The DOs and DON'Ts of Nursing Home Marketing

Timestamps

(00:00:02) Introduction 

(00:01:01) Healthcare Risk Management Experience 

(00:02:18) Fair Housing Act Explanation 

(00:08:15) Prohibition of Disability Discrimination 

(00:15:57) Understanding Essential Requirements 

(00:23:15) Rules Around Common Accommodations 

(00:29:42) Risks & Fair Housing Marketing 

(00:34:55) Legalities for Assisted Living Services 

(00:40:17) FSA & Housing Education 

(00:43:22) Rules Disregard in Senior Living 

(00:47:41) Risk Tolerance Discussion 

(00:49:06) Risk Management in Senior Living

  

So as you mentioned, I did medical malpractice defense for a number of years in New York,

and then I moved to Pennsylvania because I was getting married and my husband was from

out of state.

And when I moved, I decided to switch hats, and I decided to do healthcare risk management.

So I was tasked with starting up a risk management program for FSA.

At the time, we started with 12 organizations, nonprofit, faith-based communities, generally

in the Philadelphia area.

Since then, we've expanded quite a bit, and we now have 37 sites in six states.

And so I give guidance and consultation on risk management issues.

So today, we are going to talk about marketing risks, but I'm going to talk about it from

my perspective, you know, from a risk management perspective and a fair housing perspective.

Okay.

So thanks for that background.

So let's get right into it.

What is the worst-case scenario if someone says, you know, I'm going to market however

I want to market?

I'm going to say what I want to say, do what I want to do.

What have you seen as like a worst-case scenario of someone has done this and this horrible

outcome has happened?

Great question.

Nothing like the fear factor right from the beginning.

So what I'm going to preface that question with is an explanation of why there are risks

in this venue, in this area.

And so in 1968, Congress enacted the Fair Housing Act, which was what I like to call

the third leg of the stool for civil rights litigation, legislation rather.

And so we had the Civil Rights Act, then the Voting Rights Act.

 And then in 1968, they passed the Fair Housing Act.

And that precluded discrimination in housing choices and lending based upon what we call

the protected class status.

So started out with race, religion, national origin, color, gender, which now includes

gender identity and sexual orientation, and national origin.

In 1988, Congress amended the act to include two additional protected class categories.

Familial status, meaning that you are not supposed to be able to discriminate against

families with children.

And of course, there is a carve-out for our senior living settings.

And the one for purposes of our discussion today, which will be very pivotal, is it says

handicapped, but it's what we would refer to as disability.

So you have now protections under the Fair Housing Act, and we just call it FHA for both

the Amendments Act and the original act for all those protected classes, which act

essentially as a floor, not a ceiling.

So state and local jurisdictions can also add an additional protected class categories,

like, for example, maybe marital status, saying that, you know, you can't discriminate

against somebody because they're unmarried or, you know, because they cohabitate

together, for example, or source of income is another one that's fairly common.

So I think for a lot of senior living communities, they don't necessarily recognize

that they are covered by this act as a housing provider, because I think for a lot of

communities, they say justifiably, well, we're not a housing provider because we do so

much more than that. And you do.

However, in the eyes of the government, you are a housing provider and you are subject to

the Fair Housing Act.

And so there are lots of risks that come along with that.

Now, if you choose as an organization just to decide that you're going to market any way

you want to and you're not going to pay attention to various marketing risks, including

fair housing risks, what's the worst case scenario?

The worst case scenario is that you end up being in litigation, sued by potentially a

federal government. So it's now the United States of America versus, you know, senior

living community, A.B.

State. You are in litigation with the government.

You are being sued for housing discrimination.

Almost always that ends very badly for the community.

Almost always winds up in a monetary settlement.

Many times there is also a settlement compensation fund where the community has to<