Senior Care Live: May 30, 2026

Listen in as host Steve Kuker, President of Senior Care Consulting, provides an overview of how the “free” referral services work.  Don’t miss the Consumer Alert where Steve shares publicly available better business bureau reviews of a “free” referral service.  Then, Steve explains an alternative with Senior Care Consulting, “a placement service with integrity”.  #SeniorCare #SeniorCareLive #SeniorCareConsulting #SeniorLiving #KansasCitySeniorCare #SeniorCarePlacement #SeniorCareAdvisor #Franchise #SeniorCareFranchise #VA #VAAidandAttendance #LongTermCare #Medicaid #Medicare  

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Transcript

Speaker 2 0:01

Are you caring for an aging loved woman? Are you a senior searching for an interstate? Welcome to Senior Care Live, a program dedicated to you providing information, education, and resources for seniors and their caregivers. And now, America's Senior Care Consultant, Steve Kuker.

Speaker 0:22

Hello and welcome to Senior Care Live. I'm Steve Kuker, your senior care consultant, and I really appreciate you tuning in today. I am going to spend a lot of time today educating you on how these free, and I'm putting up my air quotes, these free referral services work because every time I run into someone, they really don't understand how this works. So I'm in the I'm in the business of , education. So you remember the mission of Senior Care Live is to provide information, education, and resources for seniors and their caregivers. So this is the education part of that. And so let me explain exactly how the free, and I'm putting up my air quotes because they're not free at all, the free referral services work. Okay, so they'll go into a marketplace and they will run around to all of the senior care communities, senior care providers, and they say something like this. We're pretty good at developing leads and referrals. And we are going to provide you with a tremendous number of inquiries. They'll say basically a lead. It's just pure sales language, actually. And so we'll send you all of these leads. You don't have to worry about a thing. We're going to send you tons of leads. And then it's up to you to follow up with those leads, get them into your building, and then convince them to choose your place. And so are you interested? Well, all of these, well, not all of these places, but a lot of these places are very interested in that because maybe their census is too low, or they could use some help in a like in a brand new building trying to fill the building up, get their census up, et cetera, et cetera. But let me say this not all senior care communities contract or are willing to contract with these free referral services. Not even close. So with that, now they have a list of contracted business partners. You see where this is going, right? Then you go to the contracted business partner because they were recommended by you know XYZ Free Referral Service. You'll go in there, if you choose that place, that contracted business partner pays the free referral service, not free at all, pays them. Typically, what I've seen most of most of the time is 90% to 100% of the first month cost. Okay, so they are free to you because they're getting paid by the places they recommend. How about that? So, and just to kind of prove the point, I worked with this super nice lady with my firm Senior Care Consulting, not a free referral service. And I'll explain all of that later. So I went with her to some places, some great options for her husband to provide him care, the care that he needed. And this was in the springtime, a couple of years ago. And she said, Steve, I just want to get my name on a list. I probably won't move for about six months, sometime in the fall. And I said, Okay, yeah, that's fine. That gives us a little wiggle room if we have a waiting list, and so that'll work. So we go out, we take tours of the top communities meeting his exact needs based on a geriatric care assessment that I conducted. And she puts her name on a waiting list. She chose the place that she felt would be the best fit. And so sure enough, six months later, she moves him into this community. And then about a week later, I get an email. And it was it just it kind of blows my mind. In the subject line of the email, it said invoice. And so I'm like, invoice? I don't I don't owe you any money. What is that? What is this? And so I clicked it, opened it. Steve, thanks for referring Mrs. So-and-so to us on behalf of her husband. He just moved in with us about a week ago and everything is going well. Period. Please don't forget to send me your invoice for $7,200 so I can get you paid. I'm like, oh boy. Oh my. She forgot my business model. And I'm not mad at her about that. She just forgot it. So I called her up and I said, You forgot my business model, didn't you? And she goes, wait a minute, remind me. And I said, Well, senior care consulting, we work directly for our clients. We don't receive reimbursement from any providers because, in my opinion, that's a that's a terrible conflict of interest, and I won't have anything to do with that. Oh, yeah, that's right. That's right. That's right. You're I I totally forgot about that. You know what? You're doing business the right way. Good for you. That is great. Okay, well, just disregard that. So there is tangible proof positive of the offer of a commission, some would call it a kickback. And guess what their first month's cost was? $7,200. So there's your 100% of the first month cost. Now, I don't know who she confused senior care consulting with, but she thought we were a free referral service. So we don't refer at all. We conduct a proprietary geriatric care assessment. We research the entire marketplace and narrow it to our top communities that check all the boxes.

unknown 7:34

Right?

