Do the Math - Financial Qualifying
We recently held our annual meeting for our Executive Directors and one area that we focused on was qualifying potential residents. We identified three areas that needed to be evaluated, those were clinical, financial and social aspects of the prospects life. This is the first part of three part series in which the areas of qualification will be discussed.
The first area we will look at is the financial qualification. As one would guess this area is of particular concern in this economic climate. We know that Independent Living is a “Lifestyle” that seniors are choosing not to live for the time being. With Assisted Living being a “need” driven product the choice was fairly straight forward.
We have begun to notice that perhaps assisted living was becoming a choice that families were no longer choosing in order to conserve their funds. We attempt to qualify someone financially to make sure they can afford to live with us. We informally look at the monthly income, is long term care insurance in place and may they qualify for VA benefits such as aid and attendance?
Most all assisted living communities are private pay unless you live in Oregon. We recently had a couple visit one of our communities, they appeared to be financially qualified, filled out the paperwork selected a room and left a deposit. Upon visiting the doctor to obtain the necessary documents the doctor inquired how they intended to pay for living at the community. They quickly responded that Medicare would be paying for it. Thankfully the physician knew us and called to let us know of the confusion. We also are getting more and more calls from prospective families looking for government assistance in the form of Medicaid and Medicare.
At all Senior Solutions Management Communities we have stayed with the “all in” rate structure choosing to sacrifice revenue in order to keep rooms filled. One thing I would suggest to prospects is to break rent down to a daily rate. That is easiest done by the following formula (monthly rate X12 then divided by 365) At Senior Solutions our average daily rate is around $78 to $85 per day for assisted living. That includes meals, housekeeping, laundry, scheduled transportation and assistance with basic ADL’s and all utilities.
Anyway you break it down that rate is very competitive with what it cost to stay at home. Do the math and then look at all your options. Most communities should have tools and forms to help you decide if assisted living is affordable for you.