Diocesan Resources
NRRO: Form C Average Cost of Care (2009)
National Religious Retirement Office
Average Cost of Care
Consistency in the reporting of data by religious institutes is a value to NRRO. Increasing the accuracy of data enables a more consistent distribution of grants, helps identify services that will benefit institutes with specific needs, and gives a more accurate representation of the institutes’ total net resources. Varying organizational and management styles in religious institutes necessitates the modification of the standard form used to calculate cost of care. Along with the original form, two modifications are included to assist with the calculation of cost of care, breaking the cost down by levels of care. The style of the institute will determine which form or forms to use to calculate cost of care.
If an institute has developed internal processes for the ongoing calculation of cost of care into levels of care, and parallels the expense categories of the NRRO forms, this process can also be used to generate the information needed to complete the eligibility form. Each form has the same intent: 1) to find the average cost of care for members age 70 years and above by care level, 2) to standardize the calculation of the average cost of care among religious institutes, 3) to assist persons responsible for the stewardship of community resources to consider all factors that impact the cost of care, and 4) to provide the information needed for effective long range planning.
FORM C may be used by institutes to collect data from individual houses where the central finance office does not have detailed financial data from each local house. This form may be distributed to representative local houses with members age 70 and above, for calculation at the local level. The central office may need to include directions and some specific costs, e.g. health insurance premiums. The data can then be compiled at the institute's central finance office. This compilation is used to determine independent living expenses for missions.