Stephanie Acosta

Stephanie earned a bachelor’s degree in nursing in the Philippines and came to the United States to work in long-term care. She has spent her career on the inside of the settings she now places people into — which is a materially different education from selling them.

Three things that shape how she works

She is clinically trained, so she reads the details that matter

Most senior placement agents in the Valley come out of senior living sales or marketing. That background is genuinely useful for knowing what is available. It is not useful for knowing whether a resident with a stage three pressure ulcer, a two-person transfer and intermittent agitation can be safely cared for in a supervisory-care home. Stephanie holds a bachelor’s degree in nursing, so she can read the chart and the medication list, and her experience running a licensed care home means she knows what that care actually demands of the caregivers on shift. When the answer is no, she says no.

She has run a care home, so she knows what happens at night

She knows what a real staffing ratio looks like at 3am, what a manager says on a tour versus what the caregivers actually do, and which operators are quietly out of their depth. You cannot learn that from a directory.

Stephanie holds an ownership interest in an Arizona assisted living home. We do not refer clients to it. Our full disclosures are here.

She has worked in billing and coding, so she understands both sides of the money

Stephanie has worked in medical billing and coding. That is an unglamorous credential that turns out to matter, because she understands the reimbursement pressure a hospital case manager is under and the household budget a daughter is working with, and can hold both in the same conversation.

What we are, and what we are not

Heaven Sent Senior Placement is a placement and referral service, not a healthcare provider, and we do not deliver nursing or medical care. What Stephanie brings is a clinical education, a career inside long-term care and experience running a licensed care home, which is why her read on a building is worth having.

Heaven Sent Senior Placement was founded by Ryan Moxley. Stephanie leads every placement and is the person you will speak to.

Why hospitals refer to her

Stephanie has worked in placement since TODO: founding year. Case managers at Banner and Abrazo facilities, along with physicians, skilled nursing facilities and rehabilitation centres across the Valley, refer patients to her.

The reason is unglamorous: she takes the referrals other agencies decline, such as the ALTCS-pending patient, the one with behaviours, the one with no family and no funds.

The part that is not on anyone else’s website

Some of the people Stephanie places would otherwise be discharged with nowhere to go: low-income, ALTCS-pending, sometimes without identification. These placements pay us little or nothing. Stephanie takes them because the alternative is a person on the street.

“I am not going to put someone somewhere that cannot take care of them. Not for a fee, not to fill a bed, not to make a discharge date.” Stephanie Acosta

Credentials

• Senior Placement Advisor, Heaven Sent Senior Placement
• Referral relationships with Banner and Abrazo case management, skilled nursing facilities, and Valley rehabilitation centres
• Bachelor of Science in Nursing
• Background in medical billing and coding
• Experience running a licensed care home