Agenda

Gather for a warm welcome from the the Senior Housing News team, as they set the stage for the high-impact sessions, networking opportunities and industry insights set to unfold.

Description: As part of the combined BRAIN, BUILD, and DISHED Conferences, Senior Housing News is proud to recognize recipients of the following industry awards:

• DISHED Senior Living Dining Innovation Awards – Honoring leaders whose creativity and passion are elevating senior living dining through innovative menus, enhanced resident experiences, emerging technologies, new operational models, and more.
• Future Leaders Awards – Celebrating high-performing, forward-thinking professionals who are driving innovation and shaping the future of the senior housing and senior living industry.
• Memory Care Innovation Awards – Recognizing dedicated leaders across behavioral health, home health and home care, hospice and palliative care, senior housing and senior living, and skilled nursing who are advancing care for individuals living with cognitive decline.

To learn more about these award programs and their recipients, scan the QR codes displayed throughout the venue. Award winners will also be wearing special badges recognizing their achievements—be sure to introduce yourself and congratulate them during the conference.

Senior living’s next wave will not be defined by simply adding more technology to buildings. It will be defined by communities that can understand residents’ daily rhythms, respond earlier when needs change, and protect independence without turning safety into confinement.

In this opening keynote, a Senior Housing News moderator will lead a conversation with Intrex and Kendal at Ithaca on what it means to move from passive buildings and disconnected alerts to more responsive senior living environments. Using Kendal at Ithaca’s real-world deployment of Rythmos as a case example, the discussion will explore how communities can use real-time awareness, resident-specific baselines, and better operational workflows to support each person’s health journey with as much independence as possible.

The panel will address the practical questions senior living leaders are asking now: How do we preserve resident dignity while improving safety? How do we reduce alert noise instead of adding to staff burden? How should operators think about fall risk, wander risk, wellness, and resident engagement as connected parts of the same operating picture? And how can technology support human judgment rather than replace it?

Attendees will leave with an executive-level framework for evaluating community intelligence infrastructure across operations, memory care, resident experience, staff workflow, and long-term scalability.

Over the next five years, the 80-plus population is expected to grow 29%. Ventas is preparing for the demand runway by growing its senior housing operating portfolio, also known as SHOP. In 2026, the company is standing at the precipice of what its leaders believe are great years ahead. Now, it's just a matter of execution. Join us for this discussion with Ventas CIO and EVP of Senior Housing Justin Hutchens as we talk about the road for Ventas and what it means for the wider industry.

Take a breather between sessions to mingle with senior living leaders, exchange ideas across development and care, and build relationships that drive industry innovation.

Description: We will discuss the project cycle of a senior living development process from entitlements and land use approvals, to construction loans, contractor selection, contract drafting, insurance, and dispute resolution tips to mitigate loss and delay, along with critical decisions that can affect operations, permanent financing, sale of the property and taxes

In 2026, senior living development is frozen solid. New community openings are near or at historic lows. The industry faces a rapidly growing "investment gap." During this panel, hear from three senior living developers and operators about the future of development in senior living, including the biggest challenges and where opportunities lie.

Meal or no meal? How is the active adult model growing? What are the best ways to market these communities in a quickly changing digital landscape? These are all big questions on the minds of top active adult operators. During this session, we'll talk about operations (such as whether to include food), how active adult companies are widening their services for the demand ahead and how they're crafting marketing strategies that attract prospects in a fast-paced online world.

Refuel and recharge with senior living leaders by enjoying lunch, where meaningful introductions and collaborative conversations are always on the menu.

SHN+ members are invited to join a collaborative discussion on the forces shaping senior living development, design, and care during an exclusive networking lunch.

Earlier this year, Vi and LCS officially combined to form an operator with 130 communities. The move brought together Vi, a company known for its high-end CCRCs, and LCS, one of the largest operators in the country, also known for CCRCs. With the support of LCS now behind it, Vi is moving forward as a luxury brand within the company's umbrella. Tune in to this discussion to learn more about what the newly combined company has in store as the senior living industry evolves.

Description: Fall costs in senior living have more than doubled in the last three years—with the average cost now reaching nearly $10,000 per incident—yet that figure still only captures part of the picture. When combined with staff time, documentation burden, clinical follow-up, and revenue loss from vacancy or transition, fall-related incidents accumulate to a significant cost each year. For most communities, the data behind those numbers is arriving too late to act on.

