AI Policy in Senior Living: A 2025 Guide [Free Template]

According to a recent survey from LifeLoop, fewer than 10% of senior living providers currently use AI, but more than a third plan to adopt it in the future, establishing AI as a senior living trend to watch. Whether you’re a new adoptee or are already using AI as part of your operations management, you need an AI policy in senior living to protect you and your team. 

We’ve heard from our customers at recent senior living events that you aren’t sure where to start when it comes to adopting AI in your senior living community. As one of the industry’s leaders in senior living AI, we’ve assembled everything you need to know about introducing this technology to your business, starting with creating an AI policy. 

Read on to learn more about this key document and download our free AI policy in senior living template.

What Is an AI Policy?

An AI policy is a comprehensive framework for responsible, ethical, and strategic implementation of AI technology for senior living organizations. A well-crafted AI policy reassures your employees and stakeholders use AI appropriately.

An AI policy seeks to:

• Ensure ethical use of the AI by all parties involved.
• Mitigate risks involved with AI usage, such as data protection and risk assessment.
• Improve operational efficiency.
• Enhance the quality of resident care.
• Outline staff training and integration strategies.

Why Your Senior Living Community Needs an AI Policy

If you don’t have an AI policy in place, you could be vulnerable to ethical, reputational, and legal issues.

Ethical Considerations

AI systems in senior living collect and process sensitive personal information about residents. This data includes medical information, such as conditions and medication, as well as billing and insurance information, such as Social Security numbers and banking information. A robust AI policy ensures your team handles data ethically and securely while complying with relevant data privacy regulations.

Risk Mitigation

As a senior living provider, your job is to protect your residents. AI can help you identify and address risks but can and does make mistakes. 

A properly written AI policy guides appropriate usage to prevent those mistakes and unintended consequences. Using our earlier example, an AI policy might require your care team to review AI care recommendations before implementing them and allow caregivers to override those recommendations if a resident’s medical and care knowledge warrants it.

Building Trust

Your residents and their families want to know they are well cared for, but AI tools may seem scary and conjure images of dystopian movies where robots replace nurses. An AI policy establishes trust with residents and their families by sharing your AI usage and accountability practices upfront.

Legal and Regulatory Compliance

As AI continues to develop rapidly, so do regulations regarding data privacy and industry standards. An AI policy can help ensure your team complies with current and future regulations. 

Despite your best efforts, someone on your team may use AI irresponsibly. The presence of a well-written AI policy allows you to take action without concerns that the employee may retaliate and claim they weren’t aware the way they used AI was irresponsible.

Key Considerations When Creating an AI Policy

When drafting your community’s AI policy, addressing the following considerations is important. 

Core Principles

Fairness, transparency, accountability, and privacy are the cornerstones of ethical AI use. Ensure AI serves residents’ best interests while protecting human dignity and respect. 

Data Governance and Protection

Your policy must outline the following:

• Data privacy protocols.
• Data collection and storage practices.
• An informed consent policy.
• Compliance with all health care privacy regulations.

Algorithmic Bias and Fairness

To prevent unfair treatment, discriminatory decision-making, or overlooked needs, your AI policy should include references to:

• Regular bias audits.
• Diverse dataset development.
• Ongoing algorithmic refinement.
• Procedures to identify and mitigate potential discriminatory outcomes.

Human Oversight

AI is powerful, but human judgment is irreplaceable, especially in senior living care. Your AI policy must:

• Establish clear boundaries for AI recommendations.
• Ensure trained professionals make the final decisions.
• Create protocols for human intervention and override.
• Maintain the human-centered approach to care.

Transparency and Explainability

Your staff and residents should be aware of any AI being used, and any explanations should be easily understandable. Include these elements:

• Clear expectations of how AI tools work.
• Information about AI-driven decisions, such as how and when they will be made.
• Processes for questioning and challenging AI recommendations.

Continuous Evaluation and Improvement of AI Tools and Policy

Don’t simply write an AI policy and then keep it hidden in a drawer. Your AI policy is a living document that adapts to enhanced technologies, responds to changing regulatory landscapes, and improves based on staff and resident feedback. 

Outline how you plan to regularly assess the effectiveness of your AI strategy.

Resident privacy and informed consent

How will you maintain trust and personal autonomy in your AI usage? Your policy must outline a plan to: 

• Communicate AI use to residents and families.
• Obtain informed consent.
• Provide opt-out mechanisms.

Training and Education

Your staff must be trained on how to use AI effectively. Create an AI policy that: 

• Addresses the development of ongoing training programs.
• Creates support protocols for technology adoption.
• Fosters a culture of technological confidence and competence.

How To Create an AI Policy for Your Senior Living Community

Follow the steps below to create a robust AI policy for your senior living community.

1. Identify stakeholders and gather their input: These stakeholders should include internal stakeholders, such as your executive leadership team and HR, and external stakeholders, such as residents, their families, and regulatory bodies. Use surveys, focus groups, interviews, and workshops to gather input effectively. 
2. Conduct a risk assessment: Identify potential risks, such as data breaches and privacy violations; assess their likelihood and impact; and craft mitigation strategies, such as security measures, training, and audits. 
3. Define your core principles and guidelines: Identify all the ethical principles forming the foundation of your policy and use them to craft AI guidelines that reflect them.
4. Create procedures for data management and AI system development: Outline procedures for collecting and storing data, security and privacy protocols, quality assurance and validation, and data sharing and access controls. Explain how you will develop your AI system, from testing and validation to performing ongoing maintenance and updates.
5. Establish a review and update process: Identify how and when your team will review the AI policy and assess the effectiveness of your AI solutions. Also, include how to communicate changes to stakeholders.

If you aren’t sure where to start, use our free AI Policy in Senior Living template. Update the copy to reflect your community, and we recommend running it by your legal team as well. 

Meet the Future of AI in Senior Living With Aline

The future of senior living undoubtedly includes AI, and senior living providers must be ready. Aline is at the forefront of AI in senior living, with the largest senior living dataset on the market. Book a demo today to see how Aline Intelligence can help improve your operations while providing better quality care.