This article is sponsored by Lumina Care. As skilled nursing providers adapt to increasingly complex patient needs, care models are shifting to emphasize deeper clinical integration and collaboration across settings. Lumina Care is helping lead that evolution—offering virtual clinical support, specialist involvement, and chronic care management that extends beyond the walls of the facility. In this Voices interview, Laura Geiger, DNP, FNP-BC, NEA-BC, Chief Clinical Officer at Lumina Care, shares how telehealth is enhancing care from admission to discharge, and why operational expertise is essential to delivering clinical excellence at scale.
Skilled Nursing News: How are care delivery models evolving to prioritize cross-team collaboration and integration? And how does Lumina fit into the clinical team even when not physically on site?
Laura Geiger: When you look at how care delivery models are evolving, it really starts with understanding who you’re serving and where that care is being delivered. In skilled nursing, that means paying close attention not just to the setting itself, but also to geography, patient populations, and the specific challenges each facility is navigating. No two buildings operate the same way, so we spend a lot of time upfront meeting with teams to understand where the real needs are and how we can best support them.
That’s where cross-team collaboration becomes essential. From the very beginning of a partnership, we prioritize strong, consistent communication and transparency across the entire interdisciplinary care team. Even when we’re not physically on site, we’re embedded in the clinical workflow through regular touchpoints, shared decision-making, and clear alignment around goals of care.
Equally important is doing all of this within a compliant, standardized framework. At Lumina Care, we focus on patient-centered care plans that are developed thoughtfully and then communicated in a consistent, accessible way. Using standardized protocols ensures that everyone involved in a patient’s care has the same information and can act on it confidently. That combination of collaboration, communication, and structure is what allows us to function as a true extension of the clinical team, regardless of location.
In what ways can telehealth enhance care delivery throughout the skilled nursing journey, from SNF admission to discharge and beyond?
There are still some skeptics when it comes to telehealth and whether it can truly deliver clinical excellence. At Lumina Care, we’re excited to challenge that perception with real-world experience. A great example was during a recent major winter storm, when providers physically couldn’t get into facilities. Even in those conditions, phone lines were up, Wi-Fi was working, and we were able to continue caring for patients through telehealth. We supported acute needs, helped manage chronic conditions, and stayed connected with facility teams when on-site access just wasn’t possible.
What makes telehealth work is intentional design. We’re constantly thinking about how care is delivered today and how it can be delivered better tomorrow, but always through the lens of the patients we serve and the skilled nursing facilities we partner with. Telehealth isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution. It has to align with how each facility operates and what their residents actually need.
When we talk about better outcomes, we’re very specific about what that means. It’s fewer hospitalizations, reduced readmissions, stronger chronic condition management, and care that aligns with a patient’s goals. Ultimately, it’s about supporting quality of life. Telehealth allows us to work alongside on-site teams every day to make that happen. Even without feet on the ground, we’re still part of the care team, contributing to meaningful outcomes in a way that’s reliable, responsive, and patient-centered.
Why is the involvement of specialists and clinicians critical to delivering high-quality care across different settings?
When you look across all of the different settings where care is delivered, patient needs really drive everything. Acute care in a hospital is very different from what’s required in a skilled nursing facility, where you’re often managing chronic conditions, prevention, and sometimes acute needs all at once. Every patient is different, and across the lifespan, some care absolutely needs to happen in person, but when executed thoughtfully, a significant portion can be supported through telehealth.
At Lumina Care, we’re focused on working alongside the full care team. Many residents have complex conditions and are already seeing multiple specialists on a regular basis, whether that’s behavioral health, cardiology, pulmonology, podiatry, dermatology, or wound care. If each specialist is operating in a silo with their own care plan, it puts an unrealistic burden on both the facility and the patient to try to reconcile all of that.
That’s why coordination matters so much. Transparency across care plans, shared access to information, and clear communication help us make sure everyone is aligned. The goal is a collaborative, team-based approach where specialists are contributing their expertise without creating fragmentation. When clinicians are working from the same data and aligned on a unified plan of care, patients receive more consistent, higher-quality support across every setting they move through.
