Connecting the Dots: Senior Living Success with Matt Reiners

Connecting the Dots
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This is Connecting the Dots: Senior Living Successwith Matt Reiners, Girl Dad, Husband, 2x Tech Co-Founder, and Senior Living Enthusiast where we dive right into what drives the senior living industry. Matt interviews thought leaders from all parts of the industry as we cover everything from resident & staff satisfaction to innovative technology, community culture, to finance & operations. If you're in the senior living industry, it's safe to say this podcast will have something for you.

  1. 1d ago

    Start with the Truth: Senior Living Budgeting, Data Integrity, and Why Garbage In Means Garbage Out with Steven Crittenden - CEO & Founder at Icon Financial Services

    Budget season is here, and I can’t think of a better guest for it. Steven Crittenden went from Army paratrooper to senior living CFO to co-founding ICON Financial Services, which now supports close to 150 communities. We get into why budgets fall apart before they’re even built, how to lock down your data so everyone runs the same numbers, and why the rent roll might be the most underrated report in your building. I don’t think I’ve learned more in a 30-minute episode. Key Takeaways Set up your systems first. If you don’t know what you need, you’ll get sold on features.Start with the bookends: revenue, NOI, total expenses, and payroll. Then ask whether the margin supports the mission.Know your effective rate increase, not just your intended one.Lock down unit types, capacity, and job titles. Don’t lump AL and memory care caregivers together.Use budget season to audit everything, then spend the year maintaining it.Timestamps 02:00 Welcome02:45 Steven’s path: Army paratrooper, CBRE accountant, then a baptism by fire at Pegasus, Sodalis, and Proveer08:53 Acuity and staffing: do we actually know what’s happening in the building?10:33 Caregivers working from memory, and how budget-season favors turned into ICON12:28 Why budgeting matters, garbage in, garbage out, and starting with the bookends16:04 Start with the truth: capacity, product types, and intended vs. effective rate increases18:38 Data integrity: two occupancy numbers, “you shall not pass” on unit types, job titles, and AL vs. memory care staffing25:06 Outside budget season: auditing the rent roll28:56 From reactive to proactive: vendor contracts, escalators, and AI31:20 Looking ahead: theory vs. reality, and knowing when to get help33:11 Where to find Steven and ICON34:42 Closing Notable Quotes “If you don’t know who you are and what you want, you get sold by features.”“You got food, you got care, and the rest don’t matter.” (a saying from Stephen Vick)“With no mission, there’s no margin. With no margin, there sure as heck ain’t no mission.”“Be relentless when it comes to your data integrity.” Resources: ICON Financial Services: https://icon-fs.comSteven on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/steven-crittenden/ICON on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/icon-fsEmail Steven: steven@icon-fs.com About Steven Steven Crittenden is the Co-Founder and CEO of ICON Financial Services, an outsourced finance and accounting team built exclusively for senior living. He spent eight years in the Army as a paratrooper and air traffic controller, then earned his degree in finance and started out as an accountant at CBRE. He entered senior living as director of FP&A at Pegasus Senior Living. He then served as CFO at Sodalis Senior Living, where he helped grow the company from roughly $12 million to over $100 million. He later joined Proveer Senior Living, where he focused on raising debt and equity. Three years ago he co-founded ICON with Michael Kropp. The firm now manages financials for nearly 150 facilities. It offers free budgeting for incoming clients and free underwriting for operators taking on new buildings.

    Start with the Truth: Senior Living Budgeting, Data Integrity, and Why Garbage In Means Garbage Out with Steven Crittenden - CEO & Founder at Icon Financial Services

  2. Sep 29

    "I Feel Like" Is an Assumption: How Senior Living Operators Can Test What They Think They Know with Evan Friedkin - Head of Growth at Occulytics

