AI in senior living: Pipedream or reality?
Technology companies are promising AI solutions in nearly every product, but too often it arrives as empty promises rather than tools that actually help communities in the ways they yearn for–optimizing workflows and saving staff members’ time.
ALIS, on the other hand, continues to lead the way for AI in senior living. The company and its flagship product, ALIS, are significantly ahead in the eHR market in their ability to operationalize AI models and augment critical workflows. Why is that the case? The short answer is the data (amount and quality) and the focus (industry and operational uses). Let’s take a look at how ALIS is leading the AI revolution in senior living. Specifically, in these areas:
- Amount and Quality of Data
- Context of Data
- Practical Applications
- Top Notch Security
- Continuous Improvement and Investment
DATA: ALIS’s AI Is Powered By 15 Years of Rich, High-Quality Data
ALIS has been quietly preparing for this paradigm shift since 2005.
For two decades, ALIS has been systematically collecting and curating one of the richest, most structured datasets specific to senior living in the world. Billions of resident record data points have been gathered, reviewed, and organized to create a proprietary AI solution inherent in ALIS’s workflows. This foundation—15 years of high-quality, senior living-specific data—is crucial in terms of AI, where the context of the data used is critical to the usability of the AI.
“Data is the backbone of AI. Models learn by analyzing data, and to build effective models, you need a lot of it,” says Reza Borhani, VP of Data Science at ALIS.
ALIS data has been leveraged to spot trends, identify patterns, and connect with electronic health records–the central hub of a resident’s healthcare journey.
EXPERTISE: ALIS’s AI is Context-Specific to Senior Living
ALIS’s AI stands out in a market full of hype because it pairs deep industry expertise with contextual senior living data.
“Healthcare data is messy, complex, and deeply context-driven,” says Reza Borhani. “You can’t just take models developed elsewhere and expect them to work in assisted living. That’s why we’ve spent years cleaning and structuring our own data.”
Reza Borhani, VP of Data Science at ALIS, who holds a PhD from Northwestern University and has co-authored books on machine learning in health care, brings much-needed academic depth to the already highly technical company. Borhani runs a team of engineers responsible for turning chaos (randomized data) into actionable insights.
The effort isn’t theoretical. Earlier this year, ALIS launched the ALIS 500, the first national clinical benchmarking dataset for senior living operators. For the first time, communities can see how their portfolios compare across hundreds of peers—and make smarter, data-backed decisions.
This expertise and creation would not be complete without understanding implementation. A unique part of what ALIS does is understanding how to help senior living leaders navigate the physiological change needed for this tectonic technology shift. Best practices. Standard operating procedures. These are necessary–often forgotten–components of successful technology implementations. The combination of context and expertise allows ALIS to not only be helpful from a software perspective but also invaluable for operators because of the ability to interpret the data.
PRACTICAL: ALIS’s AI Focuses On Real-World Pain Points
ALIS’s leadership in AI is intentional, long-running, and grounded in real-world senior living needs.
Under Borhani’s leadership, the Data Science team tackled the unglamorous, critical work first: cleaning data, validating models, and ensuring that AI solutions fit naturally into real-world senior living workflows. The department, which was established seven years ago, has since made its primary focus exploring how data can deliver meaningful business insights to senior living portfolios.
“AI in assisted living isn’t a marketing buzzword for us—it’s a responsibility,” says John Shafaee, CEO of ALIS. “We build to empower staff, not replace them. Our solutions must be secure, adoptable, and genuinely helpful in day-to-day operations.”
That discipline has allowed ALIS to avoid the hype cycle that plagues many other companies. While some promise the moon, ALIS quietly focuses on delivering reliable, operationally meaningful tools that staff actually want to use. Even better? At every stage, humans are kept in the loop. Features are tested with staff, shaped by daily workflows, and refined based on feedback. “This isn’t about replacing people,” Shafaee said. “It’s about giving communities an intelligent, reliable software that lightens the load and improves outcomes.”
The proof isn’t in press releases. It’s in NOI, resident experience and length of stay, staff retention, and occupancy numbers. These may not be the flashiest tools on the market, but they are quietly improving operational efficiencies, enhancing staff decision-making, and ultimately benefiting resident outcomes in thousands of communities across the country. Here are a few examples of how ALIS is using AI to augment workflows:
- Automating medication order processing, reducing pharmacy inbox volume by 86%.
- Detecting and ensuring residents are in the appropriate care levels and receiving correct invoicing.
- Automating document classification and filing.
- Predicting move-outs and changes of condition.
SECURE: ALIS’s AI Is Built on a Platform that is SOC 1 and SOC 2 Compliant
ALIS’s SOC 1 and SOC 2 Type II certifications send a clear message: your senior living portfolio’s data is secure, and ALIS is an ideal use case for communities and companies wading into AI.
Senior living communities manage vast amounts of sensitive data—resident health records, staffing information, and operational analytics. As more of this data moves online, the need for robust, verified security has never been greater.
15 years of reliable data and software built for compliance and performance prove ALIS’s AI safely powers insights, automation, and scalability across portfolios. Resulting in less friction during vendor due diligence, audit requests, procurement reviews, and every other process tied to compliance and security. SOC 1 and SOC 2 reinforce the trust behind ALIS’s AI-driven solutions.
ALIS is leading on the AI front because its platform is trusted, secure, and reliable.
CONTINUOUSLY IMPROVING: Building Toward an Ambient Future
In an era where AI is often more of a marketing term than a meaningful tool, ALIS’s methodical, human-centered approach sets a new standard for what innovation in senior living should look like. With its combination of deep data, advanced data science, and a focus on adoption and security, ALIS is proving that AI can be a powerful ally—not a distraction—in improving senior living care and operations.
Key Differentiators That Put ALIS Ahead:
- 15 years of clean, structured senior living data – an industry-leading foundation.
- Seven years of focused data science – developing AI responsibly and effectively.
- Human-centered approach – keeping staff at the heart of every solution.
- Practical, workflow-integrated AI tools – enhancing operations and resident outcomes.
By combining these elements, ALIS demonstrates that in senior living, AI is not just a technology trend—it’s a responsibility for meaningful change. To learn more about how ALIS is helping communities and portfolios embrace AI, connect with our experts today.