How TrustCare verification works.
METHODOLOGY V1 · PUBLISHED 07.2026
We independently check every Verified provider against objective, public standards before granting the TrustCare Verified badge. Verification is earned, never purchased, and is independent of any paid placement. We verify. We never recommend. Families choose.
What we check, and where.
Every criterion comes from a public record or a documented attestation. You can run most of these checks yourself using the same sources we do.
| Check | Source | If it fails |
|---|---|---|
| Active state license, current, no lapse | CDPH Cal Health Find | No listing at all. A license is the floor. |
| No matching federal exclusion record | HHS OIG LEIE database | No badge. |
| Medicare certification, where claimed | CMS Care Compare | The claim is removed if we cannot verify it. |
| No recent serious state sanctions or enforcement actions | CDPH enforcement records and state Attorney General actions | No badge for recent severe actions. |
| Background-checked, insured staff | Signed provider attestation and insurance certificate on file with TrustCare | No badge. |
Reviews are display-only: we show real family reviews with their source, the date we last checked them, and a link to that source. Reviews never determine Verified status. TrustCare does not verify, edit, or endorse any review.
How often we re-check.
- Home health providers: at least every 6 months.
- Hospice providers: monthly, for as long as California's hospice enforcement wave continues.
- Immediately, on any sanction, license event, or credible complaint.
- Every provider card shows its verification date and its next scheduled check.
A provider that no longer meets a criterion loses the badge immediately, regardless of whether they pay us anything. Every check is logged: the database, the date, the result, and who ran it.
What Verified does not mean.
- It is not a recommendation, an endorsement, or a ranking. TrustCare never recommends providers. Families choose.
- It is not a guarantee of care quality. Verification confirms credentials and public records, nothing more. Families remain responsible for evaluating any provider.
- It is not a medical judgment. TrustCare does not provide medical care or medical advice.
- Palliative care is a service line, not a licensed category in California, so it is shown as a service offered by providers and is never a verified category of its own.
How results are ordered.
Every results page orders providers the same way, and the ordering code has exactly two inputs: whether an entry is the open advertising slot, and the provider's name.
- Featured Partners appear in a clearly labeled module at the top of results, and every placement in that module carries the FEATURED PARTNER · PAID PLACEMENT label. That labeled module is the advertising product, and it is the only thing payment buys. In the all-providers list below it, every provider appears in alphabetical order. Neither payment nor verification changes list position.
- Every other provider follows in one flat neutral list, strictly alphabetical by provider name, case-insensitive, whether or not they hold the Verified badge. Verification shows on the badge itself, never through position.
- Ratings, review counts, response times, verification status, and fees are never inputs to the neutral ordering. No payment of any kind changes a provider's position within the neutral list.
- Hospice results carry no featured tier at all.
The paid-placement firewall.
- Placement is advertising: a flat monthly fee for clearly labeled position. Every paid placement carries the visible FEATURED PARTNER · PAID PLACEMENT label.
- Featured placement is only available to providers that have already earned verification. Payment never substitutes for the checks.
- TrustCare never charges per lead, per patient, or per admission, in any form.
- Placement buys position on the page. It never changes a verification result, and losing verification suspends placement the same day.