What you didn't know you didn't know about senior living: Referral agencies
This picture has no relation to the content; I just love it. We handed out Girl Scout cookies in April and this is my 'thank you' from Michael*. Totally candid, totally adorable.
Have you been looking into assisted living for your parent or grandparent and been unsure where to begin the search? Maybe you did an internet search for ‘senior living’ and saw results pop up for local assisted living and independent living facilities. You might not have realized it, but most likely another type of result popped up and slipped right in there with all the communities. They’re called referral agencies, and they want your business as badly as the communities do.
Simply put, a referral agency connects with families and helps them place their loved one at no cost to the family. They meet the senior, do an intake process, ask the family questions about their budget or how close they’d like mom or dad to be, and then take the family around to tour the communities they think would be the best fit. What a great service, right? Well, mostly right.
Referral agencies make their money through contracts with different communities. An ALF signs a contract with ABC referral agency for x amount, and then when someone that ABC referred moves into the ALF, the ALF pays ABC. There are nation-wide referral agencies, such as Caring.com or A Place For Mom, and then some referral agencies are specific to a certain geographic region. My ALF contracts with several different sizes of referral agencies, so I’m quite familiar with the service they provide. The payout to a referral agency varies, but typically the cost to the ALF is around half of one month’s rent/service costs for a move-in. If they bring a family to tour and the family decides not to choose our community, there’s no cost to us.
The catch is that if you are working with a referral agency, they will take you to the communities that they have contracts with, and probably ONLY those communities. And most likely they will really talk up the community they have the highest-paying contract with. That’s only good business sense, right? I even know of an ALF who, in a desperate time of low census, offered referral agencies an extra cash incentive to bring them qualified leads (read: private pay residents).
I want to pause here and reiterate that I do work with referral agencies, and I have mostly had good experiences. The agents typically call me in advance, tell me about the senior they’re helping find a home for, and ask me what we have available and if I am interested. This helps narrow down the tour process, thus saving the family some time. They schedule several tours in one day for the family and help ask the right questions and point out helpful features on the tour. They help debrief and take notes, and overall most of the agents I work with provide a very valuable, credible service to the families they’re helping. I do not believe referral agents in general are bad people. I do know, however, that there is no licensing or government oversight on referral agents. They can charge as much as they’d like for their services, they can skip over perfect communities because they don’t have a contract with them, and they can sway a family’s mind in their time of desperation and need. Also, if you’re looking for a community that accepts Medicaid, most referral agencies either won’t help you or will do the bare minimum because communities don’t (and can't) pay for Medicaid referrals.
You are always welcome to contact a community directly, but if you’d like to use a referral agency, they can be a helpful tool if you’re in control of the situation. If you're concerned about communities contacting you directly, you can use the agency as a go-between. Before you select an agency to work with, check out their reviews online (if they have any). Make sure you meet them and they meet your loved one so they really get an understanding of your family. Most importantly, tell them your non-negotiable requirements upfront. If your budget is under $5,000, make sure they aren’t taking you to really high-end, expensive communities. If mom wants to bring her dog, let them know so they only arrange tours at pet-friendly communities. When utilized correctly, a referral agent can help guide you through the process seamlessly, and again, with no direct cost to you. But be armed with the knowledge that you may be missing out on communities that could potentially be a great fit for your loved one.
