Rating Nursing Homes and Senior Care Services. A Yelp for Elder Care is Needed.

An article from the Washington Post titled Nursing-Home Ratings Earn Mixed Reviews   discusses the debate about whether a new website run by the federal government to compare nursing homes is meeting the public's needs.

The online tool rates nursing homes on a scale of one to five stars for such measures as number of employees, state health inspection results and how many hours of licensed nursing care are provided each day.

The nursing homes industry is complaining that the grading system was started much too quickly and that the information, gleaned from homes as well as from state inspection reports, misleads families and patients because it doesn't give an accurate picture of the amount and kind of care in each facility. For example, nursing homes say simple counting of workers does not reflect the care patients actually receive, while consumer advocates complain that employee information that comes from homes is unchecked and may contain errors.

While I tend to agree that most any "rating" system (especially one that is run by the government that does not include actual customer feedback) has its limitations, these tools do offer consumers a starting point in which to begin their evaluation. 

But with the growing aging population and the increased demand for all types of elder care products and services I believe a Yelp type service is desperately needed in senior care. I know of a few companies working on this model (none have critical mass yet) and there will be some excellent business opportunities here. There is nothing like customer feedback to give an accurate assessment of a product or service.

Comments

[amit shafrir]

i fully agree. a place for users to review and share information on careprovider is very important

[vvanbooven]

Dear SeniorCareMarketer.com- there IS a Yelp for elder care providers. Most of us are already aware of it and you should be too. It's called The Senior List and it can be found at http://www.theseniorlist.com

We always make sure that all of our clients are listed there, and consumers do write reviews.

Sincerely,
Valerie VanBooven RN BSN
President
LTC Expert Publications LLC
http://www.theltcexpert.com
http://www.LTCSocialMark.com

[vvanbooven]

I hit send too soon...let me add...

There are 15-20 websites that are specific to elder care and senior services, although none of them have dominated the market YET, anyone in the marketing business can see that our friends at TheSeniorList.com are making a significant gain in the online space.

The problem with these sites exists with the end user, the consumer in this case- not leaving reviews OR, for that matter leaving very emotionally charged reviews that are overtly negative- which I believe Chris and Amie Clark at TheSeniorList.com have handled EXTREMELY well so far...as the comments there are handled with care, and consumers do write reviews.

The Medicare (CMS) website's nursing home review website does give objective information that you cannot find anywhere else. For the consumer, this really is valuable information, however, the only real test of a senior care provider's salt is to talk to other families who have used the same service and sometimes that's not an easy find (HIPAA).

Rating elder care and senior services will never be as easy as starting a "YELP" because the services themselves are far too personal, far too meaningful, and far too emotional. It's just not the same as rating a local restaurant or a pair of tennis shoes.

When our aging loved ones need care we are as protective as mother bears.

Only a site completely dedicated to the consumer AND the provider will succeed.

[Mark Willaman]

Valerie,

Thanks for the feedback. Yes, I am very aware of TheSeniorList and many of the other services that are trying to get a foothold in this space - in fact, many are members of our SeniorCareMarketer.com service and use it to help market their company's. And I do know the founders of TheSeniorList. They have a GREAT service and are excellent entrepreneurs but their service is far from a Yelp at this point and I think even they would agree with that assessment.

Having personally evaluated dozens of senior care services and hired and worked with numerous home care and Assisted Living agencies over the years I would have LOVED to rate them and give detailed feedback. And I know others feel the same.

But it will only work when you get Yelp or Trip Advisor type penetration and that will be a mighty huge task. But I think it will happen and the company to dominate this space may not even be in it yet :-) That's how young this market is. That said, I'd love to see TheSeniorList pull it off. Thanks again for your thoughts - VERY helpful.

[Christine Taylor]

Hello,

For any of your readers that live in Canada, there is also a site to give opinions and rate nursing homes www.nursinghomeratings.ca. On the site I have also included a description of each province's nursing home system to help family members fully understand what to expect.

Christine Taylor, M.G.S.
Nursing Home Ratings Inc.

[Elder Care NJ]

I think the best thing for people to do is their research! Visit facilities and get referrals from friends and other family members. Also, contact your department of health for your state. They have valuable information for a concerned family member with an elderly family member.

[Chas]

Amazon has a feedback mechanism that checks to see that the commenter is a customer of that particular product. Any such feedback system should have some type of screen to promote honest feedback from the public.