Speaker 7:34

And then so we help our clients through that decision-making process. One of the biggest decisions anyone could ever make. So we're not going to refer anyone. The term referral kind of implies that, well, we're going to recommend this place because it's our business partner. And again, 90% to 100% of the first month's cost seems to be kind of a going rate. Now, if you look at the assisted living level of care, for example, the average in Kansas City is somewhere between $6,000 and $10,000 per month. So take 90% to 100% of $6,000 to $10,000, and that's one whopper of a commission. So here, I recommend this place, and then they're recommending this place. You choose it, and then this place says, oh, hey, by the way, here's your check for $7,200, or $8,000 or $9,000, whatever the number is. Can you see the conflict of interest? I just think, I just think if you're if you're being paid several thousand dollars by the place you recommend, I think we have a problem. We have a conflict of interest. And do you think you're going to hear about places that are not willing to pay to play? I will leave that up to you to answer. But I have heard from so many places that say, because we were not on the list, they did not recommend us. And they don't they don't like that. These are from providers. They don't appreciate that. Well, if you want to get in on the game, you have to sign a contract and you got to pay huge money to these free referral services. Free, always say air quotes. You have to pay huge money to these free referral services if you want to get in on the action. If you want the polar opposite of all of that, I would invite you to call Senior Care Consulting. That's my firm. I am a former nursing home administrator and assisted living executive director. I think I look at this whole thing very, very different. In fact, I know I look at it very differently. Okay? We're trying to help you with a huge decision. Right? I'm going to unpack all of that a little bit later. But first, let's not forget about our Senior Care Live question of the week. The free referral services only recommend providers on their list. Is that statement true or false? What do you think?

Speaker 2 10:42

You're listening to Senior Care Live on the Senior Care Broadcasting Network. For more information, visit SeniorCareLive.com. We'll have more with Steve coming up next.

Speaker 11:01

Welcome back. You're listening to Senior Care Live on the Senior Care Broadcasting Network. For more information, visit SeniorCareLive.com. All right, now back to the Senior Care Live question of the week. The free referral services only recommend the providers on their list. Is that statement true or false? And the answer is false. The answer is false. You're like, well, wait a minute. You said they provide , information on their business partners and people on their list. Okay. It is possible they may recommend a provider that is not on their list. However, you must understand this. If you choose one of their contracted business partners on their list of recommended places, they stand to make several thousand dollars in the form of a commission. So they have a vested interest in you choosing one of their contracted business partners. This is how they make money. This it's why it's free to you. This is their revenue model. All right, so let's move on to some interesting comments about a particular free referral service from the Better Business Bureau.

Speaker 3 13:29

Ladies and gentlemen, your attention, please. This is a consumer alert. Consumer alert.

Speaker 13:36

All right. Again, this is publicly available information from the Better Business Bureau, BBB.org. This particular place has an A plus rating, which is kind of amazing because you can sort through all kinds of one-star reviews and comments and everything. I'm just going to read a few of these to you. You'll get the idea. And there are some higher, you know, four and five-star reviews in there. But a lot of see if you notice a recurring theme here. I was tricked. This is publicly available information. This one was in on May 18th, 2026. I was tricked into being telephoned multiple times at all hours after online quiz of needs. There was no answer, so they said, we'll call you and no chance to opt out. I'm just kind of breezing through this. Got calls from all different numbers. Likely removed, really low. I would not use any business that uses this sick technique of getting a sale in. Okay, that was kind of hard to read, but , you get the idea. May the 8th, one star. I signed up with this particular place because we're researching options for our dad. They called me ten times that day. I blocked them and have since received a combination of calls and texts totaling around sixty contacts. The numbers , , let's see, ,, so I can , block but can't avoid another one just pops up. They just keep calling from different numbers. A partner with some other scammy insurance company. , let's see, pretending to be anyway, , could be anyone. It's not legit for sure. Okay. , I filed with the removed register, do not call, registry, etc. etc. But the point is, their phone exploded. Just absolutely exploded. And it says, do not doubt my words or any other people making statements because this is the same stuff is happening over and over. February 2026, one star. Please stop harassing me with five to ten phone calls a day. It is not okay, and I will never use your business. What is wrong with you? That one was short and sweet. Are you getting are you getting are you seeing a trend here? All the phone calls. And you don't even have to have full contact with them. That first person, they just filled out, they just answered a few questions online, and boom, there it goes. Let's see, here's another one from January 26th. I thought I had called, and this one, oh man, I hear this one all the time. I thought I had called to a care facility. So they thought they called, you know, XYZ, you know, nursing home or assisted living, whatever it was, directly. What I did not realize was the number I called was affiliated with this particular free referral service and not a direct number to the place of business. Okay, so-and-so answered my call. Some of the stuff is redacted. It's interesting that it is redacted. So-and-so answered my call and spoke with me about my search and need to find a facility in our area. I started receiving emails, text messages, and calls. I did not realize that I had not been speaking with the care facility. I thought I called a care facility, but instead I was on the phone with this particular free referral service. At no time did I ask them for representation, but apparently simply calling their number put you in their database and start sending out referrals to care facilities for you on their behalf. Once they sent referrals, they will be paid compensation if you choose that facility for your loved one. Next, they start calling and texting you daily, wanting to set up tours so they can get paid their referral fees should you book a stay at any of the places they recommend. Sounding familiar? Please do not fall for this trap with them. Now they refuse to rescind any referrals they made without my approval. Wow. Another one, one star from January twenty-sixth. Outdated information, hard sell tactics, crazy amount of emails and texts, but worst of all, extremely rude employees bordering on harassment. Somebody needs to do something about them. Stay away from them. You can get the information they provide on your own. At least it will be accurate and you don't have to be subject to all of this stuff. And then one more one-star review on this A rating rated place by the Better Business Bureau. We'll never use them again. They don't care about you. They only care about getting their referral fees. Oh wow. Okay, so and and I've done this before. I I every once in a while I'll just go visit the Better Business Bureau and I'll do a quick search. And I just there there's page after page after page after page of kind of the same sounding comments and the same sounding complaints over and over and over again. So here's what my mom always said. Son, you get what you pay for.

