On Sunday, the Washington Post published a series of articles on assisted living. We have anticipated the publication of these articles and have been working directly with the reporters and editors to raise significant concerns with their reporting prior to their publication. Despite our repeated requests, they refused to share their data or methodology, which we strongly believe to be flawed, and believe that the reporters did not do adequate due diligence in understanding the issues they raised. Argentum released a statement to the Washington Post in advance of the articles’ publication, which reads in full:
“Independent surveys show that assisted living and memory care communities are overwhelmingly popular with residents and their families. Our communities offer choice and dignity, which is why surveys find that 94% of residents report good or great satisfaction, and 91% say they feel safer than living on their own.
“Communities have security procedures such as exit/entry logs, wearable tracking devices, and cameras in place to keep residents safe, and unless an independent physician has deemed them a risk for their own safety, they are free to come and go from their home as they choose.“Nothing is more important than our residents’ safety, and any fatality is one too many. Any community in which an incident occurs is subject to appropriate state regulatory penalties, including loss of license. And while we have serious concerns about the validity of the Post’s data, even taking it at face value, fatalities due to wandering are 0.0015% across the more than 6.2 million assisted living residents served in the last five years.”
Argentum worked closely with senior living stakeholders in anticipation of the reporting, including other long-term care associations, industry partners at NIC and NIC MAP Vision, and our State Partner affiliates to share information and collect pertinent data to counteract factually inaccurate or misleading claims. We have also coordinated a strategy for Capitol Hill, proactively educating our legislative champions and preparing proper messaging in support of the industry. Additionally, we are preparing for potential follow-up media coverage by other outlets, both national and local in scope, and will be providing member-exclusive resources to help navigate questions and concerns raised by the reporting.
We ask for your continued engagement and support, including through the Argentum Advocacy Fund. This fund has been instrumental to our successful campaigns for many of our policy work over the past several years, including as part of our response to this reporting. It is generously supported each year by senior living leaders leveraging corporate funds to ensure we have the resources needed to get our message across.
If you have any questions or would like to reach out to Argentum regarding our response to the reporting, please contact Michael Keegan, at [email protected].
