Senior living centers are focused on creating a healthy, entertaining, and supportive environment for their residents. The human connection between residents and senior living community staff members is crucial. However, many of the services provided by senior living facilities must be backed up by technology. Senior Housing News reported that since 2021, senior living centers have made technology adoption a priority.
Without technology for communications and managing electronic health records (EHRs), senior living communities can’t provide the level of care required to give their residents an exceptional quality of life. While the staff at these centers may not be experts in technology, the team at a managed service provider (MSP) will be.
Managed IT services help senior living communities streamline operations through enhanced communications, support for administrative work, and strengthened security.
Supporting Administrative Processes
Like healthcare organizations, senior living communities rely on EHRs to maintain the resident medical histories needed to develop and maintain treatment plans, prescribe medications, and process lab work. Senior living centers need the correct technology to store, analyze, connect, and secure these EHRs.
The staff at senior living communities must also have the technology to support fast and reliable communication between sites and efficient facilities management. The right communications expertise is needed to set up connectivity and collaboration solutions along with the supporting IT network.
IT platforms and software are needed for senior living facilities management, including for maintenance and record keeping as well as tracking residents and their activities. Technology can optimize workflows for more efficient operations at the senior living center.
Managed IT services provide the know-how required to manage and maintain IT solutions for storing medical records, integrating EHR platforms, and connecting the entire senior living community. The right MSP can deliver networking, communications, and data center services, as well as the necessary infrastructure.
Enhancing Resident Experience
Technology plays a significant role in enhancing the quality of life residents experience in a senior living community. Communication technology is particularly important because residents and their family members need to stay in touch. Residents also must have reliable communication channels for reaching staff members at the senior living center.
Managed IT services give the senior living center access to expertise in communications technologies, such as VoIP, Wi-Fi, and entertainment systems. An MSP can work with the senior living center to update or design a communications system that connects residents, family members, and staff, allowing them to use preferred methods of communication.
Creating a Secure Senior Living Environment
At senior living communities, safety and security are paramount. Staff and residents should feel confident that not only the health of residents is protected, but that their personal and medical information is kept secure as well. Maintaining data security and privacy is important when caring for residents.
If a breach causes resident information to be stolen, the data could be used to commit medical insurance fraud. If information in EHRs gets lost or compromised, staff won’t be able to make the right treatment decisions, putting residents’ health and welfare in jeopardy. Breaches can also trigger downtime, preventing staff from meeting the needs of residents in a timely manner.
Many MSPs offer managed services for data protection and business continuity that ensure residents receive continuity of care. Managed IT services for backup and disaster recovery guarantee that administrative systems stay online after a breach or disaster and that resident data can be recovered quickly and completely.
Taking Senior Living Technology Into the Future
At one point, the use of EHRs at senior living facilities was revolutionary. Now EHRs are commonplace in healthcare. In the future, senior living communities will be adopting additional technology to support health records, streamline communications, and improve security, such as IoT devices.
DVD Networks has a wealth of experience providing managed IT services to senior living organizations. Recently, we helped Senior Living facilities upgrade their entire telecom system as part of our ongoing relationship.
DVD specializes in managed IT services for networking and communications. For senior living centers, we provide:
- Resident and staff phone solutions
- Wi-Fi Networks
- Mobility solutions that support remote communications
- Full IT network infrastructure management
- And more
Our team can update your technology or design new solutions and systems to futureproof your facility.
