• Ziegler CFO Hotline RESPONSE - Write-up Contract Options
  March 2010 Several CFOs posed questions to the Ziegler CFO Hotline related to CCRC Entrance Fee Contracts. A summary of responses is included in the summary write-up.
• Ziegler CFO Hotline RESPONSE - Quick Check
  January 2010 Attached are responses to the Ziegler CFO Hotline QUICK CHECK survey regarding questions on various topics including resident fees, entrance fee refunds, corporate compliance and sharing of proprietary information.
• Ziegler CFO Hotline - Marketing Questionnaire
  October 2009 Several questions related to community marketing practices were distributed to the CFO Hotline in survey form. View the questions.
• Ziegler CFO Hotline RESPONSE: Board Incentives
  August 2009 Attached are responses to the Ziegler CFO Hotline Board Incentives survey. Thank you to all who participated.
• Ziegler CFO Hotline RESPONSE - Benevolent Funds
  May 2009 Attached are responses to the Ziegler CFO Hotline Benevolent Fund survey.
• Ziegler CFO Hotline RESPONSE – Quick Check
  February 2009 Attached are responses to the Ziegler CFO Hotline QUICK CHECK survey regarding questions on various topics including Employee Holiday Appreciation Funds, Financial Narratives used for Board Education, Employed Residents and Secondary Insurance Benefit Verification.
• Ziegler CFO Hotline RESPONSE – ILU Renovations
  December 2008 Attached are responses to the Ziegler CFO Hotline questions regarding ILU renovation and refurbishment policies.
• Ziegler CFO Hotline RESPONSE - Payroll and Human Resources Software
  October 2008 Attached are responses to the Ziegler CFO Hotline questions regarding Payroll and Human Resources Software.
• Ziegler CFO Hotline RESPONSE – Monthly Fee Increases
  October 2008 Attached are responses to the Ziegler CFO Hotline questions regarding Monthly Fee Increases for 2008 and 2009.
• Ziegler CFO Hotline RESPONSE - MSF Designation
  August 2008 Attached are responses to the Ziegler CFO Hotline question regarding Monthly Service Fee designations and the policy of charging “First-person” and “Second-person” rates.
• Ziegler CFO Hotline - What an Investor Wants a Senior Living CFO to Know (Part II)
  05/9/2008 Ron Mintz, Principal and Senior Municipal Credit Analyst at Vanguard presented "Ten Things a Buyer wants a Senior Living CFO to Know," at this year's Ziegler AAHSA National CFO Workshop in New Orleans, April 24-26. This week's Z-News summarizes the last five points Mr. Mintz makes in his presentation.
• Ziegler CFO Hotline - What an Investor Wants A Senior Living CFO to Know (Part I)
  05/2/2008 Ron Mintz, Principal and Senior Municipal Credit Analyst at Vanguard presented "Ten Things a Buyer wants a Senior Living CFO to Know," at this year's Ziegler AAHSA National CFO Workshop in New Orleans, April 24-26. This week's Z-News summarizes the first five points Mr. Mintz makes in his presentation.
• CFO Hotline - Tipping Policies
  November 2007 Attached are responses to a previous Ziegler CFO Hotline question regarding policies on employee tipping. We provided a snapshot of these responses in a Z-News earlier this year (8/17/07); the document attached summarizes the results but also provides comments received from responding CFOs about the use of employee appreciation funds.
• Ziegler CFO Hotline RESPONSE - Benevolence Care
  September 2007 Gerald Kelm, CFO of Oakwood Village (WI), submitted the following comments to the Ziegler CFO Hotline regarding charitable and benevolent care: One of our strategic goals is to identify the amount of charitable care/benevolence that we can realistically provide each year while still remaining financially viable. One step in this goal is to review how we process/approve resident applications to understand and measure the financial risk we may face.
• CFO Hotline Potpourri
  08/17/2007 This edition of Z-News provides several highlights on a potpourri of topics posed recently to the Ziegler CFO HotlineSM, a unique information service available to CFOs and others interested in senior living. Ziegler facilitates this electronic interchange among CFOs periodically throughout the year. To use the Ziegler Hotline a CFO sends a question that Ziegler then forwards to a network of CFOs. Interested CFOs submit responses to Ziegler that are then tabulated for all to see. The Hotline provides an opportunity for senior living CFOs to ask questions, share insights and learn from fellow CFOs regarding a myriad of topics related to financial management and operations.
• CFO Hotline - Entrance Fees
  August 2007 Tim Lochridge, Vice President of Finance/CFO of Shell Point Retirement Community (FL), submitted questions related to entrance refund options.
• Meal Credits
  July 2007 These questions from Paul Ide, CFO, La Posada at Park Centre Inc (AZ), were posed to the Ziegler CFO HotlineSM: 1. Does your organization give meal credits for self-pay patients in the SNF? 2. If yes, what are the rules and rat
• National Senior Living CFO Workshop: A Policy Update
  05/18/2007 A visual of the gun pointed at one's own foot illustrated Susan Weiss' point about the approach some not-for-profits take when needing to justify their tax exemption. Susan Weiss, AAHSA's Senior Vice President of Advocacy, used the illustration to target the importance of not-for-profits providing measurable community benefit. She and Stephen Maag, AAHSA's Director of Continuing Care and Assisted Living, provided an update on federal and state policy issues to attendees at the Ziegler AAHSA National CFO Workshop late last month. The topic of justifying tax exemption dominated much of Susan's discussion with attendees...
