The attached spreadsheet shows the results of the survey conducted in 2006 by Dan Hartley of Winchester Gardens and encouraged by the Executive Committee of ORANJ. Three CCRCs, Fritz Reuter Altenheim, House of Good Shephard, and Village at Friends Home did not reply and were therefore excluded.
The data show that most CCRCs require an absence of a number of consecutive days, most typically two weeks, before meal credit is made available. Credit is usually in the form of adjustment to billing. As expected, the amount of credit received by an absent resident is significantly lower than the amount charged for an extra (non-included) meal. It is interesting that five of the reporting CCRCs had failed to adjust the daily credit within the last five years. Finally, it is noteworthy that some CCRCs provide a credit for meals missed even when the resident is not away.
The CCRCs also varied in their reliance on a bar code or other automated system to register fees and credits. Eight CCRCs already had such a system in place and two more anticipated completion within a year. None of those currently using an automatic system had significant “wait times” before seating but three without such a system reported “wait times” of 15 minutes or more.
View the spreadsheet.