Terms of Use

Who we are and what this site is

LocalCareProvider is run by [confirm: company legal name] (“we”, “us”, or “our”), located at [confirm: mailing address].

LocalCareProvider is a free directory of Medicare-certified care providers in the United States, including skilled nursing facilities, inpatient rehabilitation facilities, long-term care hospitals, home health agencies, and hospices. It helps patients and families find and compare providers using public government data, reviews written by families, and information that providers add about themselves.

A directory, not advice

The site gives general information only. It is not medical, legal, or financial advice, and it doesn’t replace advice from a doctor, nurse, discharge planner, social worker, lawyer, or financial advisor who knows your situation.

Care decisions are personal. Before you choose a provider, talk with your care team, contact the provider directly, and confirm anything that matters to you, such as services, insurance, costs, and availability.

If you have a medical emergency, call 911.

We don’t endorse providers

A listing on LocalCareProvider is not a recommendation. We don’t inspect providers, check the quality of their care, or guarantee anything a provider says or does. How results are sorted is explained on the results page, and the order is not an endorsement.

If we ever show paid placements, they will be clearly labeled as sponsored, and they will never appear under a heading that suggests they are the best.

Providers are independent businesses. We are not responsible for their care, services, prices, staff, or decisions.

Government data and how current it is

Much of the provider information on the site, such as star ratings, inspection results, staffing, and services, comes from public data published by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). We show it as of the date CMS published it and label it with its source and date. CMS updates its data on its own schedule, so it may not reflect a provider’s current situation.

CMS data can contain errors. We show it as published and can’t correct it ourselves; providers fix their CMS records through CMS. CMS does not endorse or sponsor LocalCareProvider.

Information a provider adds to its own profile (for example photos, amenities, or a description) is labeled as coming from the provider and is kept separate from CMS data.

Who can use the site

Anyone can browse the site. To create an account, write a review, or claim a listing, you must be at least 18 years old and able to agree to these terms.

If you use the site for a provider or another organization, you confirm that you are allowed to act for it, and “you” in these terms includes that organization.

Your account and keeping it secure

You sign in with a one-time code that we send to your email address, or with your Google account if we offer that option. [confirm: whether Google sign-in is offered at launch] Keep your email account secure, never share a sign-in code, and use an email address you control.

You are responsible for what happens under your account. If you think someone else has used it, contact us right away.

Accounts for our own team use a separate sign-in that is not available to the public.

We may refuse, limit, or close an account that breaks these terms or puts other people or the site at risk.

Content you post and the license you give us

You keep ownership of the reviews, replies, photos, floor plans, profile details, and other content you submit (“your content”).

So that we can run the site, you give us a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free license to host, store, copy, publish, display, and distribute your content; to format it for the site (for example resizing images or removing hidden file data); and to review and moderate it. The license also lets the service providers who help us run the site do these things on our behalf. It lasts while your content is on the site, and for any time we keep copies as our Privacy Policy describes (for example in backups or moderation records).

We don’t rewrite the words of your reviews or replies. We publish them as written, or we don’t publish them.

You confirm that you have the right to post your content, that it is accurate to the best of your knowledge, and that it doesn’t break these terms, our Review guidelines, or anyone else’s rights.

Photos and floor plans from providers

Providers can add photos and floor plans to their listing. For every image, the person uploading it confirms:

• “I took this photo or have permission to use it.”
• For photos: “No identifiable residents or patients appear in this photo without their consent.”

Only upload images you have the rights to. Don’t show identifiable residents, patients, or visitors unless you have their consent (and any written authorization that privacy laws, such as HIPAA, require of you). Don’t include documents, screens, or charts with personal information.

Nothing appears on the site until our team approves it. We remove location and camera details from the copies we publish. We may decline or remove any image, for example when its rights or consent are in question.

Reviews

Every review must follow our Review guidelines. In short:

• Write about your own or your family’s real experience with the provider.
• Don’t review a provider you work for, own, or compete with, and don’t accept anything in return for a review.
• Write one review per provider from your account. You can edit it later.
• Don’t share other people’s names, health details, or contact information without their permission.

Our team reads every review before it is published. We never remove a review because it is negative or because a provider asks us to. When we don’t publish a review or take one down, we tell its author which guideline it broke.

Reviews are public. We show your relationship to the resident or patient and when the care took place, but not your name or email address. Please think before sharing details that could identify you or someone else.

Reviews are the opinions of their authors, not ours.

Claiming and managing a listing (for providers)

Someone who works for a provider can claim its listing to keep its profile current, add photos, and reply to reviews. When you claim a listing, you confirm that:

• you are authorized to act for the provider, and the information you give us about yourself, your role, and the provider’s ownership is true;
• the information you add to the profile is accurate, and you will keep it current.

We verify claims, for example with a code sent by call or text to the phone number CMS lists for the provider, or by reviewing documents you upload. We may ask for more information, and we may approve or decline a claim at our discretion.

