What is on-site care in an independent living community?

The model at a glance

Who provides the care

Balanced Home Care employees, led by a site supervisor in your building

Where

In residents' own apartments, from a small office we lease in your community

Who pays

Residents, directly to us, for the services they choose

Cost to the community

None. We pay fair-market rent for our office

Resident choice

Every resident may choose any provider, or none

Type of care

Non-medical personal care, alongside the home health and hospice agencies residents choose

Time to start

About 60 days from signed agreement to first day of care

Where we work

Independent living communities from Lansing to Flint to the Ohio line

What is on-site care in an independent living community?

On-site care is non-medical personal care delivered by a home care company that keeps its own team inside an independent living community. The company leases a small office in the building and staffs it with its own caregivers and a site supervisor. Residents who want help hire the company directly and are cared for in their own apartments.

How is on-site care different from ordinary home care?

Most home care agencies send a caregiver across town and sell visits in blocks of several hours. A resident who needs 20 minutes of help in the morning and 20 minutes at night cannot buy care that way, so they go without or they move. Because an on-site team is already in the building, residents can buy short visits and monthly care packages sized to what they need.

Who employs the caregivers?

Balanced Home Care does. Every caregiver in your building is our employee. We hire, train, schedule, insure and supervise them. They wear our uniform, follow your community's rules and answer to a site supervisor who works in your building.

What does on-site care cost the community?

Nothing. We pay fair-market rent for our office. Residents contract with us and pay us directly for the services they choose, so your community is never billed. We carry general liability, professional liability and workers' compensation coverage and name your community as additional insured.

What services does the on-site team provide?

The services are non-medical personal care. Care starts with a free assessment, and the plan is built around the resident's routine and adjusted as needs change.

• Morning and evening care
• Bathing and dressing
• Medication assistance
• Escorts to meals and activities
• Meal tray delivery
• Safety checks, day or night
• Incontinence care
• Laundry and light housekeeping
• Companionship visits
• Hourly one-on-one care

Skilled care still comes from the home health and hospice agencies your residents choose. We work alongside them.

Do residents have to use the on-site provider?

No. Every resident keeps the right to choose any provider, or none. We ask a community for nothing that limits that choice. Our job is to be the easy choice because we are already in the building and already known to your staff.

What does the community provide?

• A small office we can lease at fair-market rent.
• Your approval of the letter that introduces us to residents, and of the dates.
• A regular meeting between your executive director and our site supervisor.

How does a community know the care is happening?

Our Confirmed Care system places a tag at each resident's door. Caregivers scan it at every visit, which creates a time-stamped record. When a scheduled task is missed, our supervisor is alerted and acts on it.

Does having on-site care make our community assisted living?

Balanced Home Care is a home care company, not an assisted living provider. In Michigan, assisted living is delivered in state-licensed homes for the aged and adult foster care homes. Independent living communities are not licensed as either, and independent living is where our on-site teams work. Our model keeps housing and care separate: you provide the apartment and your usual services, we are a separate company that residents hire directly, and every resident stays free to choose any provider, or none. Your counsel can confirm how Michigan's licensing rules apply to your building.

How large does a community need to be?

We want to hear from communities of every size. Our on-site model works in independent living communities of 50 apartments and up, and we size the team to the building and to the number of residents who want help. A 20-minute conversation and a look at your census is usually enough for both of us to see how it would work.

How long does it take to start?

Most communities go from signed agreement to first day of care in about 60 days. The sequence is the same whether you have a provider today or none, and it is published in our transition plan.