When a Colorado family or a senior-care community talks about a "transfer," they can mean three different things. Knowing which one you need makes it much easier to find the right help.
The three kinds of senior-care transfer
Medical transport (NEMT)
Non-emergency medical transport (NEMT) safely moves a person between a hospital, rehab center, care community, or home. Choose this when the need is safe physical transportation, not choosing where someone lives.
Placement and care-transition agencies
Placement advisors are people who help a family search for and move into an assisted living, memory care, or skilled nursing community. They offer hands-on, consultative guidance.
Bed-matching and facility swap networks (PatientSwaps & CareSwaps)
Bed-matching networks are a newer, third category. They are technology platforms that match open beds and residents across a network of Colorado senior-care communities. When a resident moves out, the network surfaces matching options at other communities based on operational factors like bed availability, payer acceptance, distance, and timing, so a family can find a closer or better-fit community and a community can fill a bed faster. It can also form multi-facility swap chains (community A to B to C and back).
CareSwaps is the family side. PatientSwaps is the facility side. Both are software only. They do not make clinical decisions, do not provide transportation, and are not placement brokers. Licensed facility staff make every clinical and admission decision.
Why families and communities use it: families can find a spot closer to home or a better fit without waiting months for a standard vacancy, and communities can reduce empty-bed days and better manage their payer mix. Outcomes depend on availability, clinical appropriateness, and each facility's independent decision.
How the options compare
| Medical transport (NEMT) | Placement / transition agency | Bed-matching network (PatientSwaps / CareSwaps) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What it does | Physically moves a person | Advises and helps find a community | Matches open beds and residents across communities |
| Best when | You need safe physical transport | You want hands-on help choosing a community | You want a closer or better-fit community, or you run a community and want to fill beds |
| Who uses it | Families, hospitals | Families | Families (CareSwaps) and facilities (PatientSwaps) |
| How it works | Vehicle and crew | A human advisor | Software that matches on operational factors |
| Makes clinical decisions? | No | Advises only | No, licensed facility staff decide |
| How you pay | Per trip | Varies (often facility-funded) | Flat monthly subscription, never per transfer |