A Place for Mom Review

Pros and Cons

How APfM Works

APfM works one of two ways. If you’re like me, you’d rather answer screening questions online and spend as little time on the phone as possible. However, some people may prefer speaking to a human rather than a screen. For those who prefer the latter, they can call the number on the website and connect with a representative who will ask for the necessary information.

Essentially, you will answer a bunch of screening questions. Based on your responses, the system will show you recommended options in your area. Additionally, APfM will rank them not only based on customer reviews but also on your loved one’s needs, location, and other pertinent factors.

If you’re interested in a specific care community, you would need to call a number and speak with a representative to get pricing and availability information. From there, the representative will help you schedule a tour and even plan your move once you pick a place. APfM is completely free to customers; if you choose a facility, that facility will pay APfM a fee for the referral.

Types of Care

APfM offers the following types of care:

• Adult day care
• Assisted living
• Independent living
• Memory care
• Nursing homes
• Senior living

This is a wide variety of services to choose from, so the website will be helpful to seniors regardless of their ability level or health conditions. While a young and healthy 55-year-old may want independent living, someone with memory loss would be more suited to memory care, for example.

My Experience With APfM

To get started online, I typed in my location: Providence, Rhode Island. Then, I took an online quiz that asked me:

• My relationship to the person who needs care
• Their age
• My location
• My distance from their home
• Where the person is living now
• Their mobility level
• Which tasks they need assistance with (medication, bathing, housekeeping, etc.)
• If they are exhibiting any behaviors related to memory loss

Once I finished the quiz, the website showed me a list of options that met their needs.

I could filter by the types of results I wanted to see. For example, I could be shown only studios, only one-bedrooms, private or shared rooms, the cost of care, and whether or not the person who needs care is a veteran. I could also filter by how they will pay for their care — via retirement fund, insurance, the sale of a house, or another way — as well as how soon they will need care.

I really liked that APfM showed me a map of the locations, as that will be a major deciding factor for nearby family members.

My top recommendations were the Capitol Ridge at Providence, Highlands on the East Side, and Wingate Residences on Blackstone Boulevard. Each facility has a rating out of 10 stars, and it sorted the 33 communities it recommended by their rating. It also showed me how many customers contributed to those ratings. For Capitol Ridge, it was 26 — a small but still decent number.

To find out more, I called APfM’s phone number and got connected with someone named either Sherry or Cherry, who told me she was going to connect me with what she called a “senior living specialist.” She asked a few questions about what I was looking for. I told her I was looking for a nursing home; she asked if I was looking for assisted living, which was a bit confusing.

I pretended I wasn’t sure what the difference was. She then connected me with the specialist, Joanne, who was very nice and helpful. She asked about my client’s age and needs, her current living situation, and how she is going to pay for care. Then she told me about how much assisted living would cost: $5,000 to $6,000 per month, or, for memory care, $7,000 to $8,000 per month. Each facility has a base fee, which ranges from $2,785 to $4,695 per month. However, the more help she needs, like showering and getting dressed, the more monthly fees there will be.

I said I was interested in Capitol Ridge, and she offered to schedule a tour and asked what days I was available. Overall, Joanne was nice and helpful, but note that my research wouldn’t have ended there. I would’ve had to go to the facility and get my client evaluated to find out which type of care was right for her. But, it’s easier than starting on Google, as the website is organized in terms of assisted living facilities vs. memory care vs. independent living. Plus, I could easily filter by distance, amenities, and providers. That said, APfM should be the beginning of your search, not the end.

What Others Are Saying

Generally, APfM has positive reviews: a 4.7-out-of-5-star rating on Consumer Affairs and a 4.6 rating on Trustpilot. On Consumer Affairs, Arthur from Worcester, Massachusetts, gave APfM a five-star rating, writing, “My sister and I needed to find an affordable place for my Dad to live that provided three good meals a day that was clean and safe! I called APfM, and I received information that I needed on the same day. Everyone I spoke to was exceptionally polite and informative. I was treated very well, and they seemed to be appropriately concerned about my father. They asked the right questions and were not at all overbearing … We ended up selecting a wonderful place for my Dad, and he is very happy and excited!”

In the same vein, APfM is an accredited business with the Better Business Bureau (BBB) and has an A+ rating. However, customers on the BBB gave it a much lower rating: only 1.27 stars out of 5. Many people complained of the voicemails, emails, and texts they received after looking at the APfM website. In July 2024, a user named Diana M. wrote a one-star review, “I wish I had read the reviews before I called. I just wanted general information and already had a pretty well-established plan for my mother. Before I knew it, I was swept into their system without being informed of their practices or giving consent for my information to be sold to every possible independent or assisted living facility in a 30-mile radius. I have been inundated with calls, texts, voicemails, emails, all while trying to help an aging parent, which is stressful enough.”

Unfortunately, I had a similar experience. After I initially took the screening quiz, I received phone calls and emails for days.

That being said, this is, unfortunately, many businesses' model. It doesn’t mean that APfM is a bad service, just that its marketing efforts may be a tad aggressive. But this is the case for other care referral services, so it’s unfortunately just part of the game.

Criticisms of APfM

They say all press is good press, but that’s not the case for APfM. In May 2024, the Washington Post published an article accusing the company of getting paid to refer people to assisted living facilities that the company has not independently vetted. According to the article, in 28 states, over one-third of the site’s most highly recommended facilities have been cited for substandard care or neglect in the past two years. While the site depends on reviews, often anonymous, many claim that the reviews are from family or friends of the business, making them fraudulent.

The government is taking notice. In June 2024, Pennsylvania Senator Bob Casey demanded that the service address its “deceptive marketing practices.” It accused the company of making recommendations that are “not objective, not safe, and not truly free.”

Ultimately, it’s important to be skeptical. While you can look at APfM as a jumping-off point, it’s important to do your due diligence in researching the companies yourselves. At the end of the day, APfM is open about the fact that it makes money when someone moves into a senior living community or hires a home care provider. Plus, as mentioned above, the company is not paid by the customer; it is paid by the business they’ve referred a customer to. So, be wary of its bottom line.

Caring.com vs. APfM

The biggest difference between Caring.com and APfM is that, with the former, all I had to do to get a list of options was input my zip code. There was no online quiz that asked about my client’s needs or current situation. Rather, I could then filter by care type, distance, room type, price, and a bunch of other categories: staff qualifications, room amenities, and health services. I could find out pricing on Caring.com directly, unlike on APfM. However, I still had to talk to a person to schedule a tour.

Joanne from APfM was much nicer than either of the two people I spoke with from Caring.com, both of whom seemed annoyed and like they were reading from a script. In terms of costs, APfM had lower starting prices, at around $2,785 compared to $3,695. Overall, I would recommend APfM over Caring.com, which, unlike its name, did not feel very caring.

Bottom Line

Finding care can be an incredibly scary and stressful process for families. While APfM is a referral service, one that aims to profit off the communities it sends you to, it can be a good place to start your search. However, it’s important to vet the communities yourself, with your loved one. Be sure to research each company independently and tour a facility before moving in. This isn’t an easy decision, so take the time that you need to make the right choice.