The secret ingredient to successful nutrition planning with Amber Pintar, Corporate Dietitian, Healthcare Services Group, Inc.

In this episode of the Post-Acute POV, our host, Tim Regan, Editor, Senior Housing News is joined by Amber Pintar, Corporate Dietitian, Healthcare Services Group, Amy Wootton, RDN, Director of Nutrition, MatrixCare, and Lee Kilmer, Senior Vice President, Product Management & Commercialization, MatrixCare. The four discuss the benefits of using technology for successful nutrition planning and the importance of integrating your residents’ nutrition information into your EHR framework.

In celebration of National Nutrition Month, this panel discussion provides valuable insights into how to launch a successful nutrition management program—along with a few compelling reasons to do so. Nutrition safety is critical for the successful management of your business, and with accurate nutrition data, your residents can experience better outcomes. When approached from the right perspective, seamless sharing of critical information can be a key ingredient to your food cost control, effective meal planning, optimizing purchasing, and production benefits. Listen to their discussion.

Topics discussed during today’s episode:

1. [02:27 – 05:16]: Hear the steps to implement an automated nutrition management tool and how data can be used to track meals and report out nutrition outcomes.
2. [05:21 – 09:00]: Discover why format matters when integrating data and the key analytics that can be derived from this data.
3. [09:37 – 13:56]: Supply chain issues have impacted purchasing patterns for organizations of all sizes. Find out how technology can help.
4. [14:14 – 17:52]: Uncover how technology can aid in avoiding food waste and streamline production for culinary programs.
5. [18:24 – 21:52]: Learn how technology improves nutrition safety, meal planning, and food cost control.
6. [21:59 – 26:50]: See how a nutrition management tool can be used to enhance resident dining and hear from personal experience how it has helped to combat food cost challenges.
7. [27:03 – 29:09]: Lastly, we close out the discussion by talking about the importance of menu planning.

Resources

• Find out more about MealTracker, our key for successful nutrition planning: https://www.matrixcare.com/nutrition-management/
• Check out Healthcare Services Group, Inc.
• Special thanks to Senior Housing News for hosting this episode
• Listen to more episodes of the Post-Acute POV

Transcript

Speaker 1

Hi, and welcome to the Post-Acute Point of View, our discussion hub for healthcare technology in the out-of-hospital space. Here, we talk about the latest news and views on trends and innovation that can impact the way post-acute care providers work. We take a look at how technology can make a difference in today’s changing healthcare landscape, in both home-based and facility-based care organizations and the lives of the people they serve. Let’s dive in.

Tim Regan

Good afternoon, everyone. I’m Tim Regan with Senior Housing News. We’re going to talk about nutrition management and senior living, which, if you’re an operator, it’s no secret that’s become a lot harder with the pandemic and its many pressures. I think we’d all agree that nutrition safety is critical to really any senior living operation and there’s evidence that having accurate nutrition data supports better resident outcomes.

Tim Regan

Also, I think there’s evidence that sharing information across multiple domains can help operators plan meals more effectively and help them purchase ingredients for that. It can also be a great sales and marketing tool to increase occupancy, our resident satisfaction referrals. So today, we are going to hear from three expert panelists on how operators can learn the secret ingredient of nutrition management.

Tim Regan

I’m going to introduce our panel. Joining us first we have Lee Kilmer. Lee is senior vice president of product management and commercialization at MatrixCare. A little bit about Lee, he has 24 years of experience in enterprise software, including in analytics, healthcare interoperability, cloud computing and user experience. Welcome, Lee.

Tim Regan

We also have Amy Wooten. Amy is director of nutrition at MatrixCare. She’s also a registered dietician who is licensed in the state of Florida, with over 18 years of experience in clinical nutrition leadership for senior housing communities, as well as acute care, food service management, nutrition, informatics and wellness education. Welcome, Amy.

Tim Regan

Then finally, last but not least, we have Amber Pintar. Amber is a corporate dietician at Healthcare Services Group. She is also a registered licensed dietician and at Healthcare Services Group, she focuses on menu development and creating tools to maintain dining quality for long-term care, acute care and rehab communities. Welcome, Amber.

