Currently, there are about 800,000 people living in the nation’s 30,000 assisted living facilities with steady growth expected to continue. Most are over the age of 85. And, of the approximately 20 diseases defined as chronic conditions, it is common for senior living residents to have between four and eight conditions. Baby boomers (ages 52-70) account for approximately 72 million individuals in the United States in 2019 and this enormous group will soon be making decisions about whether senior living is the right option for their aging loved ones, and eventually for themselves. This aging of the population, and propensity for chronic illness, will increase demand for all forms of long-term care. For this reason, it’s likely that what Elara Caring CEO G. Scott Herman recently said in an interview with Home Health Care News is true: there will continue to be “…an uptick in consolidation across the industry . . . [with] a need to consolidate fragmented markets . . . [and] a need to consolidate data in order to manage chronically ill patients.” Other healthcare executives agree. In a survey conducted by Capital One Healthcare, the highest growth segments in healthcare services over the next year includes: 46% IT services 30% home health and hospice 8% insurance providers 8% assisted living and skilled nursing Providing comprehensive care for residents across the continuum of senior living to assisted living and hospice centers often consists of an involved medical history that spans many decades. With the surge in merger and acquisition growth in long-term care, lifecycle data management of the patient medical record will continue to be a critical issue to address, as the patient’s records may be scattered across many systems. As the push for data consolidation continues, and mergers and acquisitions proceed, electronic health record (EHR) systems will be replaced. Often, cost and technology constraints mean it doesn’t make business sense to migrate all the older records into the new system. However, the need to comply with record retention, and to maintain easy access to what could be imperative legacy data still exists. That’s when it makes sense to consolidate numerous legacy data silos into a single archive, accessible via Single Sign-On from an EHR. Ready to find out how Harmony Healthcare IT and HealthData Archiver® can help put your long-term care center’s legacy data management plan in motion? Connect with our team, we’re ready to chat.