Across the country, around 40% of people 65 and older are dealing with some level of age-associated memory impairment. Those roughly 16 million people often need more dedicated care than friends or family can provide.
This presents an opportunity for Residential Care Facilities for the Elderly (RCFEs) to step in. Before you start offering memory care services, though, you should be advised that these residents can increase your facility’s risk level.
That doesn’t mean you should avoid memory care patients. It does mean, however, that you should carefully consider your insurance and your liability reduction practices.
Memory Care Means Mounting Risk
When your RCFE takes on residents with memory impairment — whether that’s Alzheimer’s disease or another kind of dementia — it means adapting your care model. Memory care patients need more structure and support.
Specifically, you need to plan for:
- Safety issues: Memory impairment can make the simple activities of daily living riskier. People with dementia are more likely to burn themselves and to fail to notice tripping hazards, for example. Plus, they may get confused and try to escape your facility, further putting their safety at risk.
- Behavioral issues: Dementia can cause sleep disturbances, hallucinations, aggressiveness, and other changes in a person’s behavior. If your RCFE accepts memory care patients, you need to be ready to deal with the physical and emotional symptoms of dementia.
- Staffing issues: Residents with cognitive impairment need more attention on a more regular basis. Plus, to keep them properly stimulated and supported, you will likely need to build out a robust schedule of activities. This might tax your existing staff. To provide memory care, you may need to explore expanding your team — ideally with people who have expertise in providing treatment for people with dementia.
Reducing Your Liability When Offering Memory Care
If something happens to one of your memory care patients, a quality RCFE liability insurance policy can go a long way toward protecting your facility. Not only can it cover your legal fees, but it can also go toward any settlement levied against your RCFE, too.
So, before you start offering memory care, talk with your insurance agent. You may need to adapt your current coverage to provide broader protection, compensating for the increased liability of having residents with dementia.
At the same time, you can protect your RCFE by taking action to reduce risk. That includes:
- Maintaining sufficient staff around the clock
- Bolstering security to keep residents at the facility (e.g., doors that automatically lock, alarm systems)
- Training your staff on memory care
- Proactively checking for and correcting trip and fall hazards
Unless your facility can offer a high level of dementia care, you should also evaluate memory care patients before accepting them. You might opt to turn people with late-stage dementia away and instead direct them toward a facility with a more established dementia care program. In doing so, you protect your RCFE, your staff, and your current residents.
All told, offering memory care services can help you attract more residents, but it can also attract more risk. For the liability insurance protection you need to offset that added risk, call our team at (805) 413-5668.