As the senior population grows, the need for quality care and services
increases. In response, service organizations claiming to meet the needs of the
elderly are multiplying. How to choose? How can seniors and their adult children
know which services are safe, reliable and able to deliver on the promises they
make?
Senior Approved Services, a national network of products, resources and
services endorsed by seniors, themselves, answers that question. This exclusive
service administers a consumer-driven survey and certification process for
businesses that serve seniors.
"The certification drives the consumer to excellent care resources, both
medical and non-medical," says Barbara Mascio, founder of Senior Approved
Services. "Our services were created to ensure that all seniors receive
excellent care and remain safe in receiving that care."
Background
Mascio's no newcomer to the business world or the concerns of seniors. Her
background includes 30 plus years in business management, sales and training, as
well as experience as radio host, writer and volunteer guardian for indigent
seniors.
As the business manager for a large home care service, her responsibilities
included helping families set up appropriate services. In that capacity, she
often heard, "You sound nice but so did everyone else I spoke with. Isn't there
some kind of independent service I can contact to verify you're telling the
truth?"
Over the years, Mascio also witnessed an alarming number of cases of
fraud, theft and abuse committed against the vulnerable elderly population.
Committed to protecting the elderly from unscrupulous business practices, Mascio
decided to act.
She first conducted market research to find organizations helping seniors
find safe and reliable services.
She found no organizations answering that need. Her next step was to ask
consumers what they wanted from senior services. She and her team collected data
from nearly 10,000 families across the country. They learned consumers are
looking for:
-- Simplification: A one-call solution to locate all services a senior needs
-- Assurances: A method to quickly differentiate among the multiple choices
-- Continuity: The need for a "point person" who may be called upon as often
as needed for additional assistance
-- Care Management: An affordable program that will continue to follow up
with family while service is being used
-- Advocacy: A non-threatening, positive program that would advocate for the
senior as needed without creating problems with the service provider
For the Consumer
To meet consumers' needs, Mascio created Senior Approved Services. "We're the
only service available offering this certification process that evaluates,
recommends and endorses businesses through ratings from consumer surveys.
We ask the seniors who are using or have used the particular service to rate
its quality on a number of criteria. And the businesses evaluated need a 90% or
higher rating to be certified. We're the only service with this high standard."
"We offer this service free to consumers and receive requests for everything
you can imagine--adult day care, home care, assisted living, rehab, attorneys,
insurance products, handyman, maids, lawn care, snow removal, home rehab and
retro fitting, medical equipment and supplies and so on."
Consumers pay no fee to learn which elder-care businesses are safe, reliable
services with a proven history of quality care. The consumer can call toll free
at 877-620-6448 or visit Senior Approved Services and select appropriate
services from the Certified Senior Approved Directory of Resources.
"We assist families by matching their needs, geographical location and budget
to a Certified Senior Approved Service. If we receive an inquiry and don't have
a certified service to recommend in the area, we still offer to help. We
complete the full intake and provide a list of questions for the consumer to ask
a business before contracting with them.
This reduces the time involved in learning what to ask for and what to
expect. We ask, in return, that the caller ask as the first question, 'Are you a
Certified Senior Approved Service?' We know the question will motivate the
business to find out about our service."
"If we discover a person may qualify for a government subsidy program, we
help the family maneuver through the maze of confusion to connect to the
appropriate county people to help."
The family makes the contacts and the final selection. All of this
information remains confidential and is not shared with anyone. Once the family
makes the selection, we remain actively involved. We're the link between the
senior receiving care and the business providing the care.
We advocate for the senior and continuously offer education."
Business Advantages In addition to benefiting seniors and their families, the
service offers a great advantage to the businesses it certifies: consumer
confidence.
Often, consumers search for resources in response to a precipitating event or
crisis; they are pressed for time and need to act quickly with little knowledge
about available services. Faced with multiple choices, the consumers want a
third party entity to verify business claims. They're likely to choose a service
or product that has been certified as "Approved by Seniors."
Businesses and service providers serving the older adult, the disabled and/or
the adult child of a senior are welcome to apply for the industry's first
independent consumer-driven survey and certification process.
Certification Process
To qualify for certification, an interested business can submit a completed
Request Certification form online at Certifed Quality Elder Care href="http://www.qualityeldercare.com">http://www.qualityeldercare.com
The business is sent an initiation packet including a questionnaire specific
to the category of service being offered. Once the questionnaire has been
completed and returned, Senior Approved Services provides their agreement for
review. There is no obligation to review this material.
If a business decides to pursue certification, it pays a per-survey fee based
on the number of surveys to be sent to clients. The surveys are specific to a
particular service category; questions asked about home care service differ from
those about an assisted living facility, lawn care or financial planning.
At the completion of the survey process, the business receives a
comprehensive report of client feedback along with a rating based on the
feedback. A 90% or higher rating qualifies a business for certification and
inclusion in the Senior Approved Services Network.
More information about the certification process can be found online.
Marketing
Certified businesses can choose to appear in the Senior Approved Services
Directory and the Seniors Approve Free Web Community. Joining the Web Community
offers several benefits including a personalized Web page, a link to that Web
page, and a Web address that's a great advertisement:
www.seniorsapprove.com/NAME ofBUSINESS.
Senior Approved Services focuses its marketing efforts primarily on the elder
care industry and businesses. The organization markets through radio, print ads
and a national staff of marketers; it is also promoted through partners: Life
Ledger, the Caregivers Resource Helpline, the Coalition for Senior Safety, the
Caring for Elderly Family Members Online Support Group and the national
magazine, "Caring Today."
Senior Approved Services continues to grow and develop its resources to help
seniors and their families connect with services of quality and excellence. And
the accolades and appreciations keep coming in:
"Dear Senior Approved, I am writing to say 'wow' and thank you! I thought for
sure I would have to ask for a leave of absence and go home to Ohio to
coordinate services for my mother. I still plan to visit over the holidays, but
you saved my job...you saved me hours...and most importantly, have helped my
mother. I still can't believe you did this so quickly and I still can't believe
it was free. Barbara Mascio is an Angel. Thank you! Jonathan B, NY"