Home health agencies in California
How CMS rates the state's 3,147 Medicare-certified agencies delivering skilled care at home, how much CMS actually reports about them, and how that compares with the national dataset.
At a glance
- Home health agencies
- 3,147
- Medicare-certified
- With a CMS star
- 1,947
- of 3,147
- Report ≥1 measure
- 2,265
- meaningful data
- Cities
- 290
How California compares
The state's CMS star profile against the full national dataset, in the half-star steps CMS publishes.
CMS quality-of-patient-care star distribution
How California's Medicare-certified agencies spread across the CMS quality star rating, compared with the national dataset.
View as a table
| Rating | Providers | Share | National |
|---|---|---|---|
| CMS quality star 5 | 121 | 3.8% | 3.7% |
| CMS quality star 4.5 | 239 | 7.6% | 8.4% |
| CMS quality star 4 | 254 | 8.1% | 10.4% |
| CMS quality star 3.5 | 286 | 9.1% | 10.8% |
| CMS quality star 3 | 322 | 10.2% | 10.9% |
| CMS quality star 2.5 | 290 | 9.2% | 7.8% |
| CMS quality star 2 | 247 | 7.8% | 6.3% |
| CMS quality star 1.5 | 166 | 5.3% | 4.8% |
| CMS quality star 1 | 22 | 0.7% | 1.3% |
| No star | 1,200 | 38.1% | 35.8% |
| Total | 3,147 | 100.0% | 100.0% |
State shares are calculated from the 3,147 Medicare-certified agencies in California; national shares from all 12,392 in this dataset. The CMS quality-of-patient-care star is published in half-star steps and is shown here without rounding. Agencies CMS does not rate are counted separately and never treated as zero.
CMS-reported data
California’s largest divergence from the national dataset is at 4★: 8.1% of the state’s agencies against 10.4% nationally (-2.3 points). This reflects what CMS publishes for these agencies and is not a judgement about care quality in either population.
What CMS reports here
For home health, how much CMS publishes about an agency is the first thing to understand — coverage varies widely.
Of the 3,147 agencies in California, CMS assigns a quality star to 1,947 and reports at least one quality measure for 2,265. 882 have neither — usually because the agency was too small or too new for CMS to report reliably. Each agency page states plainly which of the 17 CMS measure slots are filled for it.
Where agencies are concentrated
The cities holding the largest share, with the full directory available below.
The 8 largest cities hold 43% of the state’s 3,147 agencies, across 290 cities in total.
- Glendale375 · 12%Search →
- Van Nuys278 · 9%Search →
- Burbank227 · 7%Search →
- Los Angeles143 · 5%Search →
- North Hollywood97 · 3%Search →
- Sherman Oaks81 · 3%Search →
- Pasadena75 · 2%Search →
- Encino71 · 2%Search →
Browse all 290 cities
Nursing homes
Nursing homes and Medicare-certified home health agencies use different CMS quality systems and are never combined into one ranking.
Related research
Frequently asked questions
How many home health agencies are in California?
The current CMS Home Health Care dataset lists 3,147 Medicare-certified agencies across 290 cities in California, of which 1,947 carry a CMS quality-of-patient-care star rating.
Why do some California agencies have no star or limited data?
CMS only publishes results it can report reliably. An agency that served too few Medicare patients in the reporting window may have no star rating and few or no quality measures. In California, 882 of 3,147 agencies have neither a star nor a reported measure. A missing rating is a gap in the public record, not a negative result, and is never shown as a zero.
How does California compare with the national dataset?
1,947 of 3,147 California agencies carry a CMS star (62%), against 64% nationally across 12,392 agencies. The distribution above shows both on the same half-star scale. Differences reflect what CMS publishes and are not a judgement about care quality.
How can I verify a home health agency in California?
SeniorCareRating.com organizes public CMS data and is not affiliated with CMS. Confirm current details on the official Medicare Care Compare site and with the agency directly.