How we source, label, and correct
The standards every page on this site is held to — and the line we will not cross.
The core rule
Principles
There is no SeniorCareRating score, grade, or ranking anywhere on the site. CMS star ratings are shown exactly as CMS publishes them.
Each number traces to a named CMS dataset and carries the date of the snapshot it came from. Data can lag current conditions, and we say so.
When CMS has not rated or reported something, we show it as unavailable — never as a zero, and never filled in by estimate.
Where we compute an average for context, we label it as calculated and not a CMS rating.
Editorial work is directed by a named editor, and substantive editorial pages carry an author and dates.
Sourcing
Where every figure comes from.
Facility and agency data come from public U.S. CMS datasets — the CMS Provider Data Catalog (the data behind Medicare’s Care Compare) and the CMS Home Health Care Agencies dataset. We rebuild the site from those source files on a dated snapshot rather than a live feed. Our methodology lists exactly what we use; Data & sources lists each dataset and its refresh date; Data updates logs what changed and when.
Authorship and dates
Who stands behind the words.
Editorial pages — guides and research reports — are directed by SeniorCareRating.com Editorial Team and carry a publication date and, where revised, a separate updated date. Programmatic data pages (facility, agency, state, and county profiles) show the CMS dataset snapshot date rather than an authorship date, because they present records rather than author prose. We do not stamp an unchanged data page with a new “published” date just because the site was rebuilt.
Corrections
How mistakes are fixed.
If a page looks wrong, tell us — see Corrections. Because we reproduce CMS records rather than author them, a correction usually means either our snapshot is stale or the underlying CMS record needs fixing at the source. We describe how we handle each on the corrections page.
Advertising independence
The wall between ads and data.
The site is funded by advertising, kept strictly separate from the data. An advertiser cannot buy a placement inside a listing, change how a provider’s records are shown, or influence what we report. An advertisement is not an endorsement. See our advertising policy.