• What An Auditor Wants The CFO To Know!
  05/4/2007 The following presentation was given by Denny Schleper, Executive Principal of LarsonAllen, a multi-region CPA firm with a national senior living practice. Mr. Schleper was the keynote speaker at the recent Ziegler AAHSA National CFO Workshop, held April 25-27, in Park City, Utah. The presentation follows a theme of the luncheon presentations from past years' National CFO Workshops when attendees have heard the perspectives of the residents, the CEO and the board.
• Weekend Shift Differential
  May 2007 From Yoram Tanay, Chief Financial Officer of The Methodist Home of DC: The Methodist Home of DC is currently paying a weekend shift differential to aides and not to licensed nurses. With the difficulty of recruiting nurses, it is being suggested that providing such a differential will improve our recruiting for weekend nurses. I am most interested in the group's experience
• Renters Insurance
  April 2007 Paul Brand, Chief Financial Officer of Concordia (PA), submitted the following question(s): Concordia recently experienced a devastating fire in which we lost a 113-unit apartment building. Some of our residents had renter's insurance, others did not. I would like to find out what other organizations' positions/practices are with renter's insurance.
• Ziegler CFO Hotline Question: Pension Benefits
  02/16/2007 Periodically throughout the year Ziegler facilitates an electronic interchange among CFOs called the Ziegler CFO HotlineSM. To use the Hotline, a CFO sends Ziegler a question which Ziegler then sends out to a network of CFOs. Interested CFOs submit responses to Ziegler. The responses are then organized and collated for all to see. The Hotline provides an opportunity for senior living CFOs to ask questions, share insights and learn from fellow CFOs regarding a myriad of topics related to financial management and operations.
• Nursing Budgeting
  01/1/2007 - January, 2007Benjamin Hoyle, CFO, Pennswood Village (PA), submitted the following question: "I am looking to improve our process for budgeting nursing staff for our A/L and SNF facilities. Currently I use Excel spreadsheets and budget by nursing category according to staffing requirements.
• Employee Benefits
  December, 2006 Two CFOs submitted questions related to employee benefits (pension plans and leave programs). Nearly 100 CFOs responded with detail that took us a bit longer than usual to compile due to the detail of responses. We condensed the detail to 'common themes' to provide easier comparisons between answers and compiled the responses (analyzing on the basis of size and type of organization).
• Credit Card Usage
  October 2006 Joe Girardi, Chief Financial Officer of EMA (MD), asked the Ziegler CFO Hotline several questions related to credit card usage (infrastructure and fees). Nearly 140 responded. Most indicated that credit card payments were not accepted from residents; just 7 percent of the respondents indicated that they accepted credit card payments. The details of all responses are contained in the pdf document attached.
• Transportation Services
  October, 2006 Susan Legare, Chief Financial Officer of Bishop Gadsden (SC), asked the Ziegler CFO Hotline several questions related to the pricing, scheduling and vehicle replacement in Transportation Services. The questions and a compilation of the responses are included in the document attached. We hope you find this information useful!
• Convenience Store Operations
  August, 2006 Jeff Lohr, Chief Financial Officer of Southminster (NC), asked several questions of the Ziegler CFO Hotline related to convenience stores on CCRC campuses. As background for his questions he notes that: "We currently operate a 'subsidized' convenience store for our residents. By 'subsidized', I mean that the revenues generated do not even cover direct costs – staffing, cost of good sold. We do not rely on any volunteer help from residents." The responses to his questions are provided in the pdf document attached. A number of you (9) responded that you did not have convenience stores (because there was a convenience store within close proximity of your community, because you had gift shops, etc.). The attached includes responses from those who indicated that they DO operate convenience stores.
• Resident Financial Assessments
  July, 2006 Kim Klockenga, Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Friendship Senior Options (IL), asked the following questions related to resident financial assessment of the Ziegler CFO Hotline. Do you use a software program to perform financial assessments for your independent living admissions?
• Funeral Home Relationships
  May, 2006 To what extent do CCRC's have relationships with, or even own, funeral homes? While the CFO asking this question acknowledges that the topic may be a bit uncomfortable, as a bit of background, this CFO says that he is aware of one CCRC that rents chapel space to funeral homes for visitation and services, at $200 per use, the cost of which was basically intended to cover the housekeeping costs associated with the funeral service (the CCRC also catered the reception if desired). This CCRC's situation is that a nearby family-owned funeral home is preparing to sell their business (retirement); this CCRC provides probably 15-20% of their business. Hence, this question related to ownership.
• Charitable Gifting of Refundable Entrance Fees
  March, 2006 Are there CCRCs out there who accept as current charitable gifts the refundable portion of their entrance fees? If YES, then please describe any guidelines you may have such as: Must the gifts be irrevocable? Is there a minimum amount or percentage of refund you would consider for this donation? Does the CCRC have restrictions on how these donated funds can be used? Have there been cases where you have been asked/required to return the gift (perhaps when a resident depletes other funds)? Other?

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