CCRCs are designed to meet the health and housing needs of seniors as they change over time. Seniors who don't need help with the activities of daily living may reside in a single-family home, an apartment or condominium in the retirement complex. As their health care needs become more complex, they may be transferred to an assisted living or skilled nursing facility on the same site, allowing them to keep in close contact with a spouse or friends who also live in the community. Seniors who choose to live in a CCRC find it reassuring to know that their long-term care needs will be met without the need to relocate.

There are three types of health care agreements offered by CCRCs:

Life Care/Extensive Agreement: long-term nursing care for little or no additional cost, for as long as the nursing services are necessary. This type of agreement requires higher monthly fees.

Modified/Continuing Care Agreement: long-term care services for a limited period of time. After the specified period of care, the resident pays the standard rates for additional nursing care.

Fee-for-Service Agreement: residents pay for each health-related service they need.

When choosing a community, it's important to think about what health services are available there, and who will decide when those services are necessary. It is also important to understand what will happen if the nursing home or assisted living facility is fully occupied when the individual can no longer function independently.

Before making a decision it is very important to have a trusted advisor – preferably a legal consultant – read the contract and investigate the retirement community's financial status. If the retirement community should go bankrupt, it may be impossible to recover the entrance fee.

In evaluating CCRCs, you may wish to print out copies of Getcare's Retirement Community checklist, which provides detailed questions to help you compare different communities. The Continuing Care Accreditation Commission (CCAC), is an independent entity that accredits only those communities that meet or exceed its standards of excellence.

CCRCs offer three different payment plans:

Entry fee and monthly fee: resident pays a lump sum entry fee and a monthly fee. Entry fees may be partially or wholly refundable.

Monthly fee only: rental arrangement with a service package and/or health care package.

Equity: ownership by condominium, cooperative or membership that requires residents to purchase service and/or health plans.

Entry and monthly fees vary greatly. Monthly rates are affected by the amount of the entry fee, the region of the country, the size and quality of the living unit, the contract type, and services and amenities of the community.