How to Compare Memory Care Costs Beyond the Advertised Price?

The price stated on a website is an estimate, and final price can vary. Memory care facilities often include additional costs based on your loved one’s specific care needs, level of care, or the type of contract that you agree to. These costs are not stated on the website and can be different for each family.

Why The Advertised Price is not The Real Price?

Many senior care directories online include a rate that implies a low level of care, a small room, or a special rate that won’t be sustained for long. The old “bait and switch.” A rate that is enticingly low enough to get you to make a phone call. Not a rate that anyone actually pays.

First there is an assessment of a level of care, upon move in, based on a tool that is pretty much the same for everyone. It’s all about scoring mobility, cognition, and how much help someone needs with ADLs (activities of daily living) – bathing, dressing, medication management, incontinence care. Two doors down from each other in the same building, same floor plan, your loved one and your neighbor who has mild dementia may score on different pricing tiers and pay several hundred dollars apart every month. Nothing in the online listing could include your cost because they haven’t met your loved one and found that out yet.

Bundled Pricing vs. Tiered Pricing

Communities usually have two ways of pricing memory care. The first is all-inclusive or bundled pricing where you pay one monthly cost that includes rent, meals, and care no matter what level of acuity (within limits). The other one is tiered pricing and you pay a baseline rent plus additional costs stacked on top depending on the level of care assessment.

You can easily compare bundled prices with tiered prices but this does not always mean that they are cheaper. Sometimes, communities that are bundled models set higher prices to take into account the risk of having high-acuity residents in the future. The tiered model may have a lower starting price but the cost can go significantly up with higher needs. When you’re going through the list of options, take a little bit of time to check which of the two models each community uses before comparing the prices. It’s not fair to compare a bundled price with a tiered price as if you’re comparing a known price with a starting offer.

The Hidden Costs Lists Leave Out

Entry fees, also known as move-in fees, may be as high as thousands of dollars. It’s rare to see these fees included in the monthly rent for an ALF. Yearly percentage increases do not look like big numbers but you need to compare them with average annual inflation rates over the same time. Specialized memory care programming, higher staff ratios or contracted hours, and other things contribute to less visible add-ons. Niche reports indicate that, while these can vary by local wealth and cost of labor, the monthly costs for the Memory Care segment of the Assisted Living industry average out at 25 percent above the costs of standard Assisted Living. Families searching for memory care near me minneapolis will find prices that are informed by local labor costs and inspections, not a national median, and it’s why comparing a listed price to local, reputable options matters more than basing decisions on a national average.

What to Actually Filter For?

Avoid directories that are not upfront about the rates they feature. A directory that cannot tell you whether a community offers bundled or tiered payments has not done its research on the community, either. Avoid, and research instead:

Directories that post pricing information on the public record

Public state inspections or reports on licensure. Communities that are open about one set of finances are typically open about another.

Staff training certifications for dementia care (any of the CARES programs or those using the methods of Teepa Snow, for instance) that may contribute to higher pay rates and, by extension, greater staffing ratios.

Staff-to-resident ratios that impact safety and, by extension, pricing.

The Referral Platform Problem

Referral sites like A Place for Mom or Caring.com make money from the leads they send to facilities, meaning that they have to sell those communities as desirable options. This does not mean that the information these sites provide is not valuable, but it does mean that their “top matches” are invariably facilities that advertise with them, not ones that necessarily fit one’s budget or requirements.

An independent community advisor who has no one to sell but their own reputation is, in fact, the best resource for an unbiased look at what a community can provide. That is also, frequently, the most useful alternative to an online search.

Reading The Service Agreement Before Signing Anywhere

The advertisement is nice, but the service agreement is the document to review and understand. Pay particular attention to whether it will note rate tiers, how the level of care is likely to be decided, and what rate locks are in place, if any, as well as how and when increases to the rate are likely to take place. In any case, ask to see the service agreement at the beginning of the conversation, rather than later. You are unlikely to get one if you do not request it prior to making a deposit, let alone prior to signing.

Treat every listed price you see with caution; it will take several conversations before one fully understands how and when that number may change.