Honest answers to the questions Atlanta families ask most.

Atlanta Care Advisors is compensated by the senior living communities we work with. When a family moves into a community we have referred, that community pays us a fee. This is standard across the senior placement industry — similar to how a real estate agent is paid by the seller, not the buyer.

What this means for you: you pay nothing, ever. There is no fee for the consultation, the assessment, the matching, the tours, or the move-in support. You get the full service regardless of which community you choose or whether you choose one at all.

It depends on the urgency and the specific needs. For routine placements, our process typically moves from consultation to community matching in 2–4 days, with tours scheduled within a week. For hospital discharges and urgent situations, we compress the timeline and can often place within 24–72 hours.

We coordinate directly with discharge planners and can tour communities on your behalf when you cannot be there. The key variable is community availability — we cannot create an open bed where one does not exist, but our relationships across metro Atlanta mean we know where to look.

Assisted Living: For people who need help with daily tasks — bathing, dressing, medication management — but still want independence. Residents typically have their own apartments. Communities offer meals, activities, and transportation. Staff are available 24/7 but residents do not need continuous medical supervision.

Memory Care: A specialized setting (often a secured wing within an assisted living community) designed for people with Alzheimer's, dementia, or other memory conditions. Features secured exits, structured daily programming, and staff trained specifically in dementia care. Higher staff-to-resident ratios than assisted living.

Personal Care Homes: Smaller, residential-style settings — often in converted single-family homes — serving 2–25 residents. They provide a more intimate, home-like environment with meals, assistance, and supervision. In Georgia, they are licensed and regulated. They can be a good fit for people who would be overwhelmed by a larger community.

Skilled Nursing (Nursing Homes): For people who need 24/7 medical care and supervision by licensed nurses. This is the highest level of care outside a hospital. Appropriate for complex medical conditions, post-surgery recovery, or when someone cannot safely transfer, eat, or manage their own care. Medicare may cover short-term stays after a qualifying hospital stay, but not long-term custodial care.

In metro Atlanta, assisted living generally ranges from $2,800 to $6,500 per month depending on the community, apartment size, and level of care needed. Memory care is higher, typically $4,500 to $8,500 per month. Personal care homes in Georgia often fall between $1,800 and $4,000 per month. Skilled nursing is the most expensive, often $8,000 to $12,000 per month.

These are general ranges, not quotes. Every community assesses and prices individually. We help you understand what is included in each price — and what costs extra — so there are no surprises.

No. The communities we recommend are chosen because they match your loved one's needs, not because they compensate us. Here is our honest answer: most Atlanta-area communities do participate in referral compensation. The ones that do not tend to be smaller operations or publicly funded facilities. If the community that best fits your situation is one that does not compensate us, we tell you that and still make the referral.

Our reputation in Atlanta depends entirely on whether families feel we gave them good guidance. A bad placement loses trust — and in a city this size, trust is everything. We will not risk it for a commission.

When a patient is ready to leave the hospital but cannot safely return home, the hospital's discharge planner works to find an appropriate next level of care. This could be a skilled nursing facility for rehab, an assisted living community, or a memory care setting. The discharge planner reaches out to placement services like ours to identify communities with availability.

We step in to compress a process that normally takes weeks into days — sometimes hours. We know which communities have immediate availability, which can handle specific medical needs, and which are within the family's budget and geography. We coordinate directly with the hospital team so the family can focus on their loved one, not logistics.

Medicare: Does not pay for assisted living or long-term custodial care. Medicare may cover short-term skilled nursing stays (up to 100 days) after a qualifying hospital stay of at least three days, but this is for rehabilitation, not permanent residence.

Medicaid in Georgia: Georgia Medicaid does offer some programs that can help with assisted living or personal care home costs, including the Elderly and Disabled Waiver Program (CCSP and SOURCE). These programs have income and asset limits, and waiting lists can be long. Availability varies by county.

We are not benefits counselors and cannot determine eligibility, but we can point you to resources that help you understand what may apply to your situation.

We are based in Buckhead and serve all of metro Atlanta including Midtown, Sandy Springs, Marietta, Decatur, Alpharetta, Roswell, Smyrna, Dunwoody, Brookhaven, Johns Creek, Duluth, Lawrenceville, Stone Mountain, East Point, College Park, and surrounding areas across Fulton, DeKalb, Cobb, Gwinnett, Clayton, and Cherokee counties.

If you are outside these areas, call us. If we cannot help directly, we can often point you to someone who can.