having a comprehensive human capital growth plan aligned with the expansion of bed capacity. This plan should prioritize scaling staffing levels to maintain optimal staff-to-client ratios while ensuring all team members receive the necessary training to deliver high-quality care.

It’s also essential to plan for the unexpected. “A leader should have a human capital plan that has inbuilt lag for unplanned call outs, planned absences, and increased needs due to the nature and number of clients they expect to accommodate,” he says. The plan should also incorporate onboarding and backup protocols to ensure that client care is never compromised by staffing shortages, which could violate compliance infringements and risk the community’s license.

“With growth comes greater scrutiny on the care home’s operating practice,” explains Lukenge, which further highlights the importance of delivering quality care and ensuring compliance.

How to Approach a Growth Period

When planning for growth, Lukenge encourages senior care communities to revisit and refresh their standard operating practices to ensure the approach to resident care remains consistent with mandated government care guidelines. “Never lose sight of the quality and standards of care as one grows their care community under any circumstances,” he advises.

Nexim Healthcare Consultants, Inc. supports senior care communities experiencing growth, aiding them in crafting human capital plans that address immediate and long-term needs. This is accomplished by providing third-party staffing solutions for on-demand staffing needs while also working with communities to help them develop long-term in-house solutions. “These include, but are not limited to, creating in house talent acquisition teams, helping with designing in-house student internship and post-internship hiring plans, recruitment, and creating partnerships with local colleges and new immigrant re-settlement organizations to widen the sources of healthcare talent available for interview and intake,” Lukenge explains.

He recommends that communities develop simple and concise standard operating procedures that clearly detail the onboarding process for new staff members and residents. The onboarding process might include orientations, welcome packages, training, and checklists to ensure the steps are followed and recorded with feedback. The plan also needs to address compliance to ensure that all steps are consistently followed with each new resident and staff member.

Above all else, senior care communities need to focus on the human element involved in any growth process. “As an outsider looking in, we advise our clients going through growth to never lose sight of the human side of care,” explains Lukenge. “We ask them to remember these are not commodities but human beings with feelings and emotions who still have dreams and hopes of their own. We need to respect them and listen more before making decisions regarding their care where possible.”

Paige Cerulli

Paige Cerulli is a contributing writer to i Advance Senior Care.