Tim Regan

All right, so we’ve got a lot to cover. Let’s jump into it. I think, Lee, we will start with you. My first question is, how difficult is it to implement an automated nutrition management tool that integrates with an electronic health record system?

Lee Kilmer

Yeah, thanks Tim, and thank you everybody as well. Yeah, to answer that question, Tim, first of all, there are some basic needs that we think about. Obviously, you want to make sure you have things like an executive sponsor, who’s really helping to oversee the project and can make quick decisions if needed, if something needs that level of decision making.

Lee Kilmer

You obviously need an overall project leader to make sure everybody is staying on track and bringing together different work streams, to ensure the implementation comes off well. You often need a change management plan, right? So, there’s training involved. There could be workflow changes, there might be software training. Of course, lastly, good collaboration across the team.

Lee Kilmer

On that collaboration note, it’s really important to make sure that nursing and dietary are really on the same page in a number of areas. Things like which diets are going to be served in the facility, what EMR integrations or EHR integrations might be needed to help drive and automate workflows. Potentially some practice changes. For example, things like how a nurse enters an order in the system, how that flows through to the dining platform. Visibility that the staff has on that side to the dining and nutrition needs of that resident.

Lee Kilmer

Teams should, of course, agree on things like diet formulary and really, it’s important to be upfront across the team on the implementation timeline, the goals and objectives and key milestones, to make sure that the implementation comes off successfully.

Tim Rega

You have all this aggregated data. Can you tell me how you can use that to report out nutrition outcomes or meals provided to residents?

Lee Kilmer

Yeah, absolutely. First of all, it’s really important to make sure you have all the data kind of connected together. It’s ideal to have a really in-one solution, where the nutrition information is connected with the resident or the patient information. Really all within one database or one system, which makes it a lot easier to gain access for reporting. That allows you to really normalize the data in just a common format, connect that to the resident and then drive reporting and analytics off of that.

Lee Kilmer

Some examples of where pulling that data together can help provide benefits, so things like having accurate and useful information for operators around their diets being served, who is being served, what the residents requirements are. Information around the management of the dining operation, in terms of food costs and other things that go into managing the dining operation. Monitoring things like weights or malnutrition for the resident and information that can help promote or improve meal production.

Lee Kilmer

When you think about really reporting and bringing data together, it’s key to think about what kinds of measurements you want to really understand the performance, if you will, of the dining operation. Then, make sure you’ve got the information available and understand what information is needed to drive those kinds of measurements and help monitor performance.

Tim Regan

Can you also talk about how and why format matters when you’re integrating this data?

Lee Kilmer

Now, format of the data is key. It gets a little technical, talking about some of this, but standardized data formats are how computer systems speak to each other. Having codes in the data or common data structures and common understanding and terminology sets around the data is really key to driving efficiencies and driving insights. Really is a preferred best practice. When you think about integrations, using standards like HL7 or FHIR formats, to really make sure that disparate applications or disparate systems can talk to each other is really, really key.

Lee Kilmer

Of course, without that standardization, can lead to a lot of problems. Standardized data can help promote things like exact census matching, making sure you’re accurately identifying the rooms that the residents are living in. Proving interdisciplinary care, improving safety, helping to drive staff efficiency and even integration of things like food service items or nutrients. Pricing across the dining service and across the production locations are all enabled by using a standard formats for data and making sure that that’s what’s driving the integrations.

Tim Regan

Absolutely. I have a question for you about key analytics. We’ve talked about using technology and standardized data for dining services. What key analytic can you derive from all of that?

Lee Kilme

Yeah, for sure. Just some basic examples that we think about, just things like the help and the production or the management of the dining operation. It might be things like what items are being served, how frequently, which orders are being placed? So, really understanding what’s being produced and how it’s being consumed. Information about production, just to make sure that, really, the kitchen is operating efficiently and that waste is minimized as much as possible.

