Guidelines strengthen supervision over elderly care home advance payments

On Friday, China released a guideline to strengthen supervision over the advance payment model adopted by many elderly care facilities to better regulate the booming sector of senior care and protect interests of its growing elderly population.

In recent years, some elderly care homes have relied on requesting prepaid service fees or selling membership cards to maintain funds and reduce operational risks. Such advancement payment models have brought discounted prices and convenience for seniors and their family members.

However, the trend has also brought about problems where facilities fail to fulfill obligations as stated in contracts or end up bankrupt due to improper management of funds. Some have also carried out illegal fundraising activities using the provision of elderly care services as a bait.

The guideline, jointly released by the Ministry of Civil Affairs and six other government departments, prohibits elderly care facilities from selling services that exceed its capacity, bars them from using prepaid payments for purposes other than improving services or engaging in any illegal fundraising activities, said Li Banghua, an official with the ministry, during a news conference on Friday.

He added that major elderly care homes will be the focus of supervision while relatively small community-based elderly care facilities will not be included in this round of oversight at present.