We get it. As an administrator, you’re overloaded. You’re wrestling with staffing shortages, complex reimbursement issues, and keeping up on regulatory requirements — all while giving top notch care to your residents. Maintaining census is an excellent thing for administrators to be concerned about. Here's why.
While changes in payment/reimbursement systems and outside regulatory requirements fall outside of your control, one thing you CAN control is maintaining your facility’s census.
Although maintaining census is more difficult than ever because there are so many alternatives to skilled nursing facilities — like assisted living, in-home companions, home healthcare, and living with relatives — without strong census-building tactics in place, your facility will, quite frankly, fall short.
Census building is something we talk about with our skilled nursing facility clients regularly. While some facilities embark on large-scale renovations and add impressive amenities to make their facility more appealing, we’ve seen many facilities spend a lot less money on census building tactics. Let’s look at a few of those tactics.
Psst — the resident is rarely the buyer. The buyer is his or her loved ones.
The majority of your buyers are probably feeling some guilt over admitting Mom or Dad into a skilled nursing facility. It’s an emotionally charged decision. They might be feeling overwhelmed and just flat out be exhausted after dealing with a parent’s declining health.
Make the process easier for them by being compassionate, patient and accessible.
Like so many things in this world, perception is reality. The plain, hospital-like facility with beige walls might give outstanding care and have experienced nurses and staff. But walking into that facility won’t necessarily wow a family.
On the other hand, a family walking into a newly-built modern facility might “ooh” and “ahh” over its resort-like amenities and colorful interior. On the surface, it looks like the perfect facility for their loved one, but in reality, that facility might be direly short staffed and fall short in skilled nursing care.
Creating a pleasant environment for your residents, staff, visitors — and your buyers — will go a long way toward building and maintaining your facility’s census (more on census later). And it doesn’t need to cost thousands of dollars.
Here are just a few inexpensive ideas for creating a more positive first impression:
A smile goes a long way toward making a weary family member feel welcome in your facility.
Will the family taking a tour of your facility choose your facility, where they are greeted with a warm smile, or your nearby competitor, where they were ignored and hastily greeted by a clearly overworked employee? The answer is obvious.
Training your employees to create a positive impression costs nothing.
Here are a few things you can do to ensure your staff is helping, and not hindering, your census-building efforts:
As we mentioned earlier, skilled nursing facilities face fierce competition from sources that were not so prevalent decades ago, such as home healthcare, assisted living and live-in companions. While these sources of competition will not go away, skilled nursing facilities are wise to embrace them as referral sources.
A resident at an assisted living facility might not need skilled nursing care right now, but they might need a step up in care in five years. Likewise, someone who can live fairly independently at home with the help of a home healthcare provider who visits twice a day might need skilled nursing care down the road. You get the idea.
Administrators and admissions directors should foster relationships with anyone — including assisted living facilities, hospitals, retirement communities, physical therapists and home healthcare providers — who is in the position to refer new residents.
When you consistently monitor your census, you can spot holes in your marketing and admissions efforts. Monitoring census against your current staffing might also shed light on when you need to step up your recruiting. When your staffing isn’t adequate, your facility’s ability to deliver good care drops. In fact, McKnight’s Long-Term Care News recently reported that a staggering 1,400 skilled nursing facilities have lost a star rating due to inadequate numbers of registered nurses.
Your star rating is paramount. Most buyers will factor in a facility’s star rating as they make a decision on where to place their loved one. Knowing where you stand with census and staffing, and taking appropriate actions to maintain adequate staff, will help your facility rank well in the all-important Five-Star Quality Rating System.
Recognizing the importance of monitoring census is one thing, but actually monitoring it in real time can be a different story. Have no fear, though. There are technology tools that can help you and your team monitor census.
For example, PointClickCare has a census management capability for clinical and billing purposes. It also allows you to manage staff resources according to your census, and to see what is coming down the pipeline in the way of incoming and wait listed residents.
Contact us here or call 800.899.4623.