    Evan Friedkin is back on the show four years after his first episode. This time we're going after something every operator does every day: acting on assumptions nobody has ever checked. Evan walks through the assumptions he sees fall apart almost weekly, from "we don't get residents from across the river" to comp sets built on billboards and gut feel. We get into: how combining your own data with market data shows who's really winning your leadswhy most teams only revisit assumptions after a leadership changethe two words that should set off an alarm bell in every strategy meeting Key Takeaways: Your comp set might be wrong. One operator found that only 2 of the 5 competitors taking most of its leads were actually on its list."We don't get residents from that side of the river" is testable. Check whether your competitors do.To see who you're really losing to, pair your first-party data (CRM, EHR, financials) with third-party market data.Don't wait for a new executive to question the defaults. Revisit key assumptions on a regular cadence.When you hear "I feel like," you're hearing an assumption. Notable Quotes: "If you're saying 'I feel like X,' that means you're making an assumption." - Evan Friedkin "Why do we need to wait for a major event like a leadership change to revisit some of these assumptions?" - Evan Friedkin "If it's easy to test, we should." - Evan Friedkin Mentioned in This Episode: Occulytics: https://www.occulytics.comEvan Friedkin on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/evanfriedkin/Raising Tech, powered by Parasol Alliance: https://raisingtech.buzzsprout.com/1992084 About Evan Friedkin Evan Friedkin is Head of Growth at Occulytics, a data analytics and AI platform built for senior living. He oversees sales, marketing, and customer success. Evan entered the industry in April 2019 as employee number six at Roobrik. He spent six years there building the sales team and helping operators have better conversations with prospects. After Aline acquired Roobrik, he served as Vice President of Sales and got a broader view into dining and operations. In 2026, he stepped back to find the tech company he believed would go the distance, and he landed at Occulytics.

    "I Feel Like" Is an Assumption: How Senior Living Operators Can Test What They Think They Know with Evan Friedkin - Head of Growth at Occulytics

  3. Sep 15

    Beyond the Bond: The Three Buckets Where Senior Living Is Spending Its Capital Right Now with Rachel Lynch - AVP, Long Term Care Division at First American Equipment Finance

    Everybody in senior living is talking about the growth wave. Far fewer people are talking about how it actually gets paid for. Rachel Lynch leads the long term care division at First American Equipment Finance, a bank-owned equipment lessor and subsidiary of RBC. She spends her days inside capital budgets — which means she sees where the money is really going before most of the industry does. In this conversation, Rachel breaks down the three buckets absorbing senior living capital right now, why days cash on hand has suddenly become the metric boards keep circling, and how bond financing and equipment financing complement each other instead of competing. Plus the analogy that reframes the whole thing: would you finance your groceries into your mortgage? If you've ever watched a capital budget quietly disappear into "stuff" — the IT refresh, the furniture, the generator on a rainy day — this one's for you. Resources Mentioned: First American Equipment Finance (a subsidiary of RBC)Rachel Lynch on LinkedInLeadingAge events and conferences Guest Bio: Rachel Lynch leads the long term care division at First American Equipment Finance, a bank-owned equipment lessor and subsidiary of RBC that provides CapEx financing to organizations nationally. Like a lot of people in this field, Rachel will tell you senior living found her rather than the other way around. First American's healthcare team has served hospitals, health systems, and long-term care organizations for more than 25 years, and by 2023 there was a growing consensus internally that senior living had become a niche deserving its own dedicated focus. In the spring of 2024, Rachel said yes to building that practice alongside her colleague Brooke Prieston — and hasn't looked back since. Based in Western New York, Rachel spends much of the year on the road at industry conferences and LeadingAge events, working with nonprofit and for-profit organizations alike. Her favorite part of the job is the conversation before the financing: where is an organization's cash position today, where does it need to be in a few years, and which tools in the capital stack will actually get them there. Connect with Rachel on LinkedIn.

    Beyond the Bond: The Three Buckets Where Senior Living Is Spending Its Capital Right Now with Rachel Lynch - AVP, Long Term Care Division at First American Equipment Finance

  4. Sep 8

    Families Are Deciding Before They Ever Reach Your Website with Katharine Ross - President at Ross Media Solutions

