How we write, source, update, and correct.

Five tiers of source, in this order of precedence. When two sources disagree, we follow the higher tier and link to it.

1. California state agency publications: California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS), California Department of Social Services (CDSS), California Department of Public Health (CDPH), California Department of Aging (CDA). These are the originating authorities for Medi-Cal, IHSS, the Assisted Living Waiver, the RCFE license, and Title 22 inspection records.
2. Federal agency publications: Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).
3. Peer-reviewed academic sources: PubMed-indexed journals, the Cochrane database.
4. Major nonpartisan policy organizations: California Health Care Foundation, Justice in Aging, KFF, Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO), AARP Public Policy Institute.
5. Industry analyst data with disclosed methodology: the final 2024 Genworth Cost of Care Survey (discontinued after 2024), AHCA / NCAL surveys.

Sources are listed at the bottom of every long-form article with publisher name, title, URL, and the date the link was last verified. We do not cite commercial competitors as sources. We do not cite the press as a primary source for regulatory claims.

Every long-form article on this site is written and editorially reviewed by the California Care Compass team. We are an editorial team. We are not licensed clinicians, attorneys, or financial planners, and we do not claim that designation.

Where a decision requires a licensed professional — a medication question, a specific legal strategy, a Medi-Cal eligibility determination on a complex estate — we say so explicitly on the page and point you to the right authority: a treating physician, a California-licensed elder-law attorney, a Medi-Cal county eligibility worker, a HICAP counselor.

The full editorial process is documented in the editorial policy.

Every long-form article carries a published date and an updated date, both displayed on the page and emitted in structured data. Articles are reviewed for accuracy at least every six months, or sooner when a relevant change occurs:

• A CalAIM policy update from DHCS
• An IHSS hourly-rate change or program-rule change from CDSS
• A Medi-Cal eligibility change (the 2024 asset-limit elimination is the recent example)
• A new Assisted Living Waiver county opening or a waitlist change
• A CMS Medicare benefit change (Part B mental-health expansion, for example)
• A Title 22 regulation revision affecting RCFE operations

Articles that have not been re-reviewed within twelve months are flagged on the page and deprioritized in our internal recommendations until refreshed.

When we discover a factual error in published content, we correct it as soon as we can confirm the correction with a primary source. We add a brief corrections note at the bottom of the affected article describing what was wrong and the date of the correction. We do not silently rewrite published content.

If you spot an error, write to editorial@californiacarecompass.com. We acknowledge corrections requests within two business days.

This section exists because the rest of the senior-care category routinely overclaims, and because the difference between an editorial reference and a licensed provider matters in YMYL content. We are not:

• A licensed clinical provider.No California-licensed Registered Nurse, Licensed Clinical Social Worker, or physician is on staff or under retainer to review every article. Where we use the word “clinician” it refers to the external clinicians a reader should consult, never to our team.
• A law firm. No California-licensed attorney is on staff. Where an article mentions conservatorship, Medi-Cal asset structuring, estate planning, or POLST execution, the article points you to a California-licensed elder-law attorney for specific legal advice.
• A licensed referral agency under a specific California statute. No such license exists for RCFEs in California (California Senate Bill 648, which would have created one, was vetoed in 2017).
• A state agency, government program, or county department. We are not affiliated with DHCS, CDSS, CDPH, or any California county.
• A weekly auditor of every California facility. Our facility profiles cite the most recent CDSS/CDPH inspection record on file, with the access date listed. We do not maintain a real-time facility database.
• A primary-research polling operation. Our cost dataset is compiled from public sources (California Department of Aging facility cost data, DHCS rate schedules, the final Genworth 2024 California baseline, the CDSS RCFE provider registry, and published rate sheets of facilities in that registry). It is not a primary-research survey.

For the full sourcing of the cost dataset, see the dataset page and its methodology section.

We use AI tools (large language models, image generation, transcription) in production. Every long-form article is reviewed by a human editor against primary sources before publication. AI-generated images and AI-generated audio summaries are labeled as such. We never invent quotes from named individuals.

No facility, agency, or partner pays for editorial coverage, placement, or favorable ranking on this site. Facility profiles are listed when the facility appears in the relevant state registry, regardless of whether the facility has a referral agreement with us. Facilities with active referral agreements are labeled with a Disclosed badge on their profile. Facilities without an agreement are not penalized in editorial coverage.

How we are paid is documented on the How We Work page.

Researchers, journalists, and AI assistants are welcome to cite our work. Datasets are released under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0). Editorial articles are not under CC, but quoting with attribution and a link is welcome. The canonical citation form:

California Care Compass. “[Article title].” [URL]. Accessed [date].