The Five Findings
The State of Care 2026 combines perspectives from 510 senior living professionals, including 138 executives and owners and 372 community leaders and caregivers, with the Sage Care Index, an analysis of operational data from communities using Sage. Together, the survey findings and Sage Care Index data reveal where care teams need more support and where operators can make meaningful improvements for residents, caregivers, and their communities.
Two communities with identical census can need very different amounts of caregiver time. As acuity rises, staffing has to reflect the work being done, not the number of beds.
Alert volume peaks later in the day, so this is not a volume problem. Handoff, residents waking, and scheduled care collide inside the same two hours.
A caregiver may open nurse call, fall management, and the EHR just to respond to one resident and document it. Too many alerts ranked ninth out of ten frustrations.
Executives ranked caregiver resistance sixth among their AI concerns, behind cost, privacy, and reliability. The gap below is not skepticism. It is a request.
Asked where an extra hour would go, 39.8% said resident engagement and 30.6% said direct care. 5.6% said documentation.
From the Sage Care Index
Explore three months of operational data, including 1,749,400, across 323 communities to see how call volume, care activity, and waits of 20 minutes or longer change throughout the day. Compare these patterns with your own staffing and shift changes to identify when residents and care teams may need more support.
Sage Care Index. 1,749,400 alerts across 323 communities, June to August 2026, approximately 1,849,700 resident-days. Hours are community local time. Alert and delay figures reconcile exactly to the source analysis; care activity volumes are approximate and shown rounded.
Compare your answer
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The full report
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See How Your Portfolio Compares
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