How we rank

We show senior care providers in an order families can check — not an order anyone can buy.

The quality score is not for sale. If a listing is paid, it is labeled. If a license is in trouble, that stays on the page.

Quality score is not for sale

No provider can pay to raise their quality score. Not with a monthly fee. Not with a bid. Not with a bigger profile.

What the score is meant to look at

License status is a gate. A suspended or revoked license is flagged. That listing is not pushed to the top.
Where CMS rates a place (nursing homes and home health), those stars, recent serious inspection findings, and staffing hours matter more than a polished profile.
Hospice has no CMS overall star. This preview does not print a stored rank as stars. Hospice Care Index is labeled 0–10 when we have it.
Assisted living has no CMS star rating. We do not invent one. The score is meant to lean on license history, inspections and enforcement, and other public records. If the public data is thin, the listing should say so — not guess a number.
A complete profile is not the same as good care. Completeness may count a little. It does not outrank license and inspection facts.

License issues stay visible

Families should be able to see when a provider’s license is suspended or revoked, and when inspectors have found serious problems.

Those facts stay on the listing. They are not hidden because someone paid. They are not buried under a badge.

One labeled Sponsored slot

Paid placement exists in the product design. It is separate from the quality score.

One Sponsored slot. Not a paid-first list.
Marked Sponsored. Recessed from the ranked results. Not Featured. Not Recommended. Not Top pick.
A “Why am I seeing this?” link next to it.

Sponsored is how a provider can be seen above the fold. It is not a higher quality score. It is not mixed in as if it were earned.

Money cannot buy an organic place. Money cannot buy removal of a license note. Money cannot buy a higher quality score. Money cannot buy the Sponsored slot when the license is in trouble.

This preview may show a sample Sponsored row. Fixture rows are marked SAMPLE. Vault or CMS identity rows are marked Preview example. No one has purchased a Sponsored slot.

Earned rank, not pay

Organic order is earned from public facts. Pay can buy one labeled Sponsored slot. Pay cannot buy the quality score, and it cannot hide a license problem.

Link to government sources

Every listing should point back to a government source families can open themselves — and show when that record was last checked.

This preview uses SAMPLE fixture rows and Preview example vault rows. It does not claim the live WordPress site already scores listings.

Those listings show a preview quality score so families can see the separation from Sponsored. Those numbers are not live CMS stars. Sample metros in this preview: Tempe, Denver, and Austin.

The preview quality score on a listing is a stored preview rank. It is not a CMS star rating and not a completeness count.

Data sources

The live product is meant to use CMS, state license records, and NPPES. This preview does not ingest those feeds. SAMPLE rows stay marked SAMPLE. Preview example rows stay marked Preview example.

You set the pace

You set the pace. You can search, look, and compare without giving a phone number. You call a provider when you are ready.