Missouri bill would require senior-care referral companies to disclose financial ties

Yahoo

10-04-2025

State Rep. Phil Amato, a Republican from Arnold, filed the standalone bill to require senior care referral sites to disclose financial ties, which was then added onto a sweeping health bill sponsored by Rep. Tara Peters (Tim Bommel/Missouri House Communications).
For-profit referral companies that connect Missouri seniors to assisted living facilities would be required to disclose their financial ties to those facilities under a bill debated in a Missouri Senate committee on Wednesday.
The proposal, which is included in a sweeping health bill, aims to add 'protections for families looking to place their loved one in a facility,' Republican state Rep. Tara Peters of Rolla, told lawmakers shortly before the House approved the bill last month.
The Senate Committee on Families, Seniors and Health heard public testimony Wednesday.
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The bill has won support from advocates for seniors as well as lobbyists representing associations for long-term care facilities.
The only opposition came from the referral companies themselves, who said the requirements were a regulatory burden that would confuse families trying to get information on facilities.
Washington, Colorado, Arizona, and Maryland have passed similar laws.
Companies such as the national, private-equity backed A Good Place for Mom offer free assistance for those looking for assisted living facilities. They make money by receiving fees from facilities for referrals.
A Good Place for Mom, which is based in New York, hired seven Jefferson City lobbyists on March 4, according to the Missouri Ethics Commission.
The legislation would require agencies to disclose any relationship between the company and long-term care facility, and the fact that the company receives a fee for the referral. It would also require the consumer to sign off on an agreement before the agency shares their contact info.
Proponents argue that consumers aren't made aware of the companies' motivations for recommending certain facilities. They also say that when consumers enter their contact information into a company's website, they are not aware that they are giving permission to share that information with facilities.
Jeff Balleau, who testified in support of the legislation, runs a local referral agency and believes there should be more transparency.
'The only people that don't support this are billion dollar venture capitalist companies who feel like honesty and transparency doesn't meet family needs,' he said.
He added that when his father was searching for a facility, he got '40 calls in a day' and 'I'm not sure who finds that helpful.' He said he's seen clients have trouble opting out once they're signed up and their information has been shared.
Erin Dwyer, who works at Senior Care Authority, another local referral company, as a senior care advisor said 'these online lead aggregators don't listen to client needs. They blast their client info, and the families need to be able to opt out.'
A Washington Post investigation last year found that A Good Place for Mom, the largest such agency, regularly recommends facilities on its website that state regulatory agencies have found to be substandard. Reporters found more than one-third of facilities recognized by A Place for Mom from 2023 to 2024 as award-winning, across 28 states, were cited by the state for 'serious violations affecting resident care.' The U.S. Senate's Special Committee on Aging subsequently announced it was launching an investigation into A Place for Mom.
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State Rep. Phil Amato, a Republican from Arnold, sponsored the standalone version of the bill that passed out of committee earlier this year unanimously for the second year in a row. It was later added to Peters' health care bill as an amendment.
Amato was inspired to file the bill after hearing from constituents, he told a House committee in March.
Amato said in one instance, the sibling of a potential long-term care resident entered her info to one of these sites. The woman, who'd recently lost her husband, then received a barrage of calls from facilities that appointments had been set up for her to visit. She didn't even know if assisted living would be right for her yet.
'She's grieving the loss of her husband, and now she's getting all of these pestering phone calls,' Amato said. '…When it was told to me, I couldn't believe it. And then since then, I've had other horror stories.'
Amato's bill last year was nearing passage, he said in March, but died when the Senate adjourned early.
'This year, there's getting some pushback,' Amato said, 'because there's been some, I know you're shocked to hear, but somebody has hired lobbyists to come and try to make sure that this thing is defeated.'
Michelle McGovern, the chief legal officer for A Place for Mom, testified that while her company supports transparency, the bill imposes an 'unnecessary regulatory burden,' and will confuse families trying to access information.
'Forcing families into fee disclosures and business negotiations, especially during times of emotional stress will add confusion and not clarity to families,' she said.
McGovern said the provision requiring families to sign off on an agreement with the company could prove confusing and negative to their business.
'We just want to keep the contracts between us and the community,' she said at the March hearing, referring to the facilities they contract with.
A Place for Mom contracts with 200 care facilities across Missouri, McGovern said.
State Rep. Jo Doll, a St. Louis Democrat, pressed McGovern at last month's hearing.
'It's kind of like you're selling the information to your community customers,' Doll said.
McGovern responded that consumers are 'consenting for us to share. I mean, there's no other way to do a referral. They are consenting to us to share their information with the community.'
Doll said people who provide their contact info may just want to see the options, not have their information shared with facilities.
Jewell Patek, a longtime Jefferson City lobbyist representing A Place for Mom and another referral company called Caring, said Wednesday the bill would hurt seniors.
'This bill would be very harmful to the business practices of the people who are providing the most information that's free and available and trustworthy,' he said, 'and I think it would be harmful to the folks that everyone's saying they're trying to protect.'
The committee concluded without taking a vote on the bill Wednesday.
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