I sure could have used some of the services bQuest announced this week—if only it existed a year ago.
That is when my sister and I had our lives upended caring for our 83-year-old mother.
Complications following outpatient surgery resulted in three ambulance rides and emergency room visits, two stays in the intensive care unit, followed by inpatient stays, and a brief (and unhappy) sojourn in a nursing care facility before her eventual return home.
What bQuest has launched this week is a turnkey client support platform built with fiduciary advisors in mind, meant to help them deliver vetted aging care-related services as an extension of their core financial planning model, according to co-founder and CEO Lauren Clough.
“Financial advisors are often one of the first calls” when either clients or their children face situations like that of my mother, but most advisors either do not have a trusted set of providers in their Rolodex, or if they do, it is likely not a multi-city or national list.
RIAs using the platform can instantly connect clients to a curated national network of aging care providers—including senior placement experts, care managers, in-home caregivers, elder law attorneys, grief counselors, hospice professionals, even home modification specialists (think wheelchair access or stair lifts, etc.)—through an easy-to-use digital interface.
“Where we specialize is aggregating this fragmented market and delivering that to financial advisors in a turnkey fashion,” said Clough. “Everyone recognizes the potential in being able to differentiate their firms, but advisors also are thinking about not just intergenerational transfer of wealth, but we are also seeing the horizontal transfer of assets (spouse to spouse)—and what we have seen is that a lot of advisors want to be able to tap into this vetted list)—many have spent a lot of time trying to do it on their own.”
bQuest has verified, vetted and onboarded almost 200 service providers nationwide across 20 different categories of aging care support and disciplines. The platform supports multiple delivery models, including client self-service, advisor-guided support and high-touch concierge options.
The bQuest platform
“When our advisors are sending out resources to their clients, they are sending a customized and exclusive link to their clients coming from their own firm,” said Clough.
She said the company has partnered with four national associations of aging-care-related professionals to recruit providers. These providers must, in turn, possess certain credentials and longevity in their respective industries and have had a background check and vetting interview.
“I’m interviewing them as though I was going to hire them to take care of my mom,” said Clough, referring to her process and that of her colleagues.
In addition to actual providers, bQuest has built out on-demand learning and decision-making guides for clients and advisors, as well as marketing support, with content that can be white-labeled, including webcasts and other resources to help advisors promote these services.
“Our goal is to have service providers in all the major markets—50% of the U.S. population lives in 15 DMAs,” Clough said referring to the designated market areas (terminology defined by the Nielson company), which is also related to the U.S. Census Bureau’s Metropolitan Statistical Areas and accounts for the company’s initial focus.
Neither my sister nor I were at all prepared for what ended up a three-month nightmare. Between us we spent many hours, which in total had to have added up to days online and on the phone trying to find and evaluate home health aides providers and aides themselves, physical therapy providers and other things, make appointments and often doing so remotely from another city (while the other sibling had their turn with Mom), exactly the types of service found on the platform.
The interface is intuitive, with easy-to-follow menus of multiple-choice questions and drop-down menus that make narrowing the selection of exactly the type of professional or service needed simple.
Prior to this week’s official rollout, bQuest had been used in beta by 12 firms, according to Clough, which range in size from Destiny Capital, a Colorado-based RIA with seven CFPs, 240 households across the country and $350 million in AUM up to teams from the multi-billion-AUM firms William Blair and Pathstone.
Pricing will vary depending on many factors, such as the size of the firm, the levels of service and customization, but for now, individual advisor access will cost about $1,500 per advisor, per seat annually, providing unlimited access in terms of the number of clients supported.
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