Buzz and business impact: Where AI is delivering true LTC value - McKnight's Long-Term Care News

Artificial intelligence has quickly become an omnipresent tool in senior care, with many providers leveraging tools to create value for residents, patients and staff members alike.

But sometimes AI can be used like a hammer in search of a nail, offering oversimplified solutions for complex challenges, experts warn.

“AI capabilities only create value when it really addresses a meaningful problem,” Allison Rainey cautioned during a recent McKnight’s webinar.

“It has to fit into that workflow. It has to lead to action,” the head of nursing and clinical informatics at MatrixCare continued. “The AI can serve us a whole lot of information, but if it doesn’t lead to action, then what is it doing? At the end of the day, we really have to have those meaningful and measurable impacts to make sure that any solution or any tool that we’re putting into play in a clinical healthcare operation is effective.”

A panel of experts discussed realistic and responsible approaches to AI adoption during the recent 2026 McKnight’s Tech Summit.

Using AI to take care of administrative tasks such as claims submission and authorization was a recommendation from fellow panelist Jeremy Crowe, head of revenue cycle management at MatrixCare.

“The most important and the easiest [applications] are where there are repeatable tasks,” he said. “If you’re doing the same thing every day, logging in, doing, submitting claims or looking at eligibility, those are the easy items to pick off first and use the most basic form of AI RPA, or robotic processing automation. It’s basically scripted, and it will log in and do what you do every day and then tell you the exceptions, so you’re working more efficiently and elevating that role.”

Getting the facts straight

Although the marketing hype around AI has ramped up in recent years, some forms of it have been around since the 1960s, albeit with different labeling, noted Beau Sorensen, chief operating officer and partner at VisionBound International. He also pointed out the differences between predictive and generative AI.

“I’ve seen more and more things be labeled AI that in the past weren’t labeled AI,” he said. “At the same time, when people talk about AI, they’re really talking about generative AI and kind of the newer stuff, like ambient listening, that is actually creating content for you, as opposed to stuff that is predictive and saying, ‘OK, this is what I think you want.’ If it’s something that is just a relabel of a product that’s been around for four or five years, it’s probably not new AI.”

Sorenson also observed that AI is not a one-size-fits-all solution. It requires diligent preparation and planning before being rolled out in a clinical environment. Regulatory and payment pressures ultimately come for everyone, whether or not they use AI.

“People think that you can just toss a chart into AI and that it will generate a great care plan for you,” Sorenson explained. “It can be really good, [but] at the same time, you need to make sure that you’re using the right tool. Whether this tool is modern AI or whether this tool is something that has no AI in it at all, we want to make sure that we’re getting the job done and we’re getting it done in the most effective way possible, because [the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services] and insurance companies are constantly pressuring us with rates.”

Careful consideration urged

Crowe encouraged providers to try out AI through small pilot programs, but he also stressed the importance of having the support of the care teams whose members will use the tech before full implementation.

“I would 100% encourage people to do a pilot with a smaller set of users, to ensure you’re getting the outcomes,” he said. “Is it working the way we intended? If we didn’t get that outcome, why? Then, we revisit how we’re implementing it or training it and the plans to integrate it into the workflow, and then we refine it before we roll it out to the larger user base. To actually successfully put AI into practice, agencies have to make sure that they are working with people in their organization.”

Above all, Rainey emphasized mindfulness and caution when it comes to introducing AI into an organization.

This means identifying the “nails” before putting the “hammer” to work.

“Make sure that you’ve got an AI governance setup so that you are thoughtful about where you’re going to put AI,” she said. “Make sure you identify your areas of opportunity and your pain points. Do your research, and just make sure that you’ve got all the questions answered and all the items before you even bring a solution to the folks who would be making the decision to solve [a problem] with an AI solution.”

The McKnight’s Tech Awards + Summit is a joint initiative of McKnight’s Long-Term Care News, McKnight’s Senior Living and McKnight’s Home Care. Additional coverage of the event is available here.