Nonprofit Continuing Care Retirement Communities Sponsor Legislation to Broaden Community-Based Care

SACRAMENTO, California (February 16, 2012) – Aging Services of California announced today that it will sponsor AB 1698 (Portantino, D-Pasadena), a bill that will allow continuing care retirement communities (CCRCs) to provide services in a private residence without that residence having to become licensed as a care facility. Under current law, providing services from a CCRC may require a senior’s home to be licensed as a residential care facility for the elderly (RCFE). This interpretation has prevented nonprofit providers from offering “Continuing Care at Home” programs in California; a model of providing services in a one-stop shopping approach that brings the continuum of care and services provided at a retirement community to a senior’s private residence. According to the sponsor, AB 1698 will remove barriers and provide a framework for providing Continuing Care at Home services in California. AB 1698 is identical to a bill authored by Assemblywoman Lori Saldaña (AB 1022) in 2008 that received strong bipartisan support. However, AB 1022 was a victim of the budget delay standoff and was caught up in the mass veto of 127 bills by then Governor Schwarzenegger for non-policy related reasons.

“The Continuing Care at Home model has been successful on the east coast for many years,” said Joanne Handy, President & CEO of Aging Services of California. “Continuing Care at Home eliminates a major expense of delivering care – the upkeep and maintenance of a facility. This type of service delivery model is ideal for the middle income senior who chooses not to move into a traditional CCRC, while still offering the most appealing component of the CCRC model - the full continuum of care.”

Continuing Care at Home is a private-pay model that does not rely on public funds. It is a home-based continuing care program that provides a wide array of services, including: home maintenance, home care, assisted living, nursing home and more. The bill includes disclosure requirements to CCRC residents to ensure transparency and disclosure of the impact of Continuing Care at Home programs on the operation of the campus-based community. The sponsors of AB 1698 note that the bill does not exempt CCRCs from any licensing laws, rather it clarifies that services provided in a senior’s residence are not subject to regulation as a care facility.

According to the Alliance for Aging Research, last year Baby Boomers began to turn 65 at a rate of 10,000 people per day; a trend that expected to persist for the next twenty years. Proponents of Continuing Care at Home see the program as a way to promote aging in place by allowing seniors to stay in their homes as long as possible. Clients will have access to the full continuum of long-term care services, which are professionally managed by the same credentialed and licensed staff as those living in the CCRC.

Other providers of Continuing Care at Home include: Cadbury at Home, affiliated with Cadbury at Cherry Hill (NJ), Longwood at Home, affiliated with Presbyterian SeniorCare (PA), and Alexian Brothers Senior Ministries’ Live at Home Program (TN).

Contact Information

Eric Dowdy

Director of Policy

Aging Services of California

(1) (916) 469-3376

edowdy@aging.org