    Katharine Ross has spent 25 years watching how families actually shop for senior living — first through magazines in four states, now through a national website. Families lead their own research now, arriving with expectations already formed and often starting with AI before they ever reach a provider's site. Declining traffic isn't necessarily a failure, but the old metrics are telling you less and less. We get into what to track instead, why vagueness around pricing is the most expensive mistake a community can make, and why your best marketing asset is already sitting in your dining room. Key Takeaways The research happens before you ever see it. Families form opinions off-site, so lower traffic can still mean more engaged visitors.Own the pricing conversation or someone else will. If you're vague, third parties fill the gap — and take your visibility with them.Audit your digital footprint quarterly. Search yourself in AI tools, see which bucket you've been put in, and decide if that's where you want to be.Specific and human beats generic. The how-to listicle still has a place, but resident stories are what pull people in.Consistency builds trust. Reviews, website, and marketing language should say the same thing — without duplicating each other word for word.Timestamps: 00:00 — Introduction02:00 — Welcome, and Katharine wears polka dots in honor of the show03:51 — A series of unpredictable events: joining her in-laws' company, launching the site in 200105:23 — The non-compete that turned into a 25-year career06:21 — How family research changed: self-led seniors and boomers who expect control08:24 — Cutting through the noise: why families read everything before they call or tour09:24 — Where AI shows up now, and why provider website traffic is declining10:30 — The measurement problem: what analytics miss, and why engagement metrics matter12:15 — What content still works: specific and human over generic how-to13:15 — Three nights in a CCRC, and the line from her cousin she can't stop thinking about14:41 — The biggest marketing mistake: vagueness, especially around pricing15:48 — Building trust across every touchpoint16:32 — The custom GPT that gave up the discount policy (and my fictional Stanford MBA)17:21 — When AI hallucinates: Butch Cassidy and your one big value statement18:29 — Where to find Katharine20:18 — Closing thoughts Notable Quotes "I have more friends today than I've ever had in my life." — Katharine's cousin, on CCRC life"He was known. And don't we all want to be known?""I think the biggest mistake is vagueness.""These third parties will, and then they'll own your visibility." Mentioned in This Episode: Katharine Ross on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/katharine-ross-rms-seniorsguide/Seniors Guide — https://www.seniorsguide.comRoss Media Solutions on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/company/ross-media-solutions Guest Bio: Katharine Ross is the President of Ross Media Solutions, the senior living media company behind Seniors Guide. She joined in the early 2000s with a media and advertising background, coming aboard with her in-laws to launch their Seniors Guide edition in North Carolina — a one-year plan that turned into a career. She launched the company's first website in 2001 and has since grown the business from a regional print footprint across four states into a national digital resource for older adults and their families. She's a vocal advocate for ethical marketing that supports families as they control their own research journey.

    Families Are Deciding Before They Ever Reach Your Website with Katharine Ross - President at Ross Media Solutions

  5. Sep 1

    Three Years, Zero Agency Spend: Building a Recruiting Engine That Beats Everyone to the Candidate with Blake Thiess - Healthcare Talent Acquisition Expert

    Most operators treat agency spend like weather, something that happens to you. Blake Thiess doesn't buy it. Blake has hired hundreds of healthcare professionals without agency. In his most recent role he went three years with zero agency usage and averaged 25 days to offer — less than half the industry average. At Prestige Care he cut agency spend by $3 million in one year. He walks me through how, and almost none of it costs money. Key takeaways: Speed is the game. Two or three interviews max. Beat everyone to the candidate decision.Employer brand is free if you'll do the work. Team members on camera, and job posts that answer "what's in it for me?"AI is a polisher, not a decider. The recruiters who survive can influence a human to take a call.Recruiting isn't a cost center — but you have to prove it. Show the CFO the agency dollars you didn't spend.Retention is a recruiting strategy. Career lattices, plus the courage to promote from within.Notable quotes: "Nobody wants to read a three-page bullet point list of all the stuff you're gonna be doing. That's bad berries, as my grandpa would say.""It was a 30-minute video interview with an AI recruiter, and it scared me. This person was better than most recruiters I know.""Have the courage and audacity to promote people into roles they haven't served in before."Mentioned in this episode: Blake Thiess on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/blakethiessBlake's articles on ERE — https://www.ere.net/authors/blake-thiessPrestige Care — https://www.prestigecare.comGem, the recruiting CRM Blake implemented — https://www.gem.comAbout Blake: Blake Thiess is a healthcare talent acquisition leader with over a decade building recruiting and employer brand functions in senior living, skilled nursing, and post-acute care. As Director of Talent Acquisition at Prestige Care he supported roughly 75 locations across eight states and cut agency spend by $3 million in one year. Most recently, as Director of Recruiting at Trinity Hospice, he kept the organization agency-free for three years while averaging 25 days to offer. He holds his PHR and SHRM-CP and is currently open to his next role.

