Coming out of the pandemic, some operators are beginning to show their ‘personality’ again, and rebuild a unique environment that allows nursing homes to better compete not just for residents, but for employees as well.
That is especially true in continuing care retirement communities (CCRCs), according to Leah Klusch, executive director of The Alliance Training Center, a healthcare industry consulting group. Also known as life plan communities (LPNs), these communities have a range of services for residents within their campus, from retirement housing, memory care, dementia care to short term rehab and long-term skilled nursing.
“Those communities are much more vibrant and much more active, since they’ve kind of come out of all the stresses of COVID,” she said.
Moreover, even in facilities with skilled nursing as the sole focus, the emphasis on creating a less stressful environment for employees and residents is quite evident in the extra funding the endeavor is receiving these days. Some operators said that they go forth with treatment plans with or without prior authorizations to give patients, not profits, precedence. And this in the end works towards creating a happier culture.
Meanwhile, other operators attest to better retention rates as a result of promoting positivity and deeper relationships in the workplace.
Renewed focus on environment
Marjorie Dorrow, COO of Cascade Health Services, which operates two facilities in Boerne and Castroville, Texas, said that for the first time since the pandemic, the small company has been able to focus on creating a welcoming environment, now that it’s not hyper focused on just getting by.
“We have been focused a lot on creating an environment where you can actually feel the difference when you walk into our communities,” she said. “It’s not intended to only be felt by our residents or family members, or visitors. We really want our employees to feel that difference.”
Dorrow said her philosophy is that if employees are happy at work, they are more likely to treat others well. So at Cascade, they wanted to focus on putting their employees first, she said.
“If they’re feeling good and being treated well then that becomes infectious,” she said. “We don’t want our mission, vision and values to just be something framed on a wall. We want it to be like a living breathing, part of who we are.”
Taking care of residents and staff
Newly appointed CEO of Indiana-based Majestic Care, Dr. Paul Pruitt, said one of his biggest goals related to company culture is continuing to reorganize the company’s roles and responsibilities.
He said making sure corporate responsibilities are clear will set up the company for success in the future, even beyond his tenure as CEO.
“The goal shall be to be the best in the state and the nation,” he said. “I want Majestic Care to be resonating out there as the organization that everybody’s going to call to find out how we are getting the results we are getting.”
For Majestic, that means enforcing a culture that is very resident-focused, Pruitt said.
“If a patient needs therapy and we’re fighting with insurances to get authorizations our CFO will actually say, treat the patient, take care of the patient,” he said. “We’re not so money driven – we don’t have to wait for insurance if the best thing is to take care of that patient.”
Taking care of staff is also an important attribute of Majestic’s culture, he added.
“We have a program where the staff can go out and there’s a tremendous list of things they can get discounts on – food, shoes, clothing, trips, amusement parks,” he said. “We also give our staff phones. I’ve never seen a company that will give staff cell phones. We really do put our money where our mouth is by taking care of our employees and our residents.”
Building on existing culture
Ted LeNeave is the CEO of Iowa-based Accura Healthcare, which operates 34 senior living communities, including independent living, assisted living, memory care and skilled nursing facilities across Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska and South Dakota.
LeNeave said that low reimbursements and high inflation pushed Accura Healthcare into survival mode over the last year – but the company is just beginning to recover.
“I think we realize that our team and every employee we have in the company just has great character and great resolve to our culture, to our mission, and our vision that they all came together,” he said.
Something that has improved his company culture, LeNeave said, is the reduction of agency staff by 60%.
“We do the same things that other people do – recruitment bonuses, sign-on bonuses, retention bonuses, all those types of things,” he said. “But I think where we’ve been extremely successful is we really double down on our culture. People that are joining us and people that are going to stay with us, they want an experience. They want a relationship, they can go anywhere for additional pay.”
He said that transparency with employees – not hiding the company’s challenges and struggles, sets Accura apart.
“We’ve had people leave us in the past year, only to call us back and ask to come back,” he said. “Because they love the relationships and they feel empowered when they can talk to the owner and senior leaders about what their challenges are and actually be heard.”