Lee Kilmer

Diet tracking, especially around the residents, just to make sure that they’re receiving the diet. Also, the diets are being prepared or their meals are being prepared and the way that they need. Malnutrition awareness, which is something that we’ve been looking at a lot lately, in terms of really understanding risk of malnutrition and potential actions that can be taken to help reduce that risk.

Lee Kilme

Then, of course, being able to look at things like food and labor costs, which are so critical to monitor in long-term care housing. I think the key is really to understand what kinds of metrics that you want to track around your dining operation. Look for analytics that can help manage costs, monitor resident health and safety and really provide or promote insights into efficiencies, especially around labor and production.

Tim Regan

I have to assume that it’s important to standardize your terminology where you’re doing all of this. I mean, you must compare apples with apples. I guess, how does that impact the transition of data?

Lee Kilmer

Yeah, it’s a good question. Definitely, standardized terminology, not only helps keep people on the same page about what they’re talking about, right? How do you refer to certain parts of the organization and improving communication and ability to share information across different parts of the organization?

Lee Kilmer

For example, things like standardizing order types, diet order types, for example, to help keep the nursing and the dietary staff really on the same page about what’s being ordered and how that order is being fulfilled. Helping to really provide standardized information and terminology during transitions of care. If somebody is coming from the hospital to a skilled nursing setting, having clear communication about what that person needs, based on some sort of standardized terminology. Again, keeping safety in mind as a key driver, it’s very, very important.

Tim Regan

If I’m a senior living operator, where would I go for standardized terminology, or how would I look to do that?

Lee Kilme

Yeah. Just a couple quick responses there. Standardized terminology can be found on resources, web-based resources. For example, the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. HL7, as well, has a lot of information around nutrition orders and there are other sources out there as well.

Tim Regan

Great. Well, Lee, thank you. Amy, I’m going to ask you some questions now. I’ll ask you some questions about staff efficiency and purchasing and production benefits. I guess, Amy, to start with, how do supply chain challenges affect your purchasing pattern? I’ve heard, time and time again, how many operators have said they’re preparing for issues with their supply chain during this pandemic. How do those challenges affect your purchasing pattern?

Amy Woote

Yeah, I think this really requires a whole deep dive. We can do a whole topic just about this, into areas of the whole food industry, allocations of food from vendors and making menus that comply with regulatory balancing [inaudible 00:09:51]. We’re in a present day challenge, really, to balance all of those things and truly understand how our food supply works. It’s important, from the agricultural standpoint, right? How it grows, how food actually starts.

Amy Wooten

The industry’s dealing with environmental challenges of course, and then supplies themselves. But, what about manufacturers? They also are dealing with challenges to get that from the agricultural teams that produce the product and then packaging that. Think of all the man hours it might take to package up a product that they’ve received. They don’t have staff, just like the rest of the country right now. We’re dealing with a major staff issue. Then delivery challenges on top of that.

Amy Wooten

So, getting that to the distributors and then those distributors getting that to you, in the hands of the operators, is a balance that our dining operators have to deal with. Those distributors have staffing challenges as well, loading the trucks, packaging that. Maybe not having the availability that you, the operator, needs. A lot of flexibility has to go in that and then dealing with the cash prices, hello? We have a huge cash price challenge.

Amy Wooten

Those are coming onto that dining operator. They’re a bit accustomed to dealing with this, but now more than ever, with the pandemic and gas and we can’t go without saying anything about the Russian invasion to Ukraine. That’s going to impact our entire food supply chain.

Amy Wooten

They’ve learned to adjust quickly and resource products properly, but they may look to monitor more closely to resources that are out there. I would suggest using something like the USDA’s website, they have a blog about the food industry, what’s going on, so they can keep up to date with that.

Amy Wooten

Also, your consumer report index about commodities and the prices and what’s happening, so they can look to that resource. Of course, partnering with your food vendor. They need to be your partner, not just your vendor. Making sure you’re getting some information with them, timely, sit down and have those conversations. “What’s in my supply?” Maybe a weekly, every-other-day conversation. “What do you have?” “How can I make my menu work with what you have to deliver to me?”