    Three Years, Zero Agency Spend: Building a Recruiting Engine That Beats Everyone to the Candidate with Blake Thiess - Healthcare Talent Acquisition Expert

  6. Aug 18

    What the Camino de Santiago Taught Us About Removing Labels and Living Well with Dementia with Michelle Daniel - CEO at The Eden Alternative & Julie Moore - Advisory Board Member at DAA

    What happens when researchers, physicians, care partners, and people living with dementia all walk the same road — in the same purple shirt, with no labels? In June 2026, Michelle Daniel and Julie Moore joined Walking the Talk for Dementia, a global immersive initiative that pairs a four-day, 40-kilometer walk along the Camino de Santiago in Spain with a two-day symposium, alongside 96 people from 35 countries. In this conversation, they bring those lessons home. Michelle has spent 31 years in eldercare and leads The Eden Alternative. Julie has been a care partner for four parents through Alzheimer's and other dementias — and three years ago, was diagnosed with early-onset dementia herself. Together they unpack what it means to design environments that remove barriers instead of asking people to adapt, why the "tragedy narrative" does more damage than the diagnosis, and how well-being — not happiness — makes room for joy and sorrow to sit side by side. It's a conversation about labels, listening, and the difference between being in charge of someone and care partnering with them. Resources Mentioned The Eden Alternative — www.edenalt.orgDementia Action Alliance — www.daanow.orgWalking the Talk for Dementia (founder: Fernando Perez) — www.walkingfordementia.orgDementia Resources — dementia-resources.comCreating Moments of Joy by Jolene BrackeyGuest Bios Michelle Daniel — President & CEO, The Eden Alternative, Inc. Michelle Daniel is the President and CEO of The Eden Alternative, an organization she has been part of since 2000, when she first encountered its work as a graduate student. Her calling found her earlier than that — in a high school social justice class in the Washington, D.C. area, where a teacher read her journal entries about a great aunt in a New Orleans nursing home and told her she'd found her life's work in advocacy for older adults. Thirty-one years later, Michelle has served as an administrator and a family care partner, and now leads an organization dedicated to person-directed care and to changing how our culture sees elders and people living with brain change. Learn more at www.edenalt.org. Julie Moore is an advisory board member of the Dementia Action Alliance, an outreach mission of The Eden Alternative. A lifelong learner with ten associate degrees and a bachelor's degree, Julie spent her career supporting people with physical and developmental disabilities, work that shaped her understanding of accommodation, advocacy, and the limiting assumptions that come attached to a diagnosis. She served as a care partner for both of her parents and both of her parents-in-law as they lived with Alzheimer's and other dementias. Three years ago, Julie was diagnosed with early-onset dementia herself. Today she is an advocate at the community and state level, a research participant, a runner and cyclist, and — as of June 2026 — a Camino de Santiago pilgrim. Learn more at www.daanow.org. Julie Moore — Advisory Board Member, Dementia Action Alliance

    What the Camino de Santiago Taught Us About Removing Labels and Living Well with Dementia with Michelle Daniel - CEO at The Eden Alternative & Julie Moore - Advisory Board Member at DAA

  7. Aug 11

    The Hidden Part B Money 9 of 10 Nursing Homes Give Away with Eric Hansen - Founder & CEO at Burst Billing

    Eric Hansen is the founder and CEO of Burst Billing, a medical billing company on a mission to help nursing homes reclaim the Medicare Part B supply reimbursements they're owed and almost never collect. He got his start in senior care as a CNA before moving into portable x-ray and lab sales, where he saw firsthand how the system's "medicine by prophecy" approach — over-supplying to be safe — quietly drained facilities' already-thin margins. He walked away from a six-figure salary to bet that nine out of ten nursing homes were giving their profits away, and that he could win it back for them. In just two years, Burst Billing has grown to 17 states and recovered more than $1 million in reimbursements for its clients. Self-taught in AI with over 2,000 hours behind him, Eric has built a fleet of agents that keep his company lean — and he's refreshingly candid that his ultimate goal is to make Burst unnecessary by helping the entire industry collect these dollars on its own. Show Notes: 00:00 — Introduction02:01 — Meet Eric Hansen: the bet that 9 of 10 nursing homes are giving profits away03:44 — From CNA to founder: how Eric got into senior care and spotted "medicine by prophecy"06:31 — Going all in: disproving the model, the weekend that changed everything, proving yourself wrong10:13 — On the naysayers: "You'll stop caring what others think when you realize how little they do"12:31 — What is a Part B supply? The reimbursements nursing homes leave on the table, and why "free" is expensive16:21 — The math: 2% margins, $500/day beds, and profit "like filling five beds without filling a bed"18:51 — The elephant in the room: why billing for more actually reduces Medicare fraud, waste, and abuse23:18 — Growing Burst Billing: 17 states, $1M+ recovered, and a company designed to disappear26:08 — Handing work to AI agents: the first job to delegate, goal-based AI, and the line never to cross32:19 — Starting from zero with AI: the learning curve, Notebook LM, and MVP discipline36:34 — AI in everyday life: relationship management, staying lean, fighting misinformation39:39 — A parting thought: the 9.7M caregiver shortage and whether AI could bring people back home41:38 — Closing thoughts

