Technology has the potential to revolutionize how nursing homes and assisted living communities protect residents — from smart fall sensors to digital medication tracking. Yet a new 2025 national survey shows most nonprofit senior living providers struggle to adopt those tools.
The Ziegler Link-Age LeadingAge CAST CTO Hotline survey polled more than 100 decision-makers across not-for-profit elder care organizations. Its findings reveal three primary obstacles to implementing new technology initiatives:
Despite strong interest in innovation, many communities simply lack the personnel or resources to deploy systems that could prevent falls, infections, and medication errors — all issues that routinely lead to nursing home neglect claims.
Survey respondents said their top goals for new technology include:
But even among organizations that set key performance indicators for technology, more than half admitted they do not track results or use data to guide care improvements. The gap between implementation and accountability leaves families uncertain whether the “smart” systems actually make residents safer.
According to Jenny Poth, senior vice president at Ziegler, many providers lack industry benchmarks for evaluating success. Without metrics, she said, technology becomes “a checkbox exercise instead of a clinical safety tool.”
Families often assume that a high-tech facility is a safer one. In reality, technology cannot compensate for chronic understaffing or poor training. Even the most advanced fall-detection systems and electronic health records fail when there are not enough staff to respond to alerts or document changes in condition.
When you tour a senior community, treat technology as part of the overall staffing conversation, not a substitute for it. Ask:
Facilities that cannot answer these questions clearly may be using technology more for marketing than for resident protection.
Only 20% of surveyed nonprofits listed “addressing staff shortages” as a top motivator for tech adoption, even though labor scarcity is the single largest challenge in long-term care. Another 80% of respondents said their organization’s knowledge of artificial intelligence is “very limited” or confined to select teams.
This reveals a systemic issue: senior living leaders recognize the promise of AI and automation but have not yet integrated them into daily care. The technology exists, but without a trained workforce and financial runway, progress remains slow.
Automation in billing, payroll, and scheduling may ease administrative burdens, but true resident safety requires direct investment in bedside care. Without staffing stability, under-trained workers and under-used technology perpetuate the same neglect families fear most — missed call-lights, medication errors, and falls that go unreported.
Families should remember: no device replaces a human caregiver who knows the resident and responds with urgency and empathy.
Source: Senior Housing News, September 29 2025
Original article: Senior Living Nonprofits See Staffing, Funding, Time Constraints as Top Barriers to Implementing Tech
If understaffing or neglected monitoring technology caused a fall, bedsore, or medication error, our nationwide team can help investigate what went wrong. Consultations are free, and we work on contingency — no recovery, no fee. Bedsore.Law has recovered millions for families harmed by nursing home neglect and elder abuse.