We may remove your access to a listing at any time, for example if information you gave us turns out to be false, the provider’s ownership or your role changes, someone else shows a better right to the listing, or you break these terms.

Claiming a listing doesn’t let you remove or change reviews or CMS data. You can reply publicly to a review once (and update your reply); replies follow the same guidelines as reviews and are read by our team before they appear.

Acceptable use

Please use the site the way it is meant to be used. Don’t:

• scrape, crawl, copy, or bulk-download the site or its content, or build a database from it, without our written permission (search engines that follow our robots.txt are welcome; CMS data is available from CMS directly);
• interfere with the site: overload it, probe or test it for weaknesses, get around rate limits, bot checks, or access controls, or reach accounts or data that aren’t yours;
• impersonate anyone, or misrepresent your relationship with a provider or with us;
• post fake, paid, or misleading reviews or profile information, or ask others to;
• harass, threaten, or discriminate against anyone, or post content that is unlawful or infringes someone’s rights;
• upload malware or files meant to cause harm;
• use the site, or contact details found on it, to send spam or marketing;
• use the site in a way that breaks any law.

If you find a security problem, please tell us privately at [confirm: security contact email] instead of testing it further.

Moderation, reports, and takedowns

We may review, decline, or remove content that breaks these terms, our Review guidelines, or the law. For reviews, we always say which guideline applies. If you think a review breaks a guideline, sign in and use “Report this review” under it.

To ask us to remove something for another reason, such as a privacy concern or a photo that shows you, email us at [confirm: contact email] with a link to the content and why you think it should come down.

Copyright complaints (DMCA)

If you believe content on the site infringes your copyright, send a written notice to our designated copyright agent: [confirm: DMCA agent name, address, and email]. Under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, your notice must include:

• your physical or electronic signature;
• a description of the copyrighted work you believe is infringed;
• the link to, or a description of where to find, the material you want removed;
• your name, address, phone number, and email address;
• a statement that you believe in good faith that the use isn’t authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law;
• a statement, under penalty of perjury, that the information in your notice is accurate and that you are the copyright owner or authorized to act for the owner.

If your content was removed because of a notice and you believe that was a mistake, you can send a counter-notice to the same agent. We close the accounts of people who repeatedly infringe others’ copyrights. [confirm: repeat-infringer policy]

Links to other sites

The site links to other websites, such as CMS’s Care Compare and providers’ own websites. We don’t control those sites and aren’t responsible for their content or privacy practices.

Disclaimers

We work hard to keep the site accurate and available, but we provide it “as is” and “as available”. To the fullest extent the law allows, we make no promises or warranties of any kind, express or implied, including that the site or its information is accurate, complete, current, fit for a particular purpose, or free of errors or interruptions.

We are not responsible for the care or services any provider gives, for anything a provider or another user says or does, or for decisions you make using the site.

Some states don’t allow some of these disclaimers, so some of them may not apply to you.

Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent the law allows, we (and our team and service providers) are not liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, or for lost profits, data, or goodwill, arising from your use of the site, even if we were told they were possible.

To the fullest extent the law allows, our total liability for any claim about the site is limited to the greater of $100 [confirm: liability cap, for counsel] or the amount you paid us in the 12 months before the claim. The site is free for families, so for most people that amount is $0.

Some states don’t allow these limits, so some of them may not apply to you.

Indemnity

If someone makes a claim against us because of content you posted, the way you used the site, or your breaking these terms or the law, you agree to cover our reasonable costs of that claim, including legal fees, to the extent the law allows.

Ending your use of the site

You can stop using the site at any time. To close your account, email us at [confirm: contact email]. [confirm: what happens to a closed account’s reviews, claims, and roles]

We may suspend or end your access if you break these terms, if we must by law, or to protect people or the site. When it’s reasonable, we will tell you first.

The parts of these terms that by their nature should continue, such as the license for content that stays on the site, the disclaimers, the limitation of liability, and the indemnity, continue after your access ends.

Governing law and disputes

If you have a problem with the site, please contact us first; most concerns can be solved quickly and informally.

These terms are governed by the laws of the State of [State] and applicable US federal law, without regard to conflict-of-law rules. Any dispute that we can’t resolve informally will be heard in the state or federal courts located in [State], unless the law where you live gives you the right to bring it elsewhere. [confirm: governing law, courts, and any arbitration terms, for counsel]

Changes to these terms

We may update these terms as the site changes or the law requires. We will post the new version here with a new “Last updated” date. If a change is significant, we will also tell you on the site or by email before it takes effect. [confirm: advance notice of significant changes] If you keep using the site after a change takes effect, the new terms apply.

General

These terms, together with our Privacy Policy and Review guidelines, are the whole agreement between you and us about the site. If a court finds part of them unenforceable, the rest still applies. If we don’t enforce a part right away, we can still enforce it later. You may not transfer these terms to someone else; we may transfer them as part of a merger, acquisition, or sale of the site.

Contact us

Questions about these terms? Contact us:

• Email: [confirm: contact email]
• Mail: [confirm: company legal name], [confirm: mailing address]