The Business Case for Air Disinfection in Senior Living

Administrators do not buy air purification because the air is interesting. They buy it when it moves a number they are already accountable for.

This page lays out what the published research reports, where the money actually moves in a Florida senior living operation, and how to model it against your own costs before you spend anything.

A prospective cohort study published in the Journal of the American Medical Directors Association examined continuous hydroxyl radical air disinfection in a geriatric long term care department at Golden Care Geriatric Center in Ness Ziona, Israel, led by epidemiologist Itamar Grotto. It covered 242 resident-years across two comparable units over two consecutive years.

What was reported:

• Respiratory infections fell 48 percent in the treated group
• Respiratory infection incidence moved from 1.88 to 0.98 events per resident-year
• Overall infections moved from 51.6 to 26.8 per 10,000 resident days, the same rate Pyure reports as 5.16 to 2.68 per 1,000 patient-days
• The untreated control group did not show a statistically significant reduction
• No changes were made to staffing, workflows or resident routines during the study period

Awen Natural Air did not conduct or participate in this research. We are a Florida reseller and service provider for Pyure® equipment, and we use the publication as one research source when discussing the technology with facility decision-makers. Our full write-up is here: what the 2026 JAMDA study means for Florida senior living.

Two line items carry most of the argument.

Value-Based Purchasing. The Skilled Nursing Facility VBP program withholds 2 percent of all Medicare Part A payments. Facilities then receive an adjustment ranging from a 2 percent cut to a 1.5 percent increase. Readmission performance drives that swing, and respiratory infection is one of the paths to a readmission.

Staffing. HHS data for 2021 put contract nursing labor costs 75 percent higher than permanent staff. An avoided outbreak is avoided callouts, avoided agency coverage and avoided overtime, and those are the dollars a DM can actually point at.

Occupancy and family referral reputation follow both of those, but they are slower and harder to attribute, so we would not build a case on them.

Do not model on 48 percent. The guidance published alongside this research is to run a 40 percent reduction scenario, deliberately below the observed figure, so the case survives scrutiny from your clinical team.

You need four numbers you already have:

1. Respiratory infection events per resident-year in your building
2. Average loaded cost per event, including agency coverage and any transfer
3. Your current VBP adjustment
4. Licensed bed count and current occupancy

Apply 40 percent to the first number, cost it at the second, and treat any VBP movement as upside rather than as the justification. If the case only works when VBP swings your way, it is not a case yet.

A single unit or wing, not the whole building. Baseline your infection data before anything is switched on. Run it continuously rather than in bursts. Compare against a like unit in the same building.

Equipment can be rented rather than purchased for the pilot period, which usually keeps it out of the capital approval cycle entirely and lets you produce your own number before committing.

Pyure offers portable, installed and HVAC-integrated equipment. Which one fits depends on the building, and that comes out of an assessment rather than a catalogue.

This is one single-site cohort study, not a multi-site randomized controlled trial. It should be read as encouraging evidence, not as settled fact.

Hydroxyl air disinfection is not a medical treatment. It is not a substitute for your infection control protocol, hand hygiene compliance or ventilation standards. No equipment prevents infection outright, and anyone who tells you otherwise should be asked to produce the study.

We would rather you model this conservatively and be right than model it optimistically and stop trusting the number halfway through the pilot.

We work with assisted living, memory care, long-term care, retirement and healthcare-adjacent facilities across Brevard County and East Central Florida. We will walk your building, look at your own numbers with you, and tell you honestly whether a pilot is worth running.

Call (321) 773-3356 or use the contact page to arrange an assessment or an on-site demonstration.

Related reading: senior living air purification services, the senior living air disinfection case study, and commercial air purification.

Awen Natural Air
Melbourne, FL 32901
(321) 773-3356