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What if the biggest lever for better elder care isn’t a new tool, but a different kind of leader? We sit down with Riley Moore—whose journey spans skilled nursing, assisted living, memory care, and now family medicine at Lakeview—to unpack how pay, culture, and everyday choices shape outcomes for seniors and the teams who serve them. Riley makes a clear, grounded case: when leaders show up on the floor, take the toughest call light, and coach with empathy, turnover drops and care quality rises.

We explore the quiet mechanics that determine recovery after a major event—how risk profiles, insurance, and reimbursement connect to which skilled nursing facilities patients can access and how well they’re staffed. Riley also shares a real-time shock to the system: traditional Medicare’s sudden rollback of telemedicine coverage, announced with virtually no notice. For older adults who relied on telehealth for medication management and chronic care check-ins, that change forced difficult in-person visits and strained clinics scrambling to rebook. It’s a vivid example of how policy decisions cascade to the bedside and the front desk at the same time.

Beyond policy, this is a masterclass in practical leadership. Riley tells the story of a high-performing but abrasive med tech who became a culture builder after direct, respectful coaching and support. We talk through dismantling the destructive pecking order between nurses, med techs, and CNAs; investing in fair pay to stabilize teams; and building trust with families who rarely see the triage behind delays. The message to rising administrators is simple: learn your people, lead from the front, ask for help when burned out, and communicate early and often—especially when the rules change overnight.

If this conversation resonates, follow the show, share it with a colleague who leads caregivers, and leave a quick review with one takeaway you’ll put into practice this week.

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