The Key Home Care Assistance Review

Our Verdict

The Key offers a full range of home care services from companion care up to help with activities of daily living. Known for its rigorous approach to screening its caregivers, the company also augments its approaches with research-based programs that focus on boosting longevity, quality of life, and the client’s cognitive functioning. These approaches, combined with its team-based approach to care plans, make it an excellent choice for those willing to pay a little more for high-quality home care. The Key provides a comprehensive lifetime solution that keeps the client in control and gives them the high-end service they expect.

Services offered

The Key Review

More and more seniors are choosing to remain in their homes as they grow older instead of moving into senior housing or assisted living, especially during the COVID pandemic. Staying at home confers a number of benefits, including allowing the person to remain in their community, stay in control of their life, and fully enjoy the comforts and familiarity of home well into their golden years. As seniors need more support, they often turn to home care agencies for help with the day-to-day activities that challenge their independence. The Key, formerly known as Home Care Assistance recognizes that home is the happiest place to age and, as America’s largest provider of premium home care, they offer the services that seniors need to achieve independent living at home.

Company Background

The Key was founded by PhD clinical psychologists and a Certified Geriatric Care Manager in 2003. Their mission is to be the premier partner of choice for families seeking personalized, dignified care for their aging loved ones. The Key champions the well-being of their clients, delivers peace of mind to their families, and instills pride of purpose in our care teams, each and every day. Looking at employee review sites such as Glassdoor and Indeed reveals that employees are generally happy with the company and a significant portion of reviewers on Glassdoor—over 70%— would recommend the company to their peers. The Key strives to provide older adults the high-end support they need to enjoy the life they love with a dedicated caregiver and exclusive care plan. This care plan is designed specifically for older adults who expect an elevated aging experience in the comfort of home and the autonomy to pursue their passions outside of it. For those looking for independent living at home and beyond, whether that’s at afternoon tea, the symphony hall, or a fine dining restaurant – The Key is there.

Services and Offerings

Balanced Care Method

The Balanced Care Method is based on studies of the extraordinarily long-lived elders from the islands of Okinawa, Japan where life spans over 100 years are not unusual. More importantly, people in their 70s, 80s and beyond enjoy incredibly good health and independence despite their years. Scientists have been studying this group of seniors to see if we could learn from their methods and live longer, more productive lives ourselves. The Key developed the Balanced Care Method, a revolutionary approach to senior care, based on these studies. The components of the Balanced Care Method include cognitive stimulation, healthy diet, physical activity, calmness and purpose, and social engagement.

Personalized Care Plans

Each client receives a scientifically-designed, personalized daily schedule that’s created to provide clients with the support they need to live the life they love. These care plans are designed specifically for older adults who expect an elevated aging experience at home and the autonomy to pursue their passions outside of it. The Key provides a blend of services usually found in community living and traditional home care by empowering clients to maintain independence within the happiness of home and enjoy customized daily activities tailored to their interests, along with any traditional care required. The Key can accommodate a range of client interests and have had clients who spend mornings in their home office, afternoons on the golf course, evenings at the local theater, and weekends at board meetings, charity galas, or museums. The Key’s goal is to provide a comprehensive lifetime solution that keeps the client in control and gives them the high-end service they expect.

Companionship

The services provided by The Key include all of the basic companion care services offered by its competitors, including help with grooming and hygiene, laundry and light housekeeping, meal planning, and transportation.

Personal Care

The Key also provides many forms of higher-level personal care, including help with mobility, feeding and toileting help, some assistance with physical therapy requirements, and help for those recovering from procedures or illness.

Alzheimer’s And Dementia Care

The Key has provided dementia care and Alzheimer’s to thousands of people living with mild to severe impairment. The difference between a good day and a bad day is often a familiar home environment and an experienced and skilled caregiver. Many times, people with Alzheimer’s or other dementias communicate through non-verbal means or have different language skills. Their caregivers are trained and experienced in connecting and communicating throughout the stages of dementia and their consistent staffing allows clients to build a bond with their caregivers.

24 Hour Or Live-In Care

People with frailty syndrome, mid- to late-stage dementia, and advanced illness often benefit from living at home with around-the-clock care. Both the client and their family enjoy total peace of mind with reliable, 24/7 caregivers in their home to monitor safety, tend to their needs and be a friend and companion to count on.

Team Approach To Care

Every client of The Key benefits from the company’s team approach to care, which involves care managers and caregivers working together to produce a plan of care and consistent checks on client progress.

Word on the Street

In order to get a sense of the quality of the local offices of The Key, we did a survey of online reviews drawn from as wide a range of locations as possible. That said, it’s important to keep in mind that you should always take care to get references, and ideally, talk to other clients in order to get a full sense of the care they provide.

Still, after surveying over 100 reviews online, it’s possible to see some trends among the experiences of those working with The Key, and most of these reflect well on the company. In fact, among the reviews we collected, The Key got relatively high marks for their work, earning them a weighted rating of 4.7 out of 5 stars.

Customers Are Happy With Their Caregivers

This is true throughout the industry: most clients do end up bonding with their caregivers, regardless of the company they work with. At the same time, The Key received praise from family members for the care their loved ones received, and from clients as well.

Competent Administration

Administrators don’t usually come in for as much praise as caregivers, but The Key did quite well when it came to customer comments about the way their offices were run, with some customers telling stories of administrators going the extra mile to provide quality service.

Trust And Dependability

Reliability was another trend among the reviews, with many customers making specific mention of their caregivers’ punctuality and attention to detail even when unsupervised, an attribute that is always reassuring for both clients and their families.

Cost

The amount your local office charges will vary based on your location and the care you or your loved one needs. We surveyed locations from a number of different areas and compared them with the average rate charged in that area as listed in the Genworth Cost of Care study. We found that rates charged by The Key tended to range higher than average, though those rates might vary depending on how many hours of care the client received. It’s important to note, too, that the locations we surveyed required a four-hour minimum length for their caregiver shifts. This is to ensure reliable employment for their caregivers and continuity of care for the clients, which improves the overall quality of care.