As part of its 40th anniversary celebration, McKnight’s, publisher of McKnight’s Long-Term Care News and McKnight’s Senior Living, recognized 40 notable newsmakers in the senior care field. One of these newsmakers is Juniper Communities Founder, President, and CEO Lynn Katzmann, Ph.D.
Dr. Katzmann began her career in senior living 32 years ago, when she started Juniper as a skilled nursing company. “That’s all there was” at that time when it came to residential aging services, she told McKnight’s. But a few years later, Juniper expanded into assisted living, and then to memory care. Today, Juniper has 20 senior living communities across three states.
Under Dr. Katzmann’s leadership, Juniper implemented electronic health records across all of the Juniper community in 2012, when EHRs were not often used in senior living. She also addressed the staffing challenges that were widely recognized in senior care by raising hourly minimum wages for Juniper employees. She and Juniper also developed the Connect4Life model of care, a senior wellness model that integrates on-site primary care, pharmacy and lab services, along with social supports, into typical senior living programs.
The Connect4Life model will most likely be finding its way into many more senior living facilities throughout the U.S. because Juniper entered into a five-year licensing agreement with Medicare Advantage plan developer and administrator AllyAlign Health. Dr. Katzmann was the primary driver of that agreement.
Dr. Katzmann and Juniper also led the formation of the Perennial Advantage Plan, a Medicare Advantage plan, with AllyAlign, Christian Living Communities, and Ohio Living. Perennial Advantage will begin enrolling subscribers later in 2020, with coverage effective in 2021.
See the full story here.