How we make money.

The long version

California Care Compass is what is called a senior-living referral agency. Our peers are A Place for Mom, Caring.com, and a number of franchise networks. The category has earned a reputation for opaque, high-pressure sales tactics. A federal Senate inquiry into the largest player documented exactly the practices we built this site to refuse.

We chose to operate by the disclosure standard that California Senate Bill 648 would have required if it had passed in 2017. It did not pass. The industry remained self-regulated. We adopt the standard voluntarily because families deserve it and because the absence of regulation is not a defense.

What we disclose, and where

Two layers of disclosure. On the public site, every facility we recommend shows three things: its current state license number, its citation count from the past 12 months under California Title 22 inspection rules, and the date a member of our team last walked the building. Anyone can verify all three against the California Department of Social Services public lookup.

In the navigator funnel, before any tour, we disclose the exact percentage of the first month’s rent we receive from that facility if your family chooses it. The disclosure is spoken on the call and sent in writing by email immediately after. If we decline to send the writing, walk away.

The fee range

Industry-standard facility referral fees in California run from 50 to 100 percent of the first month’s rent. For a Bay Area assisted-living rent of $6,500, that is a one-time payment of $3,250 to $6,500 from the facility to us, paid only after move-in and after a 30-day cooling-off period. If your parent moves out within 30 days, the fee is refunded by the facility, and we do not owe anyone anything.

What we do not do

• We do not refer to skilled nursing facilities. That category requires a separate California license we do not hold.
• We do not call ourselves “free.” Facilities pay us, not families, but the word “free” misleads. We use it nowhere.
• We do not change the order of our recommendations based on which facility pays us more. The first-month-rent fee structure makes the math nearly identical across facilities in a given budget band.
• We do not sell or share your contact information with any facility you have not asked us to share it with.
• We do not call or text without your written consent (TCPA-compliant checkbox on every form).
• We do not guarantee placement, eligibility outcomes, or that any program will approve your parent. We are not a state agency.

Conflict of interest, in plain terms

If a facility pays us, we have a financial interest in your family choosing one of the facilities we recommend. That is a real conflict and we will not pretend otherwise. The disclosure standard is how we keep ourselves honest. The state inspection data is public. If we recommend a facility with a bad recent record, you will see it on our profile. If we hide it, you can check the state record and prove it.

For service partners (home care, elder law, Medi-Cal planning)

For our LA County service-partner work, fee mechanics differ. Partners pay a flat per-qualified-lead fee. We disclose this on every lead handoff page and in the email that introduces you. You are never the customer paying the lead fee.

If you find any disclosure on this site to be inaccurate, missing, or contradicted by what a navigator told you on a call, write to disclosure@californiacarecompass.com. We treat disclosure complaints as the highest-priority issue we handle.