SmartLinx Podcast

Today's guests are Cathy Schweiger and Mario McKenzie of CliftonLarsonAllen, which offers wealth advisory, outsourcing, audit, tax, and consulting services.

For the past 12 years, Cathy has assisted aging services and senior living providers to plan for their sustainable and successful future. Her experience spans market research, including survey and focus group facilitation, strategic planning and program development for continuing care retirement communities, continuing care at-home programs, home- and community-based services, and a wide array of senior housing and services. She is dedicated to developing new and impactful ways to serve the rapidly growing number of older adult consumers.

Mario has been working professionally assisting senior living providers for over 25 years. He works in strategic planning, feasibility study analyses, executive compensation analysis, as well as in master planning for communities.

Today we will focus on CliftonLarsonAllen's 2018 Senior Living Trends Report, co-authored by Cathy and Mario. The report identifies seven major trends. Let's take a look at each of these, starting with senior living options.

Today's guest is Gregory L. Alexander, PhD, RN, FAAN, Interim Associate Dean of Research and Professor at the University of Missouri Sinclair School of Nursing. Dr. Alexander's nursing specialties include clinical informatics and human computer interaction. His interest areas are Gero-informatics research and national health policy, along with IT effects on quality of care in nursing homes and long-term care. He also focuses on development, organizations, and health policy about nursing practice that impacts geriatric patients. His doctoral studies centered on human factors decision support and long-term care.

Our guests today are from the National Transitions of Care Coalition, or NTOCC. Dr. James Lett II, president of the coalition board of directors, is currently medical director of Avar Consulting Inc., which has a contract with CMS to oversee some aspects of the National Quality Improvement Organizations that oversee the quality and care of Medicare enrollees. He's an experienced geriatrician in care provided in hospitals, nursing homes, and other sites of care. He most recently served as medical director and vice president of medical affairs for an extensive senior citizen complex, including an assisted living center and a long-term rehabilitation and nursing center. He has worked on three reports for the Office of the Inspector General to identify and quantitate adverse events in post-acute care. His passion is transitions of care, in which he has been involved with multiple entities, including CMS, ORG, and multiple national medical entities.

Jackie Vance, also coalition director, who is senior director of clinical innovation and education for Mission Health Communities. Jackie is a registered nurse certified, and holds a bachelor of science degree in nursing. Previously she was director of clinical education at Sava Senior Care. A nurse leader, she has over 20 years of experience and expertise in clinical geriatrics and the long-term care market. She has built a unique set of skills for clinical program development with corresponding education that incorporates Triple Aim, the IMPACT Act, ACO, Managed Care, and Bundled Care components. Her specialty is quality management, including QAPI, PDSA, and Baldrige.

Our guest today is XinQi Dong, director of Rutgers University's Institute for Health, Health Care Policy, and Aging Research, or IFH. In addition to the institute directorship, he serves as the inaugural Henry Rutgers Professor of Population Health Sciences. He is the lead researcher of the Population Study of Chinese Elderly in Chicago, which examined the health and well being of Chinese older adults and culminated in the publishing of 20 articles, which is the topic of today's podcast. Most recently, XinQi was a professor of Medicine, Nursing, and Behavioral Sciences at the Rush University Medical Center and the associate director of the Rush Institute for Healthy Aging.

In today's podcast, we talk with Joanie B. Connell, Ph.D., president and CEO of Flexible Work Solutions. Dr. Connell is an organizational consultant and leadership coach who specializes in maximizing leadership potential. She works with companies to attract, develop, and retain top talent and with individuals to improve their success and happiness in their careers. Her clients range from Fortune 500 companies, not-for-profit and government agencies, as well as high tech, biotech, healthcare, finance, legal, and other industries. As a professor, she teaches and has taught at the Rady School of Management at the University of California San Diego, the California School of Professional Psychology at Alliant International University, and in the Master's in Human Behavior program at National University. She is an author of the book "Flying Without a Helicopter: How to Prepare Young People for Work and Life".

Today's podcast guest is Brent Weil, vice president of workforce development for Argentum, the national leading association in senior living. Senior Living Works is an initiative led by Argentum to meet the current and future workforce needs of the senior living industry. Brent is focusing his efforts on the challenges and opportunities facing the senior living industry in professional development, as well as recruiting and retaining dedicated workers to care for the growing population of older Americans.

In today's podcast, we'll talk with Marcia Hopkins, who serves as the Leader of the Risk Management Division for American Healthcare Management Group, or AHMG. Marcia has delivered risk management services for healthcare clients for 12 years, including aging services for continuing care retirement communities, skilled nursing, and assisted living facilities, as well as home health agencies. Her professional designations include Associate in Risk Management, Florida Department of Financial Services, Independent All Lines Adjusting license, Board Certification in Workers' Compensation, and Board of Director of Florida Workers' Compensation Claim Professionals.

Our guests today are from the National Transitions of Care Coalition, or NTOCC. Dr. James Lett II, President of the coalition board of directors, is currently medical director of Avar Consulting Inc., which has a contract with CMS to oversee some aspects of the National Quality Improvement Organizations that oversee the quality and care of Medicare enrollees. He's an experienced geriatrician in care provided in hospitals, nursing homes, and other sites of care. He most recently served as medical director and vice president of medical affairs for an extensive senior citizen complex, including an assisted living center and a long-term rehabilitation and nursing center. He has worked on three reports for the Office of the Inspector General to identify and quantitate adverse events in post-acute care. His passion is transitions of care, in which he has been involved with multiple entities, including CMS, OIG, and multiple national medical entities.

Jackie Vance, also coalition director, is senior director of clinical innovation and education for Mission Health Communities. Jackie is a registered nurse certified, and holds a bachelor of science degree in nursing. Previously she was director of clinical education at Sava Senior Care. A nurse leader, she has over 20 years of experience and expertise in clinical geriatrics and the long-term care market. She has built a unique set of skills for clinical program development with corresponding education that incorporates Triple Aim, the IMPACT Act, ACO, Managed Care, and Bundled Care components. Her specialty is quality management, including QAPI, PDSA, and Baldrige.

In today's podcast, we'll talk about marketing strategies for long-term care. Our guest today is Winston Chenery, manager of Senior Care Growth, a lead gen and web design agency for senior living organizations. Winston is a senior living industry thought leader who produces the Senior Care Growth Show, a podcast specific for senior living sales and marketing professionals. He spoke at SMASH 2017 about sales alignment and authored the 2018 State of Senior Care Sales and Marketing Report.

In today's podcast, we'll talk with Dr. Edna Cadmus, clinical professor and specialty director of the graduate nursing leadership tracks at Rutgers University School of Nursing. She is also executive director of the New Jersey Collaborating Center for Nursing. The center works on behalf of nurses to provide evidence-based recommendations to policymakers and leaders of the profession regarding the nursing workforce and its impact on patient care. The center has developed workforce reports for the governor, current workforce trends, and educational capacity reports to assist employers and legislators in decision making. Its current focus is on nursing demand in various healthcare industries. Dr. Cadmus serves as co-lead for the New Jersey Action Coalition, one of 51 groups nationwide focused on implementing recommendations from the Institute of Medicine's landmark report, The Future of Nursing. She was a co-principal investigator on a funded project by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services on developing, implementing, and evaluating long-term care nurse residency programs.