Speaker 3 19:51

Proceed with caution. This has been a consumer alert, brought to you by Senior Care Live.

Speaker 19:57

And I'll tell you what, mom's right. You do get what you pay for. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. You know, free is such a powerful word. It's everyone gets caught in caught up by the oh, it's free. Oh, wow. You know, and the harder times are, the more people are attracted to that. Senior care consulting clients want someone working for them. They don't want the conflict of interest, and they're willing to pay a professional a reasonable flat fee for service for helping them make one of the biggest decisions of their lifetime. If that describes you, I would invite you to reach out to Senior Care Consulting for a free consultation, 913-945-2800, or visit online at SeniorCareConsulting.com. I'll have more coming right up.

Speaker 2 20:44

You're listening to Senior Care Live on the Senior Care Broadcasting Network. Have a question? Visit SeniorCareLive.com. Stick around. We'll have more with Steve coming up next.

Speaker 22:07

Welcome back. You're listening to Senior Care Live on the Senior Care Broadcasting Network. For a podcast of the program, visit SeniorCareLive.com or wherever you get your podcasts. All right, so once you just understand that if it's free to you, they're making money somewhere else. And just think it through. Oh, so if I pick one of these places, they're going to get potentially several thousand dollars. Okay, so who is that in my best interest or is that in theirs? I always encourage people if you if you ever come in contact with one of these places, just ask them, you know, how do you make how do you make your revenue? How do you make money? There has to be a catch here. It's not free to me because this is a charitable effort. Or you're just doing it out of the goodness of your heart. How much money are you making? So if I choose this particular contracted business partner, how much money are they going to pay you and your company? Just ask them. They get very uncomfortable if you ask them that question. They're also trained very well to skirt around that question. And I I've had a few of these people with some of these free referral services get a little bit upset with me for explaining how their business model works. And I'm like, wait a minute. I'm just explaining to you how the business model, explaining to the general public how the business model works. Why would you be upset about that? If it's okay, why would you be upset about that? Good question, isn't it? You know, one admissions director here in Kansas City told me a story. She said, Steve, I had this couple in. I just loved them. It was at the assisted living level of care. And they even had their apartment chosen, and I invited them over the next, it was like 18 months to 24 months. She had this long-term investment in developing that relationship. And they came out to all of the events and the whole thing. They just weren't quite ready to move. So then when they were ready to move, she kept following up with them because she was doing a good job. And then she found out that somehow they got connected with one of these free referral services. And so she found out that they weren't coming to her for a tour. They said they wanted to move in. And I said, Well, what happened? She said, Well, the free referral service said, Well, we're not coming to your place because you're not willing to pay us our commission. So they took this couple that she had like a couple of years into developing a relationship with them, took them to other places, and ultimately they chose another place. They took the referral away from the admissions director at an assisted living community who had spent 24 months developing a relationship with this couple. Her words, she said, that is unethical. That's what she said to me. I spoke with a nice lady last week. And she said, you know, just full transparency, I called, you know, one of these free referral services. She said, and then my phone exploded. And I started laughing. I'm like, what do you mean? I knew it. I knew what she meant. But I asked her to explain that. She goes, Oh my gosh, my phone would not stop ringing. She said, and after a little taste of that, nope, I'm out. I'm not, I'm not dealing with that. And you know, one of my clients said that she thought she was calling a particular community directly. Does it sound familiar? She looked up the place and called them directly. She said, Oh, but she said something seemed a