More and more residential adult day care centers are popping up. This is, in fact a good thing. One of the main priorities for a new center is identifying whom you care to serve. For some it might be a population mix of the mentally ill and the medically fragile elderly including those with Alzheimer’s disease. Others, with a special commitment to the honor of the military, propose serving disabled veterans.
Regardless of the population you plan to serve there are a few items you must not ignore:
- People are not falling out of the sky. If the region wherein you operate is not advertising for a medical model adult day care for usage by veterans as contracted via the Department of Veterans Affairs, then you will need to rely upon the veteran’s personal benefits to pay for services. This will likely be the Aid & Attendance Special Pension. This means you will have to invest in mass media and partner with certain veterans supporting organizations in order to get the word out about your plans. Of course there is also no substitute for a well managed on-line attention grabbing campaign so invest into the SEO, you need it.
- Obviously not every agent that manages Medicaid waiver funds will contract with a residential model, however, many will. You will then need to ensure you are in 100% compliance with their general vendor guidelines in order to attract and qualify for a direct purchase of service agreement. In many cases these guidelines are published by the Office of Services to the Aging. Click Here for sample of popular guidelines.
Be careful ignoring innovation while at the same time remembering you must function with what your community accepts to be effective and person-centered. This is a delicate balance for some, especially those who may lack humility and the concept of team play.
Let’s also remember that adult day programs are less expensive than quality assisted living. Think of the financially healthy suburban family who cannot leave grandpa at home all day but who would rather not devote all of his $5000.00 per month income to an assisted living program. With your average out-of-pocket, private paying cost being around $1200.00 monthly, per participant, its not hard to understand why you would be a better option. Just be sure you have something highly functional and highly glamorous to offer and invest into the marketing of it or that “if I build it they will come” mentality will slowly allow you to die on the vine.
Best of success in your efforts to advocate for community based care across America.
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