Amy Wooten

Some tips also, at the facility level, I would say having a conversation with your residents, your customers. Whoever you’re serving routinely. “We’re in the supply chain challenge, this is what’s going on.” Bring it to the forefront to them, so they understand your flexibility that you have, to ask of them about menu changes. Maybe make a menu that’s not as far out. Most operators work to do things like a four-week cycle. Maybe you go to a two-week cycle and a little more flexibility there.

Amy Wooten

Then, be adaptable, maybe, to different brands, even. You shouldn’t be stuck in the same brand you always buy, because it might not be there. Maybe try another brand that might offer the same product yield or nutrient yield that you would want. Those are some challenges and some tips that they could go.

Tim Regan

I talk with a lot of senior living operators in my day to day. I often hear, I mean, obviously the staffing problems are widespread. I think if you’re a senior living operator, you’re having them right now. One of the ways I hear operators talk about solving some of those challenges is through technology. How can technology help with staff efficiency?

Amy Wooten

Yeah, I mean, right off the bat, technology is our time saver. Everybody uses it to make their life faster and easier. It’s going to take that manual steps that they may have been doing in the past, those hand writing down selections, going to count tallies right off the table. Now, they’ll be able to automate that for them. Having that tool in their hand to do so.

Amy Wooten

The staffing crisis that we’re in, of course dining operators are dealing with that. They need this now more than ever, to have the technology so their staff can be more efficient. If you don’t hear anything else today, that’s what you need to hear. Technology makes your staff more efficient, because we’re definitely in that crisis. It can help them, again, take those orders and get those selections in real time. Maybe make adjustments to menus and recipes quickly when they don’t have it available.

Amy Wooten

Talking about recipes, it can automate that process, where you don’t have to recalculate how much you’re serving, because your census has changed so drastically, or a product has changed, now I have to adjust my recipe and how I’m producing. That whole ease and flexibility that technology offers is key for your operators.

Tim Regan

Great. Just as an aside, I see all kinds of interesting technology these days. It is fascinating. Another thought, I hear this from operators sometimes too, how can using technology streamline production in your culinary program, to avoid things like food waste, which is a big focus for some operator [inaudible 00:14:13]

Amy Wooten

Technology’s key to any kitchen operator to have fine-tuned production. We want to make sure we’re being efficient, not wasting food. Nobody wants to throw it out, no one wants to waste the efforts of the great cooks and chefs that they have in their operation, putting that food together.

Amy Wooten

Using technology can help provide those accurate tracking of how much to produce and when, as I mentioned, that real time counts. Not to be repeating myself, but that’s really the benefit of technology in food waste. You know what you’re producing, exact amounts, exact details and you’re not wasting any food that way. It really can help quickly remove any worry of how much you’re producing or how much you’re leaving on the table, so to speak.

Tim Regan

Also, I mean, with the COVID-19 pandemic, obviously technology has played a great role, I think, in keeping residents connected and in their communities. But, how has technology helped with dining services in senior living during the pandemic?

Amy Wooten

Well, you probably heard we all had to eat from home and no one had to go out. Same thing happened, all the residents had to eat in their room. No more dining room, restaurant-style buffets, none of that. Operators had to quickly pivot with how they completely changed how they serve these residents or these customers in their senior living environments.

Amy Wooten

They had to redesign not only their staff, but maybe their production details to service that. How they were going to get those resident preferences, that what they’d like to eat, when they like to eat it. So, having the technology, if they’ve already had it implemented, they were ahead of the game. They could just go on their computer, adjust where their rooms are going to be assigned to. “No longer eating in the dining room? Okay. I’d have to serve them in their room.”

Amy Wooten

It was pretty easy for them, so to speak, but then it allowed them also to go mobile. They can take that technology and go ask the nurse, who’s the only one allowed in the room, to get the preferences and put them on the tablet. You have that, and it really changed how they completely did their operations. Some of that is maintained still today, because they found the technology has really benefited them and how they service.

