5 Business Cost-Saving Opportunities For Multi-Location Senior Living Providers

Multi-location senior living cost saving strategies have never been more important - and for good reason: maintaining exceptional resident care while managing rising costs remains one of the industry's most persistent challenges. The good news is that senior living providers with multiple locations, which make up about 56% of operators, have unique opportunities for uncovering efficiencies in day-to-day operations.

In this article, we’ll explore five senior living business cost-saving opportunities for multi-location providers. From evaluating staffing and scheduling data to streamlining supply chain management, small adjustments can lead to significant savings. We’ll also explore the benefits of implementing a preventative maintenance strategy and discuss how exploring automated solutions can help optimize operations.

Key Takeaways

Multi-location senior living providers - roughly 56% of operators - have unique scale advantages that make cost reduction more achievable than for single-site communities. Workforce management data eliminates staffing guesswork and enables cross-location scheduling flexibility, while group purchasing organizations deliver senior living group purchasing cost savings through pre-negotiated vendor contracts that no individual operator could secure independently.

On the facilities side, predictive maintenance converts reactive repair costs into proactive, budgeted expenses that are easier to plan and control. Taken together, regular contract reviews conducted with a GPO partner consistently surface enterprise senior living expense management savings on existing spend - often in categories operators hadn't thought to revisit.

1. Evaluate Staffing and Scheduling Data to Reduce Senior Living Operational Costs

If there’s one truism in the senior living industry, it’s that hiring, training, and managing employees is among your biggest challenges. The best way to start optimizing your staffing needs is to establish a strong workforce management system that gives you the data you need to track staffing over time. This eliminates “best guesses” and provides hard data you can share with leadership and stakeholders when requesting adjusted staffing budgets.

Cross-training your employees across various roles — and scheduling them to work across locations within reasonable commuting distance — also gives you more flexibility. For instance, dining waitstaff can be cross-trained in administrative tasks. Administrative employees can also be trained in sales and marketing assistance. This allows for more potential coverage if an employee is out or staffing levels are low.

Multi-Location Advantage: Operators with communities in the same geographic area can cross-train employees and float staff between locations - significantly reducing reliance on agency or temporary labor, a key driver of senior living operational cost reductions.

2. Streamline Supply Chain Management with Senior Living Group Purchasing Cost Savings

Senior living providers with multiple locations can benefit from business cost savings by buying in bulk or bundling purchasing with a group purchasing provider. By consolidating your suppliers and negotiating better rates, you can reduce costs and administrative work, too (this is also a great way to simplify inventory management).

LCS Group Purchasing maintains over 200 vendor relationships, giving members access to pre-negotiated contracts across technology, culinary programs, facility management, and healthcare supplies - categories that represent the largest share of controllable operating expenses for most multi-location senior living operators.

Here’s an example from Janus Living, a senior living provider with 13 senior living communities, nine of which are in the state of Florida. They partnered with LCS Group Purchasing to look for more efficient ways to procure back-up generators, among other needs. These generators are required in the state of Florida to ensure a continuation of services in the event of a hurricane or other natural disaster. LCS Group Purchasing has over 250 vendor relationships, allowing them to connect Janus Living with COI Energy, a full-service digital energy management platform. The service not only provided generators, but was able to do so in a way that saved the communities a significant amount of money.

In fact, this solution worked so well that the community was able to partner with local city governments to loan out their generators as needed. When the city uses them, they credit the communities’ electric bill, resulting in even more cost savings!

Beyond pricing, supply chain consolidation simplifies inventory management, reduces duplicate ordering across locations, and frees procurement staff to focus on strategic priorities - core benefits of enterprise senior living expense management at scale.

3. Invest in Preventative and Predictive Maintenance for Senior Living Operational Cost Reductions

Regular maintenance checks help prevent costly repairs and keep your equipment and operations running smoothly. Scheduling routine inspections for roofs, gutters, siding, and critical healthcare equipment can save you from unexpected expenses and extend the life of your investments.

However, there’s an additional opportunity for business cost savings by investing in predictive maintenance. Predictive maintenance uses data to anticipate potential equipment or structural issues before they become major problems. Maintenance management software can help you keep track of when pieces of health or fitness equipment are most likely to require repairs and replacement. You can also use it to record tasks and schedules, making it easier to predict potential areas to address. By addressing these issues early, you can avoid expensive emergency repairs.

Enterprise operators can benchmark maintenance performance across all communities, identifying locations where deferred maintenance risk is highest and prioritizing capital expenditure accordingly - an advantage not available to single-site operators.

4. Explore Automated Solutions as a Senior Living Business Cost Saving Opportunity

Automating routine tasks such as billing, reporting, and scheduling can ease your employees’ workload, allowing them to spend more time building meaningful relationships with residents. These tools not only streamline operations but also reduce administrative costs, helping your community run more smoothly.

These tools go beyond administration tasks, too. Many senior living communities use integrated resident management systems to help coordinate and track resident care, needs, health updates, and document management. Having a central location where this information can be shared among employees who serve residents can reduce errors, improve communication, and ultimately enhance the quality of care that residents receive.

For enterprise senior living expense management, automation also enables standardization - when all communities run the same workflows and systems, corporate leadership gains enterprise-wide visibility to identify cost variances and implement best practices at scale.

5. Renegotiate Contracts with a Group Purchasing Service

Take a close look at your service contracts for purchases you make related to technology, cleaning, landscaping, dining, and security. Regular reviews and renegotiations can help you find better rates and services.

For instance, when Janus Living partnered with LCS Group Purchasing for their group purchasing needs, they received a dedicated account manager who met with them to discuss team member supervision, financial management, quality assurance, strategic planning, facility management, policy implementation, and crisis management. These calls often uncovered opportunities for the communities to save money.

One instance of this was when Janus Living's LCS Group Purchasing Community Account Manager had one of Janus Living's vendors transfer a contract over to LCS Group Purchasing at reduced cost. It was an easy and efficient way to save!

Where to Start: Prioritize your highest-spend contracts first - technology platforms, dining, and facility management typically represent the largest controllable expense categories. Review renewal dates annually and engage your GPO partner 90 days before each contract expiration.

Smarter Group Purchasing with LCS

Uncover new business cost-saving opportunities with the power of group purchasing. Since 1999, LCS Group Purchasing has helped senior living communities contain purchasing costs of consumer goods, business products and services, medical equipment, clinical programs, and more. Contact us to get connected with an expert team dedicated to your success.