Evergreen Woods, a Shoreline continuing-care retirement community, recently
hosted a meeting of the National Continuing Care Residents Association, and
since I help many residents who are considering a move to these types of
communities, I was especially pleased to be invited.
I felt it was
particularly important to learn about an organization which is composed of and
represents the interests of those already living in continuing-care communities
and, of course, reflects both their pleasures and problems with this particular
lifestyle.
Basically, there are two types of retirement communities;
those that offer independent and assisted living for a monthly rental fee, but
do not offer nursing home care. The other model, known as continuing-care
communities or CCRCs, offer lifetime care with a health-care or nursing-home
component. For their often luxurious lifestyle, there is a substantial entrance
fee as well as monthly charges.
These CCRs are generally either “for
profit” (Evergreen Woods and Essex Meadows are this type) or the “nonprofits”
(Whitney Center and Ashlar Village would fall in this category).
Katherine Pearson, professor of law at Penn State University and the
educational director of its Elder Law and Consumer Protection Clinic, spoke at
the gathering. She is an amazing woman and a much-needed voice on behalf of
residents’ rights, which I learned, vary greatly from state to
state.
Pearson had opened a Family Law Clinic at the law school in
Pennsylvania 11 years ago, when a resident’s group from a local CCRC came to her
because management was planning to double the size of the community in the same
footprint, and the state regulator had told the group, they couldn’t do
anything.
When Pearson was finally able to locate and look at the past
annual reports of that community, she found they had indeed been filed, but the
seals were not even broken; they had never been read by anyone in that
office.
Pennsylvania has the third highest percentage of older adults, so
it has attracted many different retirement communities. Since 2008, three CCRCs
have filed for protection under the bankruptcy laws there. Of these, at least
one was a “nonprofit” type.
Residents in one community lost the right to
their refundable entrance fees. In others, there were larger increases in the
monthly fees, after re-organization, as well as a cutting back of
services.
Some states are recognizing the need for more proactive
approaches to regulatory assessment. Oregon, for example, has amended its CCRC
law to require greater disclosure of the identities of persons who have direct
or indirect ownership or beneficial interests in CCRCs within the state and
require resident representation on the governing boards of CCRCs.
Connecticut currently does not have a resident’s bill of rights, but according to Ruth Walsh, the president of the Connecticut Continuing Care Resident’s Association, for the first time in many years, the group will be having regular meetings with the Department of Social Services (which absorbed the former separate Department of Aging).
It is hoped that they will facilitate changes so CCRCs here will be required to provide understandable financial information as well as mandating that Connecticut’s CCRC residents should have representation on the facilities governing boards.
If you are considering entering a continuing-care community, you should be aware of the laws governing them in the state where you live and have the facility’s disclosure statement examined by a well-versed, elder law attorney. Meanwhile, we are indebted to the hard-working group of senior residents, their sponsoring facilities and Pearson, all of whom are devoting time and effort to these important issues.
Contact Jean Cherni, certified senior adviser for Senior Living Solutions and Pearce Plus, a helpful, full-service program for seniors contemplating a move, at jeancherni@sbcglobal.net or 15 The Ponds at 101 Hotchkiss Grove, Branford 06405.
