John O'Connor, Editorial Director

Senior living operators are harnessing innovative tech tools to improve care delivery. To celebrate their exceptional feats, McKnight’s and American HealthTech have established the first annual McKnight’s Excellence In Technology Awards – Connect Our World.

Five awards will be given to the highest-scoring providers. The categories are:

• Quality Through Technology
Recognizes a facility/community that harnessed technology to improve the level of care its residents receive.

• Dignity Through Technology
Recognizes a facility/community that harnessed technol­ogy to improve the level of dignity its residents enjoy.

• High Tech/High Touch
Recognizes how technology was used to improve staff-resident interaction.

• Innovator of the Year
This award will recognize a notably innovative use of technology to improve both care and the bottom line.

• Transitions Award
This award will recognize an organization that harnessed technology to improve and/or reduce transitions between long-term care facilities and other care settings.

As these titles imply, we intend to honor operators who are using technology-related tools to make notable contributions to the field. We invite you to submit your best work for this prestigious competition. An independent panel will be judging. They’ll examine the technology involved, how it helped improve care, and its overall positive impact.

There is no cost to enter, and the application process has been set up to make applying fast and easy.

Visit our dedicated McKnight’s Technology Awards website at http://awards.mcknights.com. There, you will find a wealth of information on the 2012 categories, including entry rules, procedures and forms.

Our ambitious goal is to make the McKnight’s Technology Awards the pre-eminent program for recognizing technology-related innovations that serve this field. 

The deadline for submissions is June 15. I look forward to receiving your entries soon. Good luck, and thanks for all you do.