Amy Wooten

Some kitchens even became shopping stores or grocery stores, so to speak. Where independent living residents would maybe be able to order their food right from the kitchen and be delivered to their room or their location where they were housed. Making payments online, doing that point of sale situation all became a lot more easier with the use of technology.

Amy Wooten

Just probably a challenge that was in there with that, also was for those seniors that may not be adaptable to technology. They were not familiar. You had that learning curve that they had to deal with, but, yeah, having that user experience be simplified, I think, is key. You Taking a look at technology that’s really simple for the user is very important.

Tim Regan

I think if you’ve been reading Senior Housing News, then you’ve been reading stories about how important it has been to use technology to keep residents engaged, as they are having to stay in their rooms. I actually do want to spin that a little bit, though. If I’m a food operator specifically, I’m not in the activities or programming, if I’m in culinary, why do I need technology to drive engagement and satisfaction to reduce turnover?

Amy Wooten

Yeah, for your staff, for sure. You want to make sure. They need technology to live. They want to use their phone, they want to use their tablet, they want to have that connection all the time. It attracts people, if you say, “I have a tablet for you to use to do your job and it’d be more efficient.” It attracts them to say, “I can run my reports right here for you, so you can make your job a lot easier. So you don’t have to sit there and hand count everything.”

Amy Wooten

I think that’s really the benefit to keeping and reducing staff, involve them and engage them in the technology that you’re using on your campus. Even the dining operator, that team is familiar with how frequent technology is used today.

Amy Wooten

They should be able to be involved in that and have buy-in and want to be able to use that technology to their benefit for their everyday. It really helps keep you guys engaged, as far as your dining operations with your team members and then, to keep your team members interested so they don’t go down the street to get the job down the street.

Tim Regan

Great. All right, Amber, I want to ask you some questions now. Let’s talk a little bit about nutrition safety, meal planning and food cost control. I guess my first question, just give us an overview. How does technology improve nutrition safety?

Amber Pintar

All right. I think that we can actually approach this from two different angles. First, more relevant to me is from the menu-building side. We use menu management software to build our menus, including our therapeutic diets, our texture-modified diets. We review the allergies and we really want to make sure that we are building a bulletproof menu and system that we feel good sharing with our clients.

Amber Pintar

Being able to use the technology to review our diet extensions, ensuring that there is consistency for our therapeutics and consistency-modified diets, that’s really key for us. There’s a lot of nutrition reporting, including our nutrition report, our cost reports that we’re getting real-time information from FoodData Central for. Nutrition reports and costing reports from our purveyors, as Amy had mentioned a little bit earlier.

Amber Pintar

From that aspect, from the menu-building side, we feel very strongly that technology is extremely important for managing, on our end, for the menu build. As far as the nutrition safety, I want to go back a little bit to what Lee had mentioned, regarding the integration between the medical record, the EHR, EMR, to the menu management software. We do have an integration that support more of a real-time communication of resident information. That’s really imperative and key to ensure that our residents, our clients are staying safe.

Amber Pinta

Think about the staffing challenges, as Amy had mentioned. We know that everyone is experiencing that, from nursing, activities, dining. So, being able to have that integration and the communication through that technology really reduces a miscommunication or a missed diet requisition slip.

Amber Pintar

Where maybe the kitchen wasn’t made aware of a diet change for a resident or a resident shouldn’t receive a tray because cause of a procedure. It’s really imperative to use technology to the fullest extent, use the integrations that we have, to ensure that we’re keeping everybody safe.

Tim Regan

Yeah, those are great points. I think it’s no secret that senior living communities are full of different dining venues these days, bistro family style, fine dining, buffet maybe before the pandemic, private dining, all this other stuff. How does technology help senior living organizations keep up demand for their different dining venues, such as the ones I just mentioned?

Amber Pinta

Sure, absolutely. I think that technology is extremely helpful in streamlining the information that we need from many different sources. We can get the information from the medical record, if it’s more of a long-term care community.

