531 Plymouth Road, Suite 500
Plymouth Meeting, PA 19462
215-628-8964
info@friendslifecareconsultants.com
Friends Life Care Consultants, Inc. is a subsidiary of Friends Life Care Partners
The CCAH concept emerged from concern among Philadelphia-area members of the Society of Friends (Quakers) that no affordable alternative to continuing care retirement communities (CCRCs) existed that could provide the same financial and health care securities. With over $2M in grants, FRC Management, Inc.—a subsidiary of Quaker-operated Foulkeways at Gwynedd, the first CCRC on the East Coast—and the health policy center at Brandeis University researched and developed the CCAH business model.
As a result of these efforts, the first CCAH plan was launched in 1985 through a joint venture by Jeanes Hospital, a Quaker community hospital in Northeast Philadelphia, and Foulkeways at Gwynedd, located in the city's suburbs. In 1987, the Pennsylvania Department of Insurance licensed the operation as a CCRC without walls.
In 1990, when the plan was operational, the joint venture became an independent nonprofit and changed its name to Friends Life Care at Home. The early service area encompassed only a five-mile radius.
The original plan incorporated a number of key features of CCRCs:
Initially, the Friends Life Care at Home plan filled a unique market niche. The earliest long-term care insurance policies served primarily to pay for nursing home care. The second generation of insurance coverage, which emerged in the 1980s, recognized the need for home care and included very limited riders for this kind of reimbursement; care coordination was unheard of.
By the late 1990s, long-term care insurance had integrated a full range of benefits, including home health care, adult day care and facility care; some carriers added care coordination through an 800-number service.
In 2003, with stiff competition from long-term care insurance, Friends Life Care at Home revised the CCAH model, taking into account numerous considerations, among them:
The revised (and current) CCAH model incorporates the following changes:
As a result of these changes, new enrollments average 250 per year—nearly double the rate during the early 2000s, and 50% higher than the annual rate in the first 10 years of operation. The average age at enrollment has dropped from mid-70s to mid-60s.
By 2006 Friends Life Care at Home was gearing up to serve the baby boom generation. The organization conducted research and tested pilot programs.
In 2009 the company shortened its name to Friends Life Care and shifted from an exclusive focus on long-term care protection to one that includes partnering in support of healthy aging. Most recently, Friends Life Care introduced the VigR™ program. The acronym stands for vitality, independence, growth and resilience—four keys to “successful” aging. Designed to help participating members improve their long-term health, the research-based program launched its first component, VigR Enrichment Workshops, in spring 2011. Other program elements include eMeetinghouse, an online health information resource and social community, and VigR Benchmarks, a wellness assessment tool. Development of additional components is underway.
Today, Friends Life Care serves the five-county Philadelphia area and Newcastle County, Delaware. Its secondary market includes the entire state of Delaware and five additional counties in eastern Pennsylvania. With more than 2,400 members, it is the largest, most successful CCAH plan in the nation, offering leading-edge benefits to meet the changing needs of the largest aging population in U.S. history.