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MaiaLaM Asked January 2020

Can an ALF charge extra because I have private aides 24/7 thru an agency & say that their staff doesn’t have to help?

My father is 98 yrs old and his condition is declining. He is mostly mentally clear, but cannot do much of anything for himself due to arthritis and neuropathy, requiring 2 people to lift, turn & toilet.

gladimhere Jan 2020
Sounds like dad should be in a nursing home instead of assisted living. The extra charge is probably because of his increased level of care, not because you have caregivers coming in.

AL has to plan care for all of their residents. They would not rely on outside help for your dad. They have to be able to manage his care without the extra caregivers you have brought in.

Read the contract.

Geaton777 Jan 2020
Ditto to what Cwillie posted. Also, did you discuss the extra agency care with the AL admin before you enlisted it? Have you read the original AL contract? If your dad needs 2 people to provide him care every day, all day he is receiving more than just "assistance". There would be much less risk of mis-communications between the agency people and the AL staff if you would just give him what he needs, which is LTC. My MIL gets very good care in hers. I can't imagine that what you are paying for 2 agency people for 24/7/365 care is less money than LTC. Eventually it won't be as his medical needs increase, then the agency needs to send people with different/higher/more specific qualifications and they have increasingly higher hourly rates.

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cwillie Jan 2020
Where I live assisted living places don't generally accommodate people who need more than minimal help with their medication and ADLs, anyone who requires a 2 person assist would be transitioned to a higher level of care (nursing home). Families are sometimes very resistant to that due to preconceived ideas about what nursing homes are like, but in reality most often their loved ones would be much better off because those facilities are better equipped and have higher staff to patient ratios.

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