    The Hidden Part B Money 9 of 10 Nursing Homes Give Away with Eric Hansen - Founder & CEO at Burst Billing

  8. Aug 4

    Scale Plus Localization: The Sales & Marketing Playbook Behind Charter's Growth with Katie Pitts, VP of Marketing & Brad Scoggins, Senior Director of Sales & Owner Relations of Charter Senior Living

    In this episode, I sit down with two friends and two of my favorite people in the industry — Katie Pitts, VP of Marketing, and Brad Scoggins, Senior Director of Sales & Owner Relations, both at Charter Senior Living. Charter has grown from nine communities to more than 70 in just ten years, and we get into what that growth actually looks like on the ground: what happens when you take over a new community, how you win over an anxious staff, and how you scale without turning every community into a cookie-cutter version of the last. Katie shares her "scale plus localization" framework, Brad breaks down prospect-centered selling and why follow-up is the industry's most underrated skill, and we talk culture champions (not culture vampires) throughout. Key Takeaways Transitions are about people first. Before anything changes, the job is building trust fast and reassuring staff that exceptional care isn't going anywhere.Scale plus localization wins. Strong frameworks let you grow, but senior living is a local sell — the best programs leave room for local flavor.Hire for culture. Getting to 100 communities depends on culture champions who live the mission, not just strong résumés.Follow-up is the differentiator. Prospect-centered selling and genuine follow-up beat the old cookie-cutter numbers game every time.Brand beats budget. The best marketers ahead won't have the biggest ad spend — they'll build trust through transparency and education.Timestamps 02:59 — What actually happens when Charter takes over a new community05:23 — The marketing side: keep the name or change it?07:00 — Embracing the culture (and why Brad started as a dishwasher)09:29 — From 9 to 70+ communities and the "scale plus localization" framework11:24 — Thinking differently about sales at scale, and hiring culture champions13:58 — What drew Katie back to the provider side18:30 — People, processes, or tech: what's hardest to integrate21:19 — Why follow-up is the industry's most underrated skill23:13 — Reading the data on newly acquired communities26:49 — What Charter intentionally says "no" to29:20 — What most people underestimate about scalingNotable Quotes "We're a business of people taking care of people." — Brad Scoggins"No culture vampires — just culture champions." — Brad Scoggins"Senior living is a local sell." — Katie Pitts"Some of the best marketers in the years to come may not be the ones with the largest ad budgets, but the ones who build a brand on transparency, trust, and education." — Katie Pitts Mentioned in This Episode Charter Senior Living — https://www.charterseniorliving.com/Katie Pitts on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/katie-pitts-2613015/Brad Scoggins on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/brad-s-scoggins-16642b73/Charter's mission: "Enhance the human spirit" About the GuestsKatie Pitts is the VP of Marketing at Charter Senior Living, where she leads brand and marketing strategy across the organization's growing portfolio. With nearly two decades of experience spanning both the agency and provider sides of senior living, she champions a "scale plus localization" approach that balances company-wide systems with hyper-local, market-specific marketing. Brad Scoggins is the Senior Director of Sales & Owner Relations at Charter Senior Living. Having grown up in the industry — starting as a dishwasher before rising through the ranks over nearly six years at Charter — he brings a people-first, prospect-centered philosophy to sales, coaching teams to build trust through genuine connection and relentless follow-up.

    Scale Plus Localization: The Sales & Marketing Playbook Behind Charter's Growth with Katie Pitts, VP of Marketing & Brad Scoggins, Senior Director of Sales & Owner Relations of Charter Senior Living
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This is Connecting the Dots: Senior Living Successwith Matt Reiners, Girl Dad, Husband, 2x Tech Co-Founder, and Senior Living Enthusiast where we dive right into what drives the senior living industry. Matt interviews thought leaders from all parts of the industry as we cover everything from resident & staff satisfaction to innovative technology, community culture, to finance & operations. If you're in the senior living industry, it's safe to say this podcast will have something for you.

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