Discover senior relocation specialists, grow referrals

Private Duty Insider, December 2006

Here’s a weird but effective idea: Try marketing to your local moving company.

Sure, it’s outside of the box, but that’s exactly why it works so well for Patricia Menoni, administrator of Partners in Senior Care. She gets one referral a month from a senior relocation company. And it’s meant 25 referrals per year for Shelly Sun’s private duty agency, BrightStar Healthcare in Chicago.

Growing in popularity, senior relocation companies support older adults and their families with the physical and emotional aspects of moving, says Mary Jo Zeller, co-founder of Gero Solutions, a senior relocation company with offices in Palatine and St. Charles, Ill. “We case manage the move process, taking care of all the details.”

Zeller’s company focuses on helping seniors downsize, such as moving from their home to a condominium, or relocate across the continuum of care, such as moving from their home to a retirement community, assisted living facility or nursing home, Zeller says. The company does everything associated with the moving the client from packing and presorting to the physical moving and transporting.

But many times seniors need additional services the company can’t provide, “and then we look to make a referral to a home care company,” says Zeller.

Typically, she seeks private duty agencies that offer geriatric care manager or nursing services, says Zeller. Many times when older adults are going through a life transition, such as moving to a nursing home, they also have other needs that must be attended to, and a GCM can manage that care, says Zeller.

These relocation companies are working with seniors who many need private duty services while they’re in transition, says Menoni. For example, clients who are moving from their home to a nursing home may need a caregiver to assist them while they’re waiting for their home to sell, especially if their adult children don’t live in the area. Also, caregivers can provide support and assistance while clients adjust to their new environment, Menoni says.

Also Menoni’s Grayslake, Ill.-based agency offers geriatric care manager services, which many of these clients need during this time, she says. For example, many facilities require that a senior have a physical exam and a tuberculosis shot prior to entering the facility. A GCM can assist clients through this process by making all the necessary appointments, accompanying clients to appointments and ensuring that all the paperwork is in order, says Menoni.

Menoni admits that she hasn’t pursued senior relocation specialists as aggressively as she should. “This is an area we all should be marketing to better,” she says. Although she doesn’t track how much revenue each referral from the senior relocation company generates because it varies depending on the services each client needs, “it’s certainly enough to maintain a good contact with the company,” she says.

Short-term cases turn into long-term PD care

Although the majority of clients that senior relocation companies refer to private duty are short-term cases, there is potential for them to become long-term clients, says private duty president Sun. The majority of the 25 clients Sun receives from local senior relocation companies annually require home care while they’re waiting to get into a skilled nursing facility (many of these facilities have a 4- to 6-month waiting list to get a bed), she says. But about half of those clients ultimately decide to remain at home and continue receiving private duty services from Sun’s company rather than go into the facility.

“It’s only natural. When given the choice, they would prefer to stay home for as long as possible,” she says.

Not surprisingly, the senior relocation companies aren’t too happy about losing clients to Sun’s agency and as a result are considering charging the private duty company a fee – $100 to $250 – for each referral it sends her way, she says. If that happens, Sun may consider ending the relationship.