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As seniors age, it’s critical to find the right setting for them to do so. For many, that’s aging in place while receiving home-based care services. For others, it means moving into an assisted living facility.
With this in mind, a number of home-based care providers are getting into the business of helping seniors find placement into assisted living facilities.
Thus is the case for Always Best Care of Wallingford and New Haven, Connecticut. Linda Craig — the owner of this Always Best Care franchise location — calls assisted living placement the second half of her business.
“We’re looking for the best possible way to help our clients, and sometimes the home and care in the home is not the best way possible,” Craig told Home Health Care News. “We’re a franchise that is able to offer another alternative. For example, maybe a person has dementia … or maybe they’re not steady enough on their feet to walk upstairs. An assisted living facility might be more comfortable for them.”
Roseville, California-based Always Best Care is a home care franchise company that operates across 225 territories in 30 states and Canada.
When new clients come to Craig’s Always Best Care location for home care services, assisted living is presented as another option up front.
The company’s placement services arm functions as a sort of concierge service.
“When we meet the client, we talk to them about what their likes and dislikes are,” Craig said. “Different assisted living facilities cater to different types of lifestyle, one might be more of a social model while another has a more medical model.”
Always Best Care also factors in logistical needs, such as clients needing to be in a facility that’s close to where their family lives or near their physician’s office. The client’s finances are also considered.
“After looking at all those things, then we sort of tailor it to two or three places,” Craig said. “What’s nice is we’ll call up and see if they have room. We set up a tour, and we accompany them on the tours. We also try to set it up where we have lunch there, so that they have the opportunity to sample the food and see the activities going on. We’re very unbiased and we are trying to find the best place for them.”
After this vetting process with Always Best Care, the client makes the ultimate decision.
“After each tour, we’re able to sit down with them and say, ‘Hey, what did you like, what did you dislike?’” Craig said. “Through a process of elimination, they pick out the best place for them to move into.”
For its services, Always Best Care racks in a referral fee.
Most home care companies don’t provide assisted living placement services. But because of the nature of the industry agencies are uniquely positioned to lean into this offering.
“We work with assisted living facilities routinely,” Craig said. “We have caregivers going in, we provide care for some of the residents. We’re dealing with these places to begin with, so we know what makes them special and what makes them different. It’s all about helping the client or the senior find the best place to live, whether that’s the home or assisted living.”
Craig has plans to continue to grow this part of her business. She recently hired someone on the sales side whose sole focus is scaling the company’s assisted living placement services.
While Craig declined to detail the revenue that this portion of the business brings in, she did comment on how well assisted living placement services have done for other Always Best Care franchise locations.
“We anticipate that this business will grow in the future,” she said. “There are other franchises within the Always Best Care system that rely very heavily on assisted living placements and they’re gearing up for like $100,000 per month in placement fees.”
Executive Home Care buys Assisted Living Locators
Another company, Executive Home Care, recently entered the assisted living placement business as well.
On its end, Executive Home Care accomplished this through its acquisition of the Assisted Living Locators brand and franchise system. The Scottsdale, Arizona-based Assisted Living Locators aides seniors in finding the right senior care placement, including assisted living facilities.
Assisted Living Locators was on the company’s radar due to how forward-thinking the organization was, according to Executive Home Care CEO Tim Hadley.
“They kind of originated that business in general, assisted living placement services,” he told HHCN. “Having a talented group of leaders come on board and stay on board to run the business, as we continue to move forward and grow, was very attractive.”
Hackensack, New Jersey-based Executive Home Care is a personal care and companion care company. Currently, the company has 20 franchise locations across the country, predominantly on the east coast.
Hadley noted that demographic realities would continue to drive the need for both home-based care and assisted living.
Unlike Always Best Care’s business model, Assisted Living Locators — while part of Executive Home Care — will operate as a separate entity.
“While there’s a tremendous amount of synergies that we’ll continue to leverage at the corporate level, I think the businesses themselves are structured quite differently, but they lend themselves to being sister businesses to one another,” Hadley said.
Ultimately, Executive Home Care’s goal is to be able to provide the continuum of care for its clients.
Looking ahead, Hadley wouldn’t be surprised if more home-based care companies entered the assisted living placement services business.
“I think everybody’s trying to diversify their product and their business,” he said.
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