3:30 – 4:45 p.m.

Micro-Credentialing: An Emerging Workforce Development Model

The aging services sector continually strives to deliver high-quality care despite acute shortages of certified nursing assistants (CNA) and other frontline caregivers. “Micro-credentialing” could help address that challenge. This emerging workforce development model enables direct care professionals to participate in short-term learning experiences, have their knowledge assessed by a trusted third party, and earn micro-credentials in various aspects of geriatrics-informed care. During this session, representatives from a university and a retirement community in Maine will describe their efforts to use micro-credentialing to help CNAs build knowledge and skills, gain recognition, advance in their careers, and potentially increase their wages. They’ll also explain how micro-credentialing can help provider organizations reduce turnover, improve quality metrics, and enhance residents’ quality of care and quality of life.

1:45 – 3:00 p.m.

The Value of Home-Based Caregivers: Using Evidence to Drive Policy Change

Home-based care is integral to the aging services sector. Yet professional caregivers who work in clients’ homes often feel undervalued by the public, providers, policymakers, and consumers. This session will explore how results from a randomized controlled trial of aides caring for community-dwelling older adults with heart failure could shift those perceptions. Researchers found that an education and communication intervention improved aides' self-efficacy and knowledge, resulting in fewer self-reported, preventable 911 calls and potentially saving health care dollars. Presenters will discuss how these positive findings demonstrate the value of home-based caregivers and could inform federal and state policy recommendations for home care, home health, and the direct care workforce.

11:00 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.

Strategic Foresight: Tools for Seeking Clarity Amidst Chaos

Today's operating landscape is fundamentally different from what senior living providers have experienced in the past. Disruptions are hitting harder and more unpredictably. Old rules no longer apply, and new ones are still being written. Organizational leaders can no longer rely on traditional strategic planning approaches to deliver expected results. So, what’s a leader to do? This session will introduce you to strategic foresight, a forward-looking approach that helps leaders identify emerging issues that could affect or disrupt our field. You’ll receive the tools you need to help your management team and board of directors view emerging issues through a strategic lens and take action to prepare your organization for and influence what’s ahead.

1:45 – 3:00 p.m.

The CEO-Board Partnership: Achieving Collective Capacity

The partnership between the CEO and the board is one of the most critical relationships in an aging services organization. This session will help you understand how a CEO and board can cultivate an effective partnership that makes the highest and best use of their collective capacity and supports the organization through oversight and change. Governance expert Ann Cohen will lead a discussion on how CEOs and boards can work together to advance trust, candor, and respect. Bring your most challenging questions and concerns. We’ll discuss board dynamics, the difference between oversight and management, generative and strategic thinking, and much more.

11:00 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.

Honoring the Care Preferences of Older Adults

When healthcare practitioners overlook the care preferences of older adults, those patients are more likely to experience stressful hospital visits, higher medical costs, and a loss of trust in the healthcare system. Conversely, listening to and honoring patient preferences improves health and quality of life, reduces avoidable costs, and helps reduce health disparities. This session will provide an overview of research from the LeadingAge LTSS Center @UMass Boston—including focus groups with physicians, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants—that illustrates how healthcare professionals are engaging in shared decision-making, navigating barriers to honor patient preferences, and adapting these strategies across diverse populations. Join us to learn how health outcomes can be optimized by ensuring patients feel heard and that their care preferences and needs are considered.

11:00 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.

Let’s Get Bullish on HCBS!

Some LeadingAge members have long been bullish on home and community-based services (HCBS). Others are now beginning to view HCBS as a way to expand their reach, meet consumer preferences, and reduce capital outlays for brick-and-mortar care settings. During this session, a panel of HCBS leaders from both groups will discuss how they are striving to meet the needs and preferences of older consumers seeking home-based services. You’ll hear from leaders whose organizations offer a range of HCBS options, including Continuing Care at Home, Programs of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly, Medicare-reimbursed home health and hospice, and private-pay home care and care coordination. They’ll explain how HCBS fits into their missions and histories—and how this service line might fit your growth strategy.

11:00 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.

Let’s Get Bullish on HCBS!

Some LeadingAge members have long been bullish on home and community-based services (HCBS). Others are now beginning to view HCBS as a way to expand their reach, meet consumer preferences, and reduce capital outlays for brick-and-mortar care settings. During this session, a panel of HCBS leaders from both groups will discuss how they are striving to meet the needs and preferences of older consumers seeking home-based services. You’ll hear from leaders whose organizations offer a range of HCBS options, including Continuing Care at Home, Programs of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly, Medicare-reimbursed home health and hospice, and private-pay home care and care coordination. They’ll explain how HCBS fits into their missions and histories—and how this service line might fit your growth strategy.

1:45 – 3:00 p.m.