Amber Pintar

There’s also a point of service that our clients can use to order if they’re in more of that dining room setting. But, it’s been extremely important, especially through this pandemic, where we’ve had a lot of our communities have to go to in-room menu service versus the dining rooms and the buffets, to really streamline the information we’re receiving into the reports for production, ordering, our shopping list, to ensure that we’re getting all the information that we need.

Amber Pintar

I think that technology, we need to stay relevant. I think that we’re always going to be pushing the envelope to see that the technology is staying up the times and we’re not putting out an antiquated system. I think the pen and paper service is a little bit outdated at this point. I think our clients are really expecting to see that we’re staying up with the times and we’re able to offer the most up-to-date services. I think that, really, the most important thing to be able to offer is a little bit of consistency across all of those different dining venues.

Tim Regan

How can technology be leveraged to enhance things like wellness and just in general, the residents’ dining experience?

Amber Pintar

Sure. I think that a few years ago when we started seeing nutrition information at restaurants and dining establishments, I think that really opened up everyone’s eyes to reviewing the information that’s there. Looking at the choices available and being able to make an educated decision on, “What is going to be a good meal for me?”

Amber Pintar

We all have different health ailments. We’re working in long-term care communities, we’re working in assisted living and independent living, where maybe the needs are going to be different across all of those centers. So, being able to provide nutrition information, just from the ordering screen in long-term care, may be a little bit more relevant than assisted living.

Amber Pintar

Really being able to narrow down the selections for the population, for what’s relevant for their diet and consistency. Maybe they’re not seeing the whole menu, they’re seeing what would be appropriate for them. I think that is one step in, really, more so the wellness, I think, for the residential dining experience.

Amber Pintar

It’s really important that we are staying up to speed, again, with that technology. We’re helping them feel like they’re still part of the community. They still have that decision-making ability. We’ve seen a lot of our communities move more to the point of sales system, where they can make their selections and they can even set their time that they’d like to eat.

Amber Pintar

Moving away from the traditional breakfast, lunch and dinner timelines, where they have an hour time slot. Maybe now we’re opening that up a little bit more and making it feel a little bit more relevant to the dining preference that they had before entering a community. It’s important to make sure that we’re following those cues from our community, from our clients, to make them feel as most at home as we can.

Tim Regan

Great. Another question I have, I’ve written a couple stories that have touched upon this, food costs. So many things that are affecting food costs these days. Amber, I wanted to ask you, what food cost challenges have you experienced during the pandemic?

Amber Pintar

I think Amy touched on a lot of it. Obviously there has been inflation. I think we have all felt that, even going to the supermarket to pick up our normal order of groceries. It’s a lot of inflation there, but in addition to that, we’ve dealt with a lot of product availability concerns. We have had our vendor partners narrow down their line of products that they’ve been producing. Because they don’t have the staffing and the manpower to be able to switch the lines to create all of the different products that we have kept in our menu suite.

Amber Pintar

So, we’ve really had to narrow down to a poorer selection of products. Maybe instead of a chicken breast and a chicken thigh and bone-in chicken, we may have had to scale that back a little bit, based on what our manufacturers are putting out. In addition to the product availability, with the shortage in transportation, maybe our operating companies aren’t receiving the products that they had anticipated, that we’ve specked out. We know it’s a good product, we’ve cut it, meaning that we’ve tested that product using our own recipes.

Amber Pintar

We’ve had to really pivot to maybe using a different cut of meat or using a different supplier or brand, in that sense. That way, we’re ensuring we’re still getting a product in there, but it certainly has been a challenge. We’ve tried to review the menu and tried to take as much of those concerns out as we can. So that our operators in the accounts aren’t left feeling as though they have that burden of making that decision of, “What should I serve now? Is this appropriate?”

