David AmmonsDavid Ammons is president of Retirement Living Associates, Inc. (RLA), a company which provides planning, development, marketing, and management services for new and existing retirement communities. He has worked in and with Senior Living Communities since his graduation from Wake Forest University in 1985.
The Retirement Industry like many other industries uses terms, phrases and acronyms that are specific to the industry. Words that in normal discussion have one meaning may in a specific use or licensing term have another meaning. Too, some of these terms may be totally foreign to you if you have never looked at retirement living options. I want to shed some light on just three of these and hope to help with the confusion I know exists.
Continuing Care Retirement Community (CCRC)
I’ve written in the past that this category might be referred to as the Resort Empty Nester Living Community because of the lifestyle these communities afford the residents. They offer continuing education, wellness centers, world travel, world-class entertainment, diverse neighbors, high tech access, business centers, theaters and much more but still provide living options for a future time with future needs for recovery or rehabilitation. That said, this is a licensed category and legal details are in NC General Statutes 58-64. The concept is a community that provides lodging together with nursing services, medical services or other health services under a contract for life or greater than a year. However there are numerous communities that will state they provide a continuum of care or that at their campus they have continuing care because the campus has care levels in addition to independent living. The key difference is what is included in the contract. If you want to know if a particular community is licensed as a CCRC a list is available at www.ncdoi.com/se/se_CCRC_Disclosure.aspx. Many would debate whether being licensed by the State of NC as continuing care matters to the quality of living and care, but there are distinct differences.
Assisted Living (AL or Adult Care)
Licensing again plays a key role in this area. There are Family Care Homes which have between 2 and 6 beds or patients. Then there are Adult Care Homes which are 7 + beds. The facility may be advertising or known publicly as an Assisted Living Community. In both family care homes and adult care homes the provider/owner/manager is providing lodging, meals and other services as well as employing the care giver staff. A community may also be advertising or known as an Assisted Living Community but function as a Multi-Unit Assisted Housing with Services (MUAHS or MAHS). In a MUAHS the lodging, meals and other services are provided by the community but the care provided such as Nursing, Companion, Sitter, Therapies (Physical, Occupational or Speech) and many others is provided by a Home Care Agency or Home Health Agency.
Home Care Agency versus Home Health Agency
Home care is provided where you live and includes nursing services, Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapy, Companion, Sitter and other types of care services. A key difference lies in public or insurance funding for home care services versus private funding of services. Generally a home health agency can file to Medicare or Insurance and a home care agency will expect payment by patient or family.
Be an Informed Consumer
There are many Consumer Protection efforts at work in my industry. I will share that I feel the responsibility ultimately lies with “Informed Consuming”. We are fortunate in North Carolina with many excellent options and asking questions will provide a great deal of information and help.