FAQ
Is this official, or affiliated with Medicare?
No. Care Facility Report is an independent tool. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or operated by CMS or Medicare. What we do is read Medicare's own public Care Compare data and organize it into one comparison of the homes near you. The ratings are the government's; the arrangement and the plain-English explanation are ours.
How current is the data?
CMS updates Care Compare on a quarterly cycle, and your report reflects the most recent published data at the time you run it. That means a rating can lag a real change at a home by a few months in either direction. It is current as of Medicare's last update, not a live feed, which is one reason we treat the report as a shortlist to confirm in person rather than a final word.
What does the abuse flag mean?
It means "read the detail," not "condemned." CMS marks a home with this flag when it has recorded a substantiated abuse-related citation. That is a genuine reason to look closer and ask direct questions on a visit, but it is not an automatic disqualification. Context matters: how recent, how serious, and whether the home has changed since. The flag exists so nothing important stays hidden in a column you did not scroll to.
Which rating should I trust most?
The health-inspection rating and the staffing numbers. The health-inspection rating comes from unannounced on-site surveys by state inspectors, which makes it the most objective and the hardest to dress up. Staffing hours per resident per day are grounded in payroll data and are the best day-to-day predictor of the care your parent will actually receive. The quality-measure rating is useful but leans partly on what the home reports about itself, so weight it less.
Does a high rating mean a home is safe?
No. A high rating is a good sign, but it is a snapshot from an inspection that may be months old, and it measures a home in aggregate rather than the specific unit, shift, or caregiver your parent would have. Nothing in the data can tell you how a resident is spoken to, how the place smells at 3pm, or how quickly a call light gets answered on a weekend. Use the report to choose which homes to tour, then visit in person before you decide. Always visit.
What if there are no homes near my ZIP?
In very rural areas, the nearest Medicare-certified homes may be some distance away. When that happens, the report simply widens its reach and shows you the closest certified homes it can find, with the distance to each clearly marked, so you can weigh proximity against quality yourself. You will always see how far each home is from your ZIP.
Do you offer refunds?
We check that homes exist near your ZIP before you are charged, so you will not pay for an empty report. Because the report is delivered instantly as a PDF the moment you buy, it cannot be refunded once it has been generated, in the same way a downloaded file cannot be returned. If something goes genuinely wrong with your order, email us and we will make it right.