little bit off. And then when they recommended that I go out and look at these three other places, I'm like, wait a minute. Why would this place recommend that I go and look at their competitors? And then she realized, oh. And she did she referred to it as I'm talking to some middleman out there trying to make a sale. Sneaky stuff. Sneaky stuff. So if you're driving or you just need to , you know need to refer to some of these issues. I want to compare and contrast senior care consulting to the quote-unquote free referral service. I always put my air quotes up on that. This is on our website. Why choose us? Which approach is best for you? Senior Care Consulting, we work directly for you and represent you and your family. Free referral services, they represent an incomplete list of area facilities because you see, not all places are willing to pay to play. There are a lot of really good places that refuse to do all this stuff. So they represent an incomplete list of area facilities, referring to them as their partner communities. They're free to you because they receive large commissions if you choose one of their recommended partner communities. So the difference could not be more glaring right out of the gate. Next one, senior care consulting. Our job is to help you with critical decisions. Their job is to generate revenue by helping to increase the occupancy and census of their partner communities. That's how it works, folks. Senior Care Consulting, we do not accept reimbursement from any care providers ever with a capital E, ever. They are typically paid up to 100% of the first month's cost by their contracted partner communities. Most people would consider that a conflict of interest. And although they don't have a contract with all available facilities in your market, some may recommend non-contracted facilities on occasion. Free referral service. Not all, but some free referral services forward your personal information to their limited list of partner communities. Then the facilities sales representatives all contact you immediately at the same time, all at once. It's a race to see who can get to you first. And that is the phone exploding, the phone blowing up. And that one person said they were contacted no fewer than 60 times in one of those Better Business Bureau complaints. That's why that's what happens right there. We tour communities with you and conduct a performance audit. So we ask a lot of questions that most of our clients wouldn't even know to ask. They wouldn't know about some of these things. Again, I'm a former nursing home administrator and assisted living executive director. This is what I did for my own grandparents a long time ago, and all of that turned into senior care consulting. So we ask a lot of questions. You'll only spend a few hours with our process. Free referral services, some free referral services do not tour facilities with you. Some do, some don't. You'll spend hours just returning all the calls you receive from facility sales personnel. And this is only the beginning of your journey with them. And then senior care consulting. During community tours, we ask questions that most people would not know to ask and then report real-time findings to you in our summary report package. Free referral services. Some free referral services tell you about facility amenities similar to what you would hear about when choosing a hotel while planning your next vacation. So these two services could not be more different. And even though on the surface, they they sound very similar, don't they? Very, very similar. But again, I'm going to let you know an incredibly easy way to determine if the service works like I just went through. All you have to do is look for one word, and that word is free. That's it. If it says, oh, it's free to you, or at no charge, that means if you choose one of their contracted business partners, they will receive a very large commission, could be several thousand dollars. Just like I was offered, mistakenly offered $7,200 by the one lady. Of course, I didn't take it. That's not our business model. But that is the revenue model of these free referral services. And they're they all have the same revenue model. Some of them deliver their service a little bit differently, but if it's free to you, that's how they make money. And I'll have more coming up next.

Speaker 2 32:43

You're listening to Senior Care Live on the Senior Care Broadcasting Network. To contact Steve or a guest on his show, visit SeniorCareLive.com. We'll have more coming up.

