Marchica Discusses Legal Implications of AI Adoption in Senior Living Industry

Jo-Ann, a co-author of the Long Term Care & Senior Living section in the ArentFox Schiff Industry Guide to AI, flagged certain issues related to the use of AI, such as the potential for AI to produce unreliable or inaccurate information, which could lead to errors in care plans, among other things. She noted that senior living operators should be cautious about these risks and focus on ensuring AI-generated material, such as policies or resident/patient agreements, are reviewed and customized by providers.

Drawing a parallel between the rapid introduction of AI into tools related to falls prevention or security and the adoption of camera systems a decade ago, Jo-Ann highlighted the growing awareness of AI's legal risks among long-term care operators. Jo-Ann advised that providers consider updating their internal policies surrounding the use of AI, including privacy policies and informed consent agreements.

“Most of the folks I work with are pretty sophisticated, pretty conservative,” said Jo-Ann. “They want to do things correctly, so they will be cautious, but that will not prevent them from investing in AI in the future.”

Jo-Ann also expressed the importance of balancing AI's efficiency with human expertise and personalization in senior living operations.

“I think operators will want to keep the human factors,” Jo-Ann said. “To have a tool that can generate a policy or procedure in response to something in seconds is amazing. But it also has to be customized and thoughtfully adapted to an operator’s operation.”

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