Senate announces probe into A Place for Mom referral service
A Place for Mom is under investigation by the Senate Special Committee on Aging, amid allegations the company misleads families and fails to fully vet facilities.
The Senate Special Committee on Aging is launching an investigation into A Place for Mom, the country’s largest for-profit senior care referral service, which has been accused of steering people toward facilities with documented safety and regulatory violations while collecting lucrative commissions.
Committee Chair Bob Casey, D-Pa., sent a letter Tuesday to A Place for Mom accusing it of misleading users about the role commissions play in its referrals and discriminating against low-income families. The letter, obtained by NBC News, requested three years’ worth of information about revenue the company has received from assisted living communities.
A Place for Mom, launched in 2000, which bills itself as the biggest online referral service for senior living options, lists roughly 14,000 establishments in the U.S. and accepts payments from those facilities. But seniors and their families might not realize that’s less than half of the facilities on the market, the letter states.
Casey’s letter also criticizes A Place for Mom for encouraging families to spend more than they can afford. It cites a frequently asked questions section of the company’s website that encourages facilities not to worry if they charge more than a family’s stated upper limit. According to the FAQ, nearly 40% of families who moved to senior living paid roughly $1,000 more per month than they had budgeted.
“It is clear A Place for Mom is upselling families, and the company ultimately benefits from families spending beyond their means,” Casey wrote.
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