The Wall Street Journal's SmartMoney Magazine Spotlights the Role of SeniorBridge Care Managers in Supporting Boomers Navigating Elder Care

SmartMoney, The Wall Street Journal magazine about personal finance, spotlighted the positive experience of the daughter of a SeniorBridge client finding quality long-term care for her father after unsuccessful attempts from other agencies.  The story points to the need for professional care manger supervision of in-home caregivers as well the challenge families face in differentiating between effective and unqualified agencies as the field becomes crowded with organizations claiming to do care management. 

Below is an excerpt of the story. To read the whole article, click here.

The Elder-Care Crapshoot
Missy Sullivan  January 18, 2012

As more boomers require long-term care, a growing industry offers guidance for seniors.

When Deborah Lanne went looking for live-in care for her ailing, 80-year-old father, she was initially optimistic: But a parade of 26 home health aides in 10 months' time all seemed poorly screened and mismatched.

Enter the health care industry's little-known middleman. Turns out, finding good care for today's elders is just the tip of the iceberg -- now there's the added step of finding a trustworthy "manager" for that care. (For her part, Lanne tried several before finding one through a national firm called SeniorBridge.) SeniorBridge boasts 44 offices nationwide. 

Seventy percent of boomers will require long-term care -- prompting predictions that the market for elder-care management has only begun to explode.

Trouble is, critics say, it's hard to sort out who's a pro. The best, says longtime Washington, D.C.-based elder-law attorney Robert Bullock, orchestrate a team of experienced advocates from the financial, legal and medical fields. "You need someone who can go toe-to-toe with the doctors and facilities," he says.

To read the whole article, click here.