Courtny Brooks

Director of Home Health
EverTrue
Saint Louis, MO, US
  • 36-A. Building In-Home Services through Acquisition and Innovation

    • Sunday, October 25, 2026

    1:00 – 2:00 p.m.

    36-A. Building In-Home Services through Acquisition and Innovation

    Many providers of aging services are interested in new ways to deliver high-quality support in the home, especially for middle-market consumers. This session will explore how one multisite sponsor of affordable housing and life plan communities expanded its at-home services through a strategic mix of acquisitions, program innovation, and affiliations with home and community-based service providers. Presenters will also highlight two new programs they designed to serve life plan community residents and the broader community: a concierge care navigation and coaching service, and an at-home support program for older adults with incomes just below traditional private-pay thresholds. Gain concrete ideas for building or expanding scalable in-home services to serve current residents and the price-sensitive middle market.

Kristy Brown

Director of SNF Strategy
Assembly Health
Chicago, IL, United States
  • 84-G. Operationalize ADR Management to Protect Your Resources

    • Tuesday, October 27, 2026

    8:30 – 9:30 a.m.

    84-G. Operationalize ADR Management to Protect Your Resources

    Nursing homes and post-acute care providers face heightened scrutiny when Medicare and other payers issue Additional Documentation Requests (ADR) or conduct targeted medical reviews and post-payment audits. Delays in responding to these requests can lead to improper payment findings against the provider. This session will help leaders shift from reactive, one-claim-at-a-time ADR responses to a structured, collaborative approach. Presenters will outline common review triggers, explain how documentation gaps and fragmented communication pose financial and compliance risks, and review each step of an ADR, from request through appeal. Learn how to operationalize ADR and denial management to support quality and financial stability.

Melissa Brown

Chief Operating Officer
Gravity Healthcare Consulting
Cumberland, MD, United States
  • 75-B. From Minutes to Medicine: Protecting Your Reimbursement

    • Sunday, October 25, 2026

    2:45 – 3:45 p.m.

    75-B. From Minutes to Medicine: Protecting Your Reimbursement

    Medicaid’s Patient-Driven Payment Model (PDPM) has shifted reimbursement away from therapy minutes and toward documented clinical complexity. As a result, many organizations are seeing their Case Mix Index decline and Medicaid rates compress because resident acuity, the model’s focus, is not fully documented in the record or captured in the Minimum Data Set (MDS). This session offers a practical playbook to restore payment accuracy and audit defensibility by replacing “minutes” with “medicine.” A healthcare consultant will recommend engaging specialty physicians to confirm active diagnoses, document how conditions affect daily care, and classify diseases to improve MDS precision. You’ll discover ways to protect reimbursement while improving care for complex, long-stay residents.

Carly Bruski

Assistant Director, Strategic Partnerships
The Jewish Federations of North America
Washington, DC, USA
  • 145-E. How a Trauma-Informed Approach Can Promote Workforce Wellness

    • Monday, November 03, 2025

    3:00 – 4:00 p.m.

    145-E. How a Trauma-Informed Approach Can Promote Workforce Wellness

    Many older Americans will experience at least one traumatic event that affects their physical, mental, and social health. This session will propose that trauma also affects the people who care for older adults, and that a person-centered, trauma-informed (PCTI) approach can enhance the health and well-being of these caregivers. Presenters will describe the implementation of PCTI, highlight the model’s potential to improve workforce wellness, and offer solutions to reduce staff vacancies, decrease turnover, and attract new talent. You’ll take home practical tips for integrating PCTI principles into organizational policies and procedures that benefit team members, care recipients, family caregivers, volunteers, and organizations providing care.

Kenya Bryant

Executive Director
Ingleside at King Farm
Rockville, MD, US
  • 17-B. Ouch! That Stereotype Hurts: Practical Tools to Address Bias

    • Sunday, November 02, 2025

    2:45 – 3:45 p.m.

    17-B. Ouch! That Stereotype Hurts: Practical Tools to Address Bias

    Addressing everyday stereotypes and biases can create a more respectful and inclusive culture in senior care organizations. This session will provide practical tools and strategies for fostering effective communication and navigating difficult conversations about bias. Presenters will help you identify subtle biases and stereotypes and respond to them constructively. Senior living leaders will share their experiences implementing bias workshops, and you’ll view a video demonstrating workshop best practices and techniques. Explore how culture change can help you challenge stereotypes and build stronger, more respectful relationships among team members and between staff and residents.

Natasha Bryant

Senior Director of Workforce Research & Development, LTSS Center
LeadingAge
Washington, DC, US
  • 141-B. How Direct Care Supervisors Can Improve Employee Retention

    • Sunday, November 02, 2025

    2:45 – 3:45 p.m.

    141-B. How Direct Care Supervisors Can Improve Employee Retention

    Nursing supervisors in aging services play a critical role in motivating, teaching, and mentoring certified nursing assistants (CNAs) who provide direct care to nursing home residents. A strong, positive relationship between a nurse supervisor and a CNA boosts job satisfaction and reduces turnover. This session will explore actions that nursing supervisors can take to develop the leadership skills they need to work with CNAs so that the entire team can deliver high quality care. Presenters will also emphasize the critical role that a supportive organizational culture, aligned structures and policies, and consistent reinforcement from leadership play so that supervision strategies are effectively integrated into daily practice. Learn about programs that help nursing supervisors create a supportive workplace culture and become effective leaders of CNAs and teams.

Zac Bryant

AVP, Property Broker
Jencap Insurance Services
Atlanta, GA, USA
  • 79-F. What Rising Insurance Rates Mean for Your Property

    • Monday, November 03, 2025

    4:30 – 5:30 p.m.

