What Is a Geriatric (Aging Life) Care Manager, and What Do They Actually Do
A geriatric care manager — increasingly called an Aging Life Care Professional — is usually a nurse or social worker who acts as a professional quarterback for an older adult’s care, paid directly by the family rather than by any facility.
What they actually do
- A comprehensive in-person assessment of medical, cognitive, and functional needs, plus the home environment.
- Build and continually update a care plan, coordinating between doctors, specialists, and any in-home care already in place.
- Attend medical appointments alongside a family, especially useful when there are multiple specialists and no single doctor coordinating the whole picture.
- Step in during a crisis — a fall, a hospitalization, a sudden decline — with an existing understanding of the person’s baseline and preferences.
- Monitor a facility or in-home caregiver after placement, functioning as the family’s eyes on the ground.
Credentials to check
Membership in the Aging Life Care Association is the primary credential to look for, along with an underlying professional license (RN, LCSW, or similar) that’s independently verifiable through the relevant state licensing board.
How this differs from a placement specialist
A care manager is paid by the family and can stay involved indefinitely; a placement specialist is typically paid a commission by the community you move into and the relationship usually ends at move-in. See our full comparison if you’re not sure which one fits your situation.
Looking for one? See our Geriatric care managers directory — every listing is a clearly-labeled, flat-fee placement, never a referral fee, never tied to whether you hire them.
When to hire a geriatric care manager · Long-distance caregiving · All guides