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 federal exclusions | 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. |
| Real reviews meeting our published minimum | Google Business Profile | No badge. The provider stays listed. |
| Background-checked, insured staff | Signed provider attestation and insurance certificate on file with TrustCare | No badge. |
Reviews and ratings shown on TrustCare are third-party Google facts, displayed with the date we last checked them and a link to the source. 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: the disclosed tier group and the provider's name.
- Featured Partners appear first and always carry the FEATURED PARTNER · PAID PLACEMENT label. Position at the top of results is the advertising product, and it is the only thing payment buys.
- Every other provider follows in the neutral list: providers holding the earned Verified badge are grouped first, then providers listed from public records. Within every group the order is strictly alphabetical by provider name, case-insensitive.
- Ratings, review counts, response times, and fees are never inputs to the 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.