Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Awards $15 Million to Expand Alternative Elder-Care Model

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has awarded a five-year, $15 million grant to NCB Capital Impact, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit, to expand the so-called Green House elder-care model into all fifty states, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Unlike typical institutional-style nursing homes, which can house as many as two hundred seniors and are predicated on economies of scale, Green Houses are small, homelike facilities for ten to twelve residents. In the Green House model, each resident has a private bedroom, while a common living space at the center of the house includes a living room, dining room, and kitchen facilities. Residents, staff, caregivers, family, and friends are encouraged to dine together every night at a communal table, and residents receive nursing support and clinical care without the care becoming the focus of their existence.

Questions about the model persist, however. In addition to having to contend with a dizzying array of federal and state regulations designed to protect residents, many Green Home builders say it takes enormous capital to build a new home from scratch. And the concept itself faces stiff resistance from traditional nursing home operators, many of whom have made capital investments in their facilities that make it financially impractical if not impossible for them to adopt the Green Home model.

While RWJF executives admit that the sustainability of the model is a question they're looking at closely, they are committed to going ahead. Based on feedback gathered from the over forty homes in ten states that have already been built, they believe the concept is financially feasible, and they are working to develop software that will help elder-care providers determine whether they can afford to convert their existing facilities or build new facilities from scratch. "We want to transform a broken system of care," said Jane Isaacs Lowe, who oversees the foundation's Vulnerable Populations portfolio. "I don't want to be in a wheelchair in a hallway when I am 85."

“Green Houses Growing in Numbers Across the States.” Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Press Release 6/24/08.

Lagnado, Lucette. “Rising Challenger Takes on Elder-Care System.” Wall Street Journal 6/24/08.

Primary Subject: Aging
Location(s): Washington, DC

FC012096