‘standardization Is Key’: Inside The 2026 Operational Playbooks Of Lcs, Sonida 

Senior living operators are in 2026 growing to meet demand from the industry’s next customers. But that growth is for naught without good operations.

Two senior living operators with recent growth spurts behind them are LCS and Sonida Senior Living (NYSE: SNDA). Both companies have notched that growth via strategic mergers: LCS with Vi, and Sonida with CNL Healthcare Properties.

Growth affords companies like Sonida “a chance to both work with and learn from a large number of talented management organizations in senior living.”

“We get to collect best practices,” CEO Brandon Ribar said during a Senior Housing News webinar last week.

But while it can infuse a company with new ideas, taking on new communities is rarely an easy feat. To that end, “standardization is key to growth,” according to LCS Executive Vice President of Senior Living Management Operations GeLynna Shaw.

“We have to reduce the variability that slows us down. We have to be able to roll out consistent processes, playbooks and expectations, so that our communities aren’t re-inventing the wheel,” she said during the webinar.

Incoming prospects desire more choice and wellness-forward experiences and at a cost they can afford. Operators are aiming to meet those preferences by analyzing resident data and getting ultra-specific with their services, among other ways.

Both LCS and Sonida believe that better operations hinge on the people doing the work in the communities. That is why they are investing in cultivating and supporting local leadership and better community cultures. All the while, they are pairing communities with technology, such as AI-assisted tools, to aid the job and in some cases “give staff superpowers.”

Operators ‘cannot compromise’ on resident’s first 30 days

Both LCS and Sonida believe that operators must win over residents in their first 30 days after moving in if they hope to compete with their peers. The companies are rolling out new insights in their communities and standardizing best practices to ensure residents can get a good across their portfolios.

Sonida is accordingly “hyper-focused” on the resident experience during the first 30 days after a move-in.

“That has a lot to do with longevity and the success of how you can run your community,” Ribar said. “The first 30 days is an area we cannot compromise.”

Sonida has repositioned a number of communities and added independent living, assisted living and memory care capacity in some markets where demand dictated.

“As those business plans come to fruition, it’s also going to drive our growth profile this year,” Ribar added.

LCS is in 2026 launching a wellness model based on longevity, nutrition, movement and connection. .

“It’s about running a coordinated, outcomes-driven wellness model,” Shaw said. “The real evolution is that it isn’t more programs to choose from, it’s more of a new operating model and one that’s personalized, coordinated and measurable.”

Aiding the rollout of that model is AI-supported technology that can “give time back” to staff to focus on resident interaction and building meaningful connections, Shaw said.

This includes systems capable of handling basic tasks like scheduling dinner reservations, tracking health and social appointments and improving lead scoring.

Through its merger with Vi, Shaw said LCS will continue to expand its ownership stake in its communities, in turn allowing quicker investments and decision-making in operations.

“We can make the best decision we want, see those results and hopefully share that as a best practice to our managed communities,” Shaw said. “All together, this is about delivering great experiences, supporting our teams and running our communities with more clarity and confidence.

Within the new wellness model, LCS is shifting towards a “coaching and data-driven approach,” where wellness coaches will set personalized goals for residents using better data from updated assessments capable of depicting a “resident’s wellness journey,” Shaw added.

New technology, creating staffing ‘superpowers’

In 2026, technology is playing a larger role in improving care coordination and care delivery for operators.

George Netscher, founder and CEO of fall-management platform SafelyYou, believes that the company’s platform and other technology partners in the industry have a responsibility to strive for outcomes that improve care quality for all residents, cutting through the “AI hype bubble.” 

“What we came to realize is we have a huge opportunity, not only to give every resident a voice but to give every caregiver superpowers,” Netscher said. “We’re thinking about how we flag those blind spots where someone’s trending in a certain direction and you haven’t realized it yet.”

Those superpowers include improving care outcomes by providing more data on fall management and medication management, while giving care teams the ability to review near-real-time care data flagging signs of changing acuity.

Historically, senior living operators have used technology to improve length of stay and keep residents in their existing care level, but in 2026, that is evolving to include “care optimization,” Netscher added.

In 2026, operators are offering genetic testing and improving personalization of lifestyle services.

“We want to bring in dining, fitness, engagement and clinical teams together as one because the resident experience and wellness journey, it’s one long journey, so we have to operate as one team,” Shaw said.

Optimizing care staffing and scheduling is also important in improving care staffing, Ribar said, reviewing care data and caregiver scheduling to find the right balance of required staff-to-resident ratio. To do that, data must be “really digestible.”

“Once you do that, you can identify which team members are most effective and can incentivize and retain them in a more focused way,” Ribar said.

In sales and marketing, both LCS and Sonida are taking steps to improve lead generation and personalized outreach to prospects.

“Using information to understand the resident profile within our community and incorporate that into targeting to see if they’re interested in our communities,” Ribar added.

LCS is building an AI-supported lead scoring system that provides sales and marketing teams more data on prospects, Shaw said, to help staff get “smarter” in courting future residents, while “studying past labor patterns” to improve turnover in critical positions.

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