Trust
Editorial standards
Families make expensive, emotional decisions with what they read here. These are the rules we hold ourselves to.
Who writes our content
Our guides and help pages are written by the GentlePlacement team, people who place families in care homes every week and who operate licensed residential care homes in the San Fernando Valley. We write from that experience and check it against primary sources.
How we source
- Laws and regulations are cited to the California code or regulation itself, or to a recognized legal aid organization.
- Medicare and Medi-Cal figures come from CMS, Medicare.gov, or the California Department of Health Care Services, for the current year. For Medi-Cal we cite the DHCS All County Welfare Directors Letter that sets each figure. We may also link to legal aid organizations, such as Justice in Aging, for plain-language explanations, but not as the source of a figure.
- Cost figures come from published surveys, named on the page, and are shown as ranges labeled with the geography the source covers, such as statewide, Los Angeles County, or one part of the county.
- Facility data comes only from the state licensing file. We never invent or estimate facts about a specific home.
What we will not do
- We will not rank or rate individual homes based on payment or partnership.
- We will not present a stock photo as one of our homes, our staff, or a resident.
- We will not give medical, legal or financial advice. We explain options and point you to the right professional.
Conflicts of interest
Care homes pay our placement fee, families never do. We also operate licensed homes ourselves. We say so wherever it is relevant, and our directory lists every licensed home in the county, not only homes we work with or run.
Reviews and updates
Each guide shows the date it was last reviewed. We review figures that change every year, such as Medi-Cal limits, SSI rates, VA rates and Medicare cost sharing, when the new numbers are published.
Corrections
If you find an error, contact us. We correct factual errors promptly and note significant corrections on the page.