Amber Pintar

We’ve tried to manage through that, by updating our menu a little bit more frequently. We work very closely with our vendor partners and our GPOs, to ensure that we’re looking not only what’s available right now, but what’s available in six months from now? Do we have an appropriate menu that takes that into consideration? A significant impact. It’s an impact that we’re all feeling, both in our communities and elsewhere and at home. We’re just trying to continue to manage that as best we can and be creative with how we’re really supporting our communities.

Amy Wooten

Tim, one example of that, just to chime in, just on a personal note, my husband loves french fries, loves them. There was a couple weeks went by in the grocery store, you could not find French fries. As Amber said, they had to pivot and change how they’re producing different products, just for the staffing and the availability of the product. Everyone probably has that one personal issue that they couldn’t find in the grocery store and by state, by region, they were seeing an impact.

Amber Pintar

Just another example of that, and something that we may have seen or felt the impact of are soup manufacturers. I’m not going to mention any name brands, I think we know a few soup manufacturers, but just really narrowing down the line of even canned soups. Thinking of a time of a staffing concern, where we may not be able to make those good, nutritious, home-cooked soups, we didn’t really even have a canned alternative to transition to, as they had really narrowed down their line as well.

Amber Pintar

That’s something that we’ll continue to experience for a few more quarters. The rebound time on that isn’t going to be very quick, unfortunately. So, it’s something that we’re working and trying to keep relevant with as we’re looking, even maybe to the end of 2022.

Tim Regan

Absolutely. All right, Amber, I really have one more big picture one for you. So, take it all home for us. Why is [inaudible 00:26:57] planning an important part of the senior living culinary program? I mean, I have a few guesses as to why, but you can probably say this succinctly, better than I can.

Amber Pintar

Sure, absolutely. I think first and foremost is marketing. I think you put your menu together, your menu program and you have a philosophy that really speaks to the community. Especially maybe in your region or geography. Because it might change a little bit, depending on where you’re located and what type of population or clientele you’re trying to reach.

Amber Pintar

I think it would be really important to have your menu planned, get an example of that on the website, work with the marketing department and really market your philosophy. Do you have an onsite chef that is preparing fresh desserts and breads daily? How many offerings do you have? What are your menu service hours? That way, as the general population is looking for their next community to reside in, they can look at that and say, “Does this align with what I’m looking for?” Versus not having that and leaving it up to them to guess what that is.

Amber Pintar

I think it’s also important for consistency of the program. I think that the menu isn’t planned for whether it’s a two-week cycle or up to a four-week cycle or more. I think that there maybe isn’t that consistency if you’re just trying to throw it together week-to-week. I think that having that consistency to say, “I’m using these proteins.” So often throughout however long the cycle is, I think that’s going to get the most consistency in there.

Amber Pintar

Say, “Okay, do I have too much beef on this week or too much chicken on this week?” Really make sure it feels the same and the client’s going to be expecting a certain level of service with that. I think lastly, it’s important to do meal planning, especially if there is a population that requires a certain diet restriction or any type of therapeutic modification.

Amber Pinta

A lot of times in assisted living in long-term care, maybe you don’t see that as much, but I think that as the population may becoming more health conscious, and we always keep wellness front of mind, we may want to market or plan for a heart-healthy diet. Or, more of diet geared towards consistent carbohydrates if there’s any type of diabetic concerns. I think those are a few ways that planning the menu can really improve the senior living organization and help them get out there.

Tim Regan

Fantastic. Well, we’ve sort of reached the end of our planned discussions today. Again, thanks to our panelists and for everyone tuning in, have a great day stay well and stay safe. Take care, everyone.

Amy Wooten

Thanks, Tim.

Lee Kilmer

Bye everyone.

Amber Pintar

Thank you.

Tim Regan

Thank you

Speaker 1

That concludes the latest episode of the Post-Acute Point of View from MatrixCare. We have a lot of guests and topics coming up that you won’t want to miss, so be sure to subscribe. If you’ve enjoyed today’s podcast and if you have a topic you’d like us to discuss, leave us a review. To learn more about MatrixCare and our solutions and services, visit matrixcare.com. You can also follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook. Thank you for listening, be well and we’ll see you next time.