In this moderated panel, SafelyYou will examine what AI-powered sensor data from thousands of real-world fall events reveals about resident risk and what the 2026 Cost of Senior Care study confirms senior living leaders already sense: earlier visibility is the strongest predictor of stability. The conversation will move from the data to the care delivery reality, showing how communities that identify risk sooner prevent more incidents, reduce avoidable transitions, and operate with greater financial confidence.

Compliance is no longer just about meeting regulations - it's becoming a driver of operational excellence. Join senior living leaders as they discuss how technology, data, and smarter workflows are improving care, reducing risk, and helping communities perform at a higher level.

Take a breather between sessions to mingle with senior living leaders, exchange ideas across development and care, and build relationships that drive industry innovation.

Description: Senior living has invested heavily in technologies that detect falls and other incidents—but what if communities could prevent many of those events before they occur? This session explores how predictive AI combined with 24/7 LIVE licensed nurse monitoring is shifting the focus from incident detection to proactive prevention.

Attendees will learn how AI and licensed clinical professionals work together to identify subtle changes in resident behavior, intervene before falls, elopements, and other safety events occur, and notify community care teams in real time. The session will also explain how a Medicare-covered care model can provide these services without the traditional ongoing monthly technology costs to the community.

Through real-world resident videos, a live monitoring agent interview, and clinical outcomes from deployed communities, attendees will see how this approach has delivered a 69% reduction in falls, a 56% decrease in emergency room visits, a 3.3-month increase in resident length of stay, and meaningful reductions in healthcare costs—all while helping residents remain safer and more independent.

The session concludes with audience Q&A and a discussion on why the future of resident safety is not simply detecting incidents faster, but preventing them before they happen.

Residential assisted living communities -- sometimes referred to as the small-home model -- are having a big moment in 2026. The product type has existed for many years, but it is now poised to serve a unique niche as the boomers age into senior housing in the years to come. Join us for this session about how three residential assisted living companies are growing their models and why they believe they are well positioned to serve the needs of the baby boomers.

There's more to running a senior living portfolio than maintaining occupancy. From staffing and expenses to technology and referrals, this panel will cover the operational playbooks of leading operators in today's dynamic and increasingly complex landscape.

Description: Memory care is a rapidly evolving sector for senior living operators, both with regard to demand and services. In the coming years, millions of older adults will need the services of memory care operators. There may not be enough beds to serve all of them, at least if current trends hold. What does that mean for the industry, and where should memory care operators focus their time and energy now? During this panel, we'll trace the future of memory care and dig into what leading operators are doing today to improve their businesses tomorrow.

Unwind after a day of sessions by reconnecting with peers and continuing conversations with the senior living executives, operators, clinicians, designers, and capital partners driving innovation and excellence across the industry.

Resident acuity is rising, workforce pressures aren't easing, and the staffing models that worked a decade ago are showing their age. This panel brings together senior living clinical leaders for an honest conversation about what has to change — and what's actually working.

From optimizing staffing to more accurate levels of care, to technology that supports caregivers instead of burdening them, we'll dig into the practical shifts operators are making right now to better serve both residents and the people caring for them.

Senior living dining teams aren't competing with only each other, they also are competing with every restaurant in town. As the baby boomers age into senior housing communities, they are bringing with them desires for toothsome fare. Although senior living communities are not restaurants, residents still desire fare that at least stands up to the food they eat outside the community. During this panel, learn how senior living culinarians keep their menus fresh, what big challenges are coming down the pike this year and next and how these operators are planning to satisfy residents' tastes in the future.

Take a breather between sessions to mingle with senior living leaders, exchange ideas across development and care, and build relationships that drive industry innovation.

Discover how to transform shifting resident expectations, rising resident acuity, and labor challenges into a modernized dining program that drives community growth. Join this dynamic panel to unpack StoryPoint’s real-world strategies for navigating a wellness-focused program, leaving you with an actionable blueprint to deliver exactly what today's residents want.

Senior living operators know well that full occupancy is not enough for high margins. Successful community leaders also know how to manage staffing, expenses and other aspects of operations in order to drive higher margins. Learn how senior living companies manage their growing occupancy with margins in mind and how they maximize the delta between revenue and expenses.