What role does Chronic Care Management play in skilled nursing and long-term care, and how can it improve the outcomes that you outlined?
When you think about chronic care management in skilled nursing and long-term care, the two really go hand in hand. It always starts with the patient and viewing care through their lens. We’re not just talking about “better outcomes” as a buzzword, but focusing on what that actually means day to day. The average resident in long-term care is living with five to seven chronic conditions, and managing that level of complexity requires coordination, consistency, and ongoing attention.
You also have to consider things like polypharmacy, where residents may be taking five or more medications daily, along with the diagnostics and monitoring required for both prevention and day-to-day management. All of that needs to be balanced with the resident’s goals of care, while still being mindful of cost and sustainability. Even in a chronic care environment, preventive care plays a critical role because preventing complications is often the most effective way to improve quality of life and reduce unnecessary utilization.
Through a coordinated chronic care management approach, teams can more proactively address issues like COPD exacerbations, tighter glucose control for residents with diabetes, and better management of heart failure and hypertension. These are areas where collaboration across the care team can make a meaningful difference. At Lumina Care, we partner closely with skilled nursing facilities to support this kind of proactive, team-based care, helping improve outcomes while also reducing the overall cost of care and supporting financial sustainability through value-based care arrangements.
How does operational expertise, such as coordinating EMR integrations with providers, support Lumina Care’s ability to deliver clinical excellence?
At Lumina Care, we place a strong emphasis on EMR integration and full access to medical records, because that access is foundational to delivering high-quality care. Our care teams need visibility into existing care plans, specialist reports, prior diagnostics, hospitalizations, and goals of care to truly understand the full picture of each resident’s health.
Because we’re delivering care through a telehealth lens, the quality of the data matters even more. Having comprehensive, up-to-date information allows our clinicians to complete accurate assessments and develop care plans that align with both the resident’s current needs and their goals. That’s critical when you’re focused on preventive care and chronic care management, not just reacting to issues as they arise.
Without that level of integration, it becomes incredibly challenging to deliver clinical excellence. I often compare it to trying to make a recipe with only eight of the ten required ingredients. You might get something that’s acceptable, but if you’re aiming for a great outcome, you need the full set of information. EMR access and medical record reviews give our teams what they need to be proactive, aligned with the broader care team, and confident that the care we’re delivering truly makes sense for each resident.
Zooming out, what do you think will separate the skilled nursing organizations that thrive in 2026 from those that struggle to adapt?
When I look ahead to 2026, the organizations that thrive will be the ones that are open to innovation and are intentional about how they adopt it. If you look back five, 10, even 20 years, the teams that stay at the forefront are the ones willing to rethink how care is delivered and use innovation to support real-time, patient-centered care.
On the flip side, when organizations resist technology or change without a clear strategy, their teams feel it first. And when teams struggle, residents ultimately feel it too. The providers that succeed are proactive. They’re willing to ask, “What can we do differently to improve access, quality, and outcomes?” and then actually act on earnest answers.
This is especially important when you think about geography. Some of our partners operate in very rural areas, where access to specialists can be limited simply because of distance. Being open to telehealth and other innovative models allows those organizations to expand access to care without completely overhauling their staffing models.
At the end of the day, the real separator is mindset. The organizations willing to pilot new approaches, evaluate what works, refine it, and bring their teams along through that change will be the ones that adapt and grow. Openness to innovation, paired with thoughtful implementation, is what will set the strongest skilled nursing organizations apart in the years ahead.
Editor’s note: This article has been edited for length and clarity.
Lumina Care delivers continuous, coordinated care by connecting providers nationwide. At all hours and across specialties, we integrate directly with your team to reduce complications, improve outcomes, and support clinical care without adding to your workload.
Learn more anytime at luminacare.com.
The Voices Series is a sponsored content program featuring leading executives discussing trends, topics and more shaping their industry in a question-and-answer format. For more information on Voices, please contact [email protected].
