Green Oak offers a comprehensive evaluation of applicants for continuing care retirement communities to assess compliance and liability. CCRC risk management is a crucial consideration for retirement organizations in connecting with new residents.
Risk Assessment & Evaluation
After the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), several retirement organizations were concerned about legal risk in accepting or not accepting applicants.
In 1997, Green Oak was asked by retirement community leaders to develop a third-party review process. They were concerned about both their compliance and liability in accepting applicants.
Unknowingly accepting a poor risk applicant has significant long-term financial ramifications. However, declining an applicant without clearly stated criteria and a defined evaluation process, could lead to more immediate problems.
To resolve this, Green Oak's risk management team conducts an independent, third-party evaluation of each applicant's potential risk for using long-term care services. It does this using a national database of continuing care retirement community residents developed over many years.
The basis for the risk assessment is whether or not there would be approval of an applicant for coverage under an individual LTC insurance policy. In most cases, there will be a clear "Yes" or "No" response. In borderline situations, there will be additional back-up information for the Community to investigate further.
Reduced liability under ADA and Fair Housing may be possible due to the use of national norms that establish a realistic actuarial evaluation. Further, the evaluation structure targets potential dementia indicators that might miss identification otherwise.
The Community is not bound by this information. The process is simply an independent evaluation of an applicant's risk of using LTC services. The Community can incorporate the results as it chooses.
Green Oak staff work in coordination with the Community to evaluate outcomes and identify general trends that may be significant indicators of marketing and operational issues.
Since 1998, several multi-site systems and stand-alone communities have implemented and utilized the program. Results have been useful for evaluating individual applicants, and many communities use the risk assessment as the basis for their acceptance of applicants for life care.