    79-F. What Rising Insurance Rates Mean for Your Property

    Today’s property market remains fractured, unstable, and increasingly expensive. This is especially true for properties in geographic regions at greater risk for severe natural disasters or other events that can cause significant damage and lead to double-digit increases in property insurance rates. This session will help you understand the current property market, how insurance rates are determined, and strategies for combating rising costs. Panelists will share their predictions for the future and outline the opportunities that a chaotic insurance market might present for your organization.

Tim Buist

Chief Strategic & Implementation Officer
The Reserves at Spring Hill
Spring Hill, TN, US
  • 52-H. How to Identify Your Organization’s Growth Path

    • Tuesday, November 04, 2025

    3:00 – 4:00 p.m.

    52-H. How to Identify Your Organization’s Growth Path

    How do progressive organizations adapt to meet growing market demand? This session will explore two approaches. You’ll learn how a Florida-based single-site life plan community implemented a strategic growth plan to establish a satellite campus, and how a Tennessee-based multi-site organization’s growth strategy led it to expand an existing campus. While both growth initiatives were similar, each organization employed unique strategies to achieve its goals. Presenters will guide you in formulating key questions to ask yourself, your board, and other stakeholders when developing market-based, mission-aligned growth strategies. You’ll also learn how market analysis, vision setting, and strategic repositioning contribute to successful growth. Don’t miss this opportunity to identify your organization’s growth path.

Lisa Buksbaum

CEO & Founder
Soaringwords
New York, NY, USA
  • 91-C. Cultivate Well-Being for Residents, Staff, and Families

    • Sunday, November 02, 2025

    4:30 – 5:30 p.m.

    91-C. Cultivate Well-Being for Residents, Staff, and Families

    Are you interested in learning how to help residents, team members, and families develop a deeper appreciation for life and a greater ability to move forward after setbacks and trauma? This session will introduce you to an award-winning program designed to help everyone in your senior living community achieve these goals. Presenters will describe the SOARING Into Resilience workshop they developed and share research documenting the program’s success in helping staff, residents, and their families experience a heightened sense of belonging, connection with peers, meaning, and purpose. They’ll also offer you an opportunity to participate in immersive exercises aimed at enhancing individual, organizational, and communal well-being.

Diane Burfeindt

Managing Principal
Trilogy Connect
Cogan Station, PA, USA
  • 27-D. Build a Better Board with Better Meetings

    • Monday, October 26, 2026

    8:30 – 9:30 a.m.

    27-D. Build a Better Board with Better Meetings

    Keeping senior living board members aligned can be challenging in this age of competing priorities. Many boards struggle with fragmentation, uneven engagement, or unfocused conversations, even as organizational leaders face unprecedented challenges. During this session, you’ll learn how to build a more effective board by designing meetings that surface the right insights, promote shared understanding, and encourage strategic questions. Discover how to reinforce the board’s strategic focus between meetings, frame discussions during meetings, and avoid having to reset the conversation every quarter. Here’s your chance to get everyone on the same page and keep them there as your organization’s operating landscape evolves.

  • 55-K. The Growth Imperative: If the Market is Ready, Why Aren’t We?

    • Wednesday, October 28, 2026

    10:00 – 11:00 a.m.

    55-K. The Growth Imperative: If the Market is Ready, Why Aren’t We?

    Independent living occupancy has surpassed 90% nationally, even as inventory growth has reached record lows. With demand projected to accelerate, life plan communities must ask a critical question: If the market is ready for growth, why aren’t we? This session will help you become more comfortable with organizational growth. Presenters will guide you in assessing when to grow, when to wait, and which indicators matter most. They’ll share step-by-step processes to build alignment on growth across your organization and show you how to reduce uncertainty and accelerate progress. Learn to differentiate between healthy risk awareness and counterproductive risk avoidance, and get ready to take meaningful action to grow your organization.

Marissa Burkhardt

Chief Strategy Officer
Fountain Digital
Seven Hills, OH, US
  • 67-G. Marketing Data for CEOs: What are All These Numbers Telling Me?

    • Tuesday, October 27, 2026

    8:30 – 9:30 a.m.

    67-G. Marketing Data for CEOs: What are All These Numbers Telling Me?

    Marketing and sales teams often provide CEOs and senior living executives with a range of data to support their conclusions about how effectively their organization is attracting, engaging, and converting consumers. But what do these numbers mean, and how can you use them to ask the right questions, generate new inquiries and increase sales? This session is designed for executive leaders who want a clearer understanding of the difference between an inquiry and a lead, what a conversion rate is and isn’t, and how to act on this information. Presenters will also explain the difference between marketing and sales teams and how they should work together to maximize results. You’ll leave prepared to make informed decisions that will boost your organization’s performance.

John Burns

President & CEO
Westminster Canterbury Richmond
Richmond, VA, USA
  • 49-F. Strategic Success: Engage Stakeholders and Measure Progress

    • Monday, November 03, 2025

    4:30 – 5:30 p.m.

    49-F. Strategic Success: Engage Stakeholders and Measure Progress

    Westminster Canterbury Richmond took deliberate steps to enhance transparency and collaboration during its 2022 strategic planning process, which laid the groundwork for a major campus expansion. During this session, the organization’s chief executive and director of strategic growth will describe how they engaged workgroups of organizational leaders, board members, residents, and staff to set organizational priorities and identify desired outcomes. Presenters will showcase the accountability tool they used to check in regularly with more than 35 of the organization’s leaders. They’ll also present two case studies detailing the organization’s recommitment to strategic growth and its evolving approach to wellness and fitness. Learn how to implement a strategic planning process that engages stakeholders, measures progress, and ensures accountability.