How Labs in Long-Term Care can Achieve Success

A Growing Opportunity and Challenge for Labs

The U.S. Census Bureau projects that the number of Americans aged 65 and older will nearly double by 2060. The aging population and increasing life expectancy is driving demand for a variety of senior care services including long-term care, skilled nursing facilities, home hospice, post-acute care, and senior housing communities. Assisted living facilities already saw a 15.4% increase from 2015-2019 and construction of new developments has ramped up again after a slowdown during the pandemic. CMS certified nursing facilities are also seeing growth in capacity post-pandemic despite the growing availability of other senior care options.

For clinical diagnostic labs this presents a huge opportunity – but also unique challenges. With the long-term care market expected to undergo unprecedented growth, increasingly strict government regulations, increasing standards of care, and extreme labor shortages, many labs are not equipped with the infrastructure to offer the solutions necessary for supporting the long-term care market.

Labs Face Unique Obstacles in Long-Term Care  

For diagnostic laboratories, serving long-term care facilities effectively comes with specific challenges as they have specific needs. These challenges include:

Integration with LTC-Specific EHR Systems

Long-term care (LTC) providers are being increasingly incentivized to implement health IT systems for health information exchange (such as the 2014 IMPACT Act & 2009 HITECH Act). Early adopters of health IT have reaped the rewards of workflow efficiencies by implementing LTC-specific electronic health record (EHR) systems. Being able to interface and exchange patient data with various organizations will be a major requirement for any LTC business that looks to scale.

For labs looking to serve LTC providers, this means they must be capable of integrating with their EHRs to ensure secure data exchange between the LTC providers and lab systems. Legacy on-premise lab systems lack the ability to feasibly interface with modern cloud-based EHRs, which can be an immediate deal-breaker. Labs that are slow to modernize their IT infrastructure risk losing out to better-equipped competitors.

Staff Turnover and Retraining is Disruptive to Operations

Nurses and phlebotomists need efficient and easy-to-use software tools to schedule recurring collections and track samples for groups of patients across various locations. Training staff how to use and conduct administration of software tools can be a burden especially as LTC operators struggle with staff turnover. 

Legacy lab information systems are a major contributor to employee burnout and staff turnover. The majority of lab systems in use today are now older than the new nurses entering the workforce themselves! Outdated user interfaces and poor user experience can add frustration to an already stressful occupation creating heavy intangible costs.

Labs that can offer modern software with intuitive interfaces can help mitigate staff turnover with easy onboarding and self-serve user management. It’s critical for labs to gain user buy-in by offering solutions that can support staff (instead of work against them) and maintain consistent service.

Competition and Differentiation via Integrations

Competitive labs must offer more than turnaround times. LTC and skilled nursing facilities are under pressure to deliver higher standards of care and meet stricter compliance regulations. Labs that offer differentiated solutions such as antimicrobial stewardship, pharmacogenomics testing, and medication adherence can help long-term care facilities achieve the target quality metrics. These and other newly developed AI-powered tools that make processes more efficient and accurate can add significant value to all stakeholders. However, without modern interoperability capabilities, labs will struggle to provide these in-demand services.

Data Security, Compliance, and System Stability

Handling sensitive patient data requires robust security measures. Labs serving long-term care facilities must ensure compliance with HIPAA regulation. When serving LTC organizations with multiple locations and multiple users that often change due to staff turnover, maintaining secure access to the lab system can be increasingly complex. However, doing so with legacy on-prem systems can be costly and cumbersome. External users may need to be equipped with VPNs and restrictive dedicated workstations. Typically, dedicated IT personnel are required to implement, monitor and maintain these security measures which makes operations increasingly costly.

Disaster recovery also can’t be emphasized enough as the healthcare sector is still recovering from the Crowdstrike outage (which affected Windows-based servers) and the Change Healthcare ransomware attack in 2024. With even large conglomerates like LabCorp having fallen victim to ransomware attacks as well, it’s clear that securing an on-prem system is no small feat. Long term care is especially sensitive to operational disruptions making security and system stability a high priority.

How Serviam Diagnostics Delivers Value to Senior Living Providers

Serviam Diagnostics is a full-service diagnostic lab (part of the Serviam Care Network, PBC) that is transforming senior care by implementing a sustainable value-based care model in senior housing settings. Their focus is on improving outcomes for residents while delivering financial sustainability for operators. Serviam and their partners equip operators with the necessary technology and support to succeed in value-based care without upfront capital from operators. With a commitment to delivering exceptional service and innovative healthcare solutions, Serviam has positioned itself as a leader in the long-term care diagnostics market. They are able to achieve this, in part by leveraging solutions from Dendi’s Laboratory Information System (LIS). 

Brian Sears, VP of Operations at Serviam Diagnostics, attributes much of the company’s success to the implementation of Dendi LIS. He explains, “We needed a solution that would not only meet our operational demands but also provide a platform for growth and scalability. Dendi has far exceeded our expectations in terms of functionality and ease of use.”

Key Results and Impact

The LIS transition to Dendi was well-received by both lab staff and client floor staff. Even while facing high turnover of managers at client sites, Dendi’s ease of use minimizes operational disruption. The lab has improved operational efficiency, reduced errors, and shortened test turnaround times—particularly for crucial diagnostic tests like UTI panels. 

Brian notes, “Dendi allows us to get results within hours, compared to the 48-hour turnaround of a good lab or 3-5 days in a normal lab. This can be the difference in preventing a fall and ultimately a patient leaving a facility.”

The scalability of Dendi’s platform has been instrumental in Serviam’s growth.

“We’ve already started transitioning around 40 communities to Dendi, with 90 more planned by Q4 2024. By Q1 2025, we aim to have 474 communities up and running on Dendi,”
Brian Sears, VP of Operations
Serviam Diagnostics

See the full case study (coming soon).

Solutions for Long Term Care Challenges 

1. Seamless Integrations: Dendi’s open API and integration capabilities give labs the ability to connect with various LTC-specific EHRs, and support services like Arkstone’s antimicrobial stewardship reports improving workflow efficiency. 
2. Ease of Use for Staff: Dendi’s cloud-native platform, provides staff with easy web-based access from any device. Whether at a long-term care facility or in the field, phlebotomists and staff can interact with the system without any technical roadblocks. 
3. Automation and Efficiency: Automation features streamline many of routine LTC tasks, including standing orders and mobile phlebotomy mileage tracking. On-site specimen label printing, automatically faxed reports, and daily summary emails for providers can help user efficiency, freeing up valuable time for both lab and facility staff, allowing them to focus on more critical tasks.
4. Security and Compliance: Dendi utilizes AWS’s enterprise-grade cloud security, which includes automated disaster recovery, automated backups, and data encryption to protect against various attacks and hardware failures. User security measures like two-factor authentication (2FA), single-sign on (SSO), and self-serve role-based access controls help meet HIPAA compliance and protect patient information without requiring dedicated IT resources.

Modern Lab Infrastructure Creates Value and Opportunity

As the long-term care market continues to expand, diagnostic labs that can adapt to the unique needs of this sector will thrive. With Dendi’s cloud-native LIS, Serviam Diagnostics has been able to overcome common industry challenges, streamline operations, and scale their services effectively. By prioritizing ease of use, seamless integrations, and automation, Dendi has empowered Serviam to provide top-tier service to long-term care facilities, ultimately improving patient outcomes and driving business growth.

For diagnostic labs looking to enter or grow in the long-term care market, following in Serviam’s footsteps by implementing modern IT infrastructure to expand the value that they can offer LTC providers may be the key to success.