Reducing Social Isolation through Creative Aging Initiatives

Music, movement, and the visual arts can be powerful catalysts for resident connection, engagement, and well-being across senior living and community-based settings. This session will introduce you to arts-based programs that have been shown to reduce social isolation and loneliness among participants and to improve mood and quality of life. You’ll meet the leader of Goddard House, a Boston-based assisted living and memory support community that intentionally integrates the arts and music into residents' daily lives and sponsors programs that offer similar opportunities in local senior housing communities. Researchers on the panel will review current studies that illustrate the scope, impact, and effectiveness of these and other arts-based interventions. You’ll gain valuable strategies to help you enhance the resident experience in your senior living community.

3:30 – 4:45 p.m.

Generative AI: Change Agent in Aging Services

The adoption of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is accelerating across the aging services sector, often in unplanned ways through tools like ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot. To make the most of this innovation, organizational leaders must be intentional about how they introduce AI in their workplaces and care settings. This session will explore the benefits of AI, including its ability to reduce administrative burden and mental load, support scheduling and staffing analysis, test ideas, rethink workflows, and facilitate personalized care. Equally important, presenters will share essential strategies to help you mitigate risks related to AI-related privacy, data use, bias, and human oversight. Join us to learn how AI can help your organization build capacity, resilience, and sustainable progress—and how you can intentionally guide its adoption.

11:00 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.

Redefining Wellness as Longevity for All

A growing number of longevity experts view wellness not as a program but as a lifestyle focused on extending the healthspan—the number of years individuals can live with physical, cognitive, and emotional well-being. This is a welcome shift. However, providers of aging services must be careful to embrace the value of a long healthspan without reinforcing ageism or ableism. This session will explore how your organization can prioritize purpose, engagement, and belonging for all ages and abilities. You’ll learn to integrate wellness and longevity into organization-wide planning, respond to evolving wellness trends, and work with residents to co-create communities that help people thrive, not just age. Join thought leaders and innovators as they reimagine a future where every individual is represented and valued along the path to wellness.

1:45 – 3:00 p.m.

Nursing Home Policy Update

The first year of the new federal administration brought significant changes that have reshaped the nursing home landscape. As a result, realignment of federal agencies and shifting policy priorities will affect day-to-day operations and the ability of nursing homes to enhance person-centered care, improve workforce recruitment and retention, ensure financial sustainability, and address regulatory challenges. This session will examine the events of the past year, focus on what lies ahead, assess federal priorities, and explore advocacy opportunities that can help shape the future of nursing homes.

1:45 – 3:00 p.m.

The Future of Medicare Advantage: New Year, New Direction?

2025 brought dramatic changes to Medicare Advantage. Medicare Advantage plans became the primary choice for nearly 34 million Medicare beneficiaries, profoundly affecting provider payments, health care delivery patterns, and beneficiary access to services. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) began efforts to reform and clarify long-standing Medicare Advantage rules, including prior authorization and the use of artificial intelligence. A new CMS administrator and Congress introduced a new vision for Medicare Advantage that continues to affect beneficiaries and providers. Are you confused by all the changes and uncertain about what lies ahead? Attend this session to gain clarity as policymakers and pundits explain the new Medicare Advantage goals and how they align with LeadingAge’s advocacy agenda.

3:30 – 4:45 p.m.

What’s Next for Skilled Nursing?

Skilled nursing providers operate in an environment marked by constant change and undeniable pressures. Evolving reimbursement models, intensifying regulatory demands, workforce shortages, new care delivery models, and shifting consumer expectations make it immensely challenging to plan for the future while addressing current challenges. This session will feature a panel of LeadingAge members who are working to secure the future of their skilled nursing operations by leveraging strategic opportunities in the sector. They’ll show you how they responded to market pressures by shifting their priorities and making forward-looking decisions to ensure their skilled nursing operations remain viable, responsive, and positioned for the future.

11:00 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.

Technology Adoption: Cultivating a Culture of Curiosity

Purchasing the right technology for your senior living organization is far more complex than simply ordering the right tool and plugging it in. This session will offer proven strategies to help your organization cultivate a culture of curiosity, collaboration, and continuous learning, so team members confidently adopt technology rather than quietly resist it. Presenters will teach you how to ensure that new technology aligns with your organization’s mission, resident experience, workforce challenges, and strategy. You’ll also learn how to engage frontline staff, managers, and cross-functional teams in selecting, testing, and refining technology solutions. Don’t miss this opportunity to ensure that technology adoption becomes part of how your organization learns and evolves, rather than a one-off initiative that struggles to gain traction.

1:45 – 3:00 p.m.

The Next Horizon for Emerging Technologies

Many emerging technologies have the potential to reshape how aging services organizations deliver care, engage residents, and manage their business operations. This session will preview these promising tools. Presenters will introduce you to sensor-based environments designed to enhance safety, independence, and proactive care; artificial intelligence-powered tools that can help you make better, faster decisions; engagement platforms that could reduce loneliness and support residents’ daily routines; and emerging health and wellness technologies that have the potential to enhance mental health, mobility, and well-being. Explore how these solutions are evolving, what needs they address, and how to evaluate them before adoption.