Speaker 33:02

Welcome back. You're listening to Senior Care Live on the Senior Care Broadcasting Network. Have a question? Visit SeniorCareLive.com. You know, I got to thinking, who are senior care consulting clients? I heard a good one the other day. It was out in the market. I I remember some lady said it, oh, well, Steve, you know, he charges for his services and all these other folks, they're free of charge, and you have to be rich to work with Steve. And I'm like, that is interesting. Because guess what? The as you might expect, okay, we work with some people who have done very well financially, but the vast majority of our clients are, I would, I would just say, very, very typical financial situation. Okay, they're not wealthy at all. So a senior care consulting client appreciates the integrity of our process. They appreciate that we do not receive reimbursement from any senior care communities. That is key to them. They want someone working on behalf of them. And they're willing to pay an expert to help them through that process, which I'll explain here in just a second. They don't want the cheap way out. They don't look for all the free stuff out there. Well, I don't care if there's a conflict of interest or not. I'm not going to pay anybody to do this, or I'm just going to go with this free place. That's just not our clients. Our clients want a pro-consumer process that has built-in automatic integrity. They don't want the conflict of interest. Our clients are from all walks of life in all different financial situations. And in fact, we work with quite a few individuals who have limited resources. They'll need to move into a long-term care community and qualify for Medicaid. And I've talked about this recently on the program. Our the reasonable flat fee for service with our program, with our placement process, is considered an allowable expense on the spend down. It can be part of the spend down. So why wouldn't you use just a little bit of that money on the spend down to have an expert help you find the very best place available? Why wouldn't you do that? There's no reason to not do that. And our clients understand that. So here's the process. And if you've heard my story, you've heard this before. I helped my grandparents a long, long time ago transition from their home to, and what they needed at that time was assisted living, the assisted living level of care. And I thought, well, if I'm going to go out and if I'm going to have to find a place for them, which frankly it that it broke my heart that they were no longer able to stay at home. That that's the only house I ever remember them in. They were there for decades. So I thought, well, it's almost impossible to go out and find a place and have any objectivity. If it's your own family, it's just about impossible to be objective about all of this. So in order to have some objectivity, I took off my grandson glasses, I put on my administrator glasses, and I went out and I checked out some places, and I asked a lot of really good questions through the lens of an administrator. And I got some really funny looks. I got some looks like, whoa, whoa, wait a minute. That's a really good question, Steve. Do you work in the business? I'm like, yeah, yeah, I do. And what was that answer? And they're like, oh yeah, well, that's a great question. Right. And so, I mean, we had a good conversation back and forth. It was excellent. And I think they really respected that, that I wasn't just going out looking at the, you know, the pretty furniture or the finish of the place. I was really looking under the hood, gathering a lot of really helpful, meaningful information to help me make my best decision and be objective, bring some objectivity about it. And so I chose the place that I felt would be the best fit for them. And they did receive good care for the last couple of years of their lives there. All of that turned into senior care consulting. So when we work with our clients, we'll meet with them and again conduct a very thorough geriatric care assessment, which means we just ask a lot of questions. And we have to determine our level of care, type of care, payment method, location parameters, and any personal preferences and needs. And of course, it asks for a lot of other things as well, just as you would expect. Once we do that, it doesn't take too long to get through that. Now we've developed what I call a care profile, a detailed description of exactly what it is that we're looking for. Once I have that, then we research the entire marketplace. The whole thing. In order to identify our top options. Then the next step is we go out and we take a tour of these top options with you. And I again, this is the same thing that I did with my grandparents. We'll go out, we'll meet some people in there, we'll let them know, you know, why we're there and what we're looking for. They can tell us a little bit about their community. And again, along through this process, I'll ask a lot of really good questions and gather really good information for you. We'll take a walk around the building, we'll see everything we need to see, and we're out. Probably about 45 minutes on average, each place. We'll go back to back to back. You'll only spend a few hours of your time through this entire process. Let me put that in perspective. The average person or family is spending somewhere between 50 to 100 hours through running around looking at all this all these places, spending that much time going through the search and selection process. Our clients spend a few hours of their time and they're done. They're done in about a half a business day. Done. Incredible. And then we generate a report that has all the questions asked, all the information discovered. We also include what was found in the most recent surprise health inspection from the state. , I put a lot of weight on that, right? And that's not the only thing that you want to look at. And like, for example, for long-term care communities, everyone puts, I think, too much emphasis on the star rating. There's a lot that goes into that. I think it's good information, but you can't put all your eggs in that basket. Okay, so we take all that in consideration. We report this wealth of information to you so that now you have all of this information on the top places meeting your exact needs, and you're now in the best position possible to make an informed decision and move forward with confidence. If that resonates with you, I would encourage you to reach out to Senior Care Consulting at 913-945-2800 or visit online at www.SeniorCareConsulting.com. And you see, you're not a sale to us, you're not the product to us. You're our client, trusting us to make one of the most important decisions of your entire lifetime. We take that very seriously. This is very personal for us. So we'll do our very best for you. And again, I would encourage you to reach out for a free consultation. All right, I'm Steve Kuker, and I wish you grace and peace. May God bless you and your family on this day and always. Join me next week, right here on Senior Care Live.

Speaker 1 42:51 Speaker 43:51