Two Surveys: Which One is Telling the Truth About Excessive Monthly Care Fee Increases?

By Lillian L. Hyatt, MSW, Resident of a CCRC and AARP Policy Specialist on CCRCs

What caused residents to revolt against a very large monthly care fee increase? In a Northern California high-end CCRC, a very large increase (5.5 percent) was foisted on the residents. At the same time, the management was spending huge sums of money on nonessential cosmetic improvements: new carpeting to replace carpeting in good condition, a room full of expensive exercising equipment, while reducing services and essential staff.

As usual, when I research a particular issue pertaining to the complexities involving a senior investing CCRC, I discovered that residents in a Florida CCRC had done exceptionally good research that revealed that financial ruin was a distinct possibility if a resident lived longer than they expected to. Many elderly people can now live to a 100 years of age or more.

The resident survey that was published on February 5, 2016 by a committee of four courageous residents stated, “A number of us are very concerned about the 5.5-percent increase in our monthly fee and do not fully understand the reasons given for this. At the same time, we perceive an erosion in the quality of services for which we contracted our CCRC.”

In the same time period, February 2, 2016, at an update meeting, the administration distributed a justification for the increase, but the residents who reviewed the financial information on the last page felt that the figures did not add up to justify the increase. Questions asked by the many residents were never answered and severe restrictions as to what was answered was imposed by the administration.

Some of the points raised by residents were:

• Inadequate financial information
• Poor decision making by management
• Poor communication between residents, liaison committees and management
• Heightened resident anxiety
• Poor food quality: too much unhealthy food
• The CCRC management did not live up to its stated mission statement and core values

At the age of 91, my sight is rapidly failing and I was fortunate to be able to work with an exceptional student interested in a career in social work (with an emphasis on elderly people who are legally blind and print disabled). Her name is Corrina Salas and she will be attending college to start her studies in the fall of 2017. Our work together entailed her learning how to work with equipment designed for blind people.

While this column deals with some of the issues facing elders who choose to invest in care at a CCRC, such applicants should engage an attorney who has experience and knowledge of the CCRC industry. Most attorneys are not equipped to fulfill such a function. There are courses given by the California Advocate for Nursing Home Reform which equips attorneys to help elderly applicants to a CCRC to make an informed decision and not just accept what marketing directors tell them.

In doing my research, I interviewed several marketing directors and former marketing employees. One stated that none of the information about the true conditions of residents in a CCRC was ever available when she was a marketing person.  When seniors apply at a CCRC for admission, they are often told by the marketing director that they mustn’t worry about running out of money because “we will take care of you.”

Ironically, while put under the assistance programs portion of the contract, it reads as follows:

“Any assistance given will be converted to a loan from the CCRC facility to you, and be deducted—plus interest—at the maximum legal rate, from any entrance fee returned to you, and become a lien against your assets…”

Buyer beware.

Professor Hyatt is an AARP California policy advisor. Professor Hyatt can be seen on YouTube on the USC School of Social Work website at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMrC6o6Rm04