Editorial standards

Where does the information on this site come from?

Facility data comes only from bulk public records -- OHCQ licensee directories, the MHCC consumer guide and CMS Care Compare -- and every rule, program and dollar figure is drawn from COMAR, the Maryland Department of Health, the Maryland Department of Aging, CMS, the VA or CareScout's published tables.

Each listing shows the source agency and the data date. The current files: OHCQ assisted living directory as of October 2, 2026, long-term care directory as of September 30, 2026, and CMS data release October 1, 2026.

What will Baltimore Senior Advisor not publish?

We do not publish our own ratings or rankings, invented reviews, a Baltimore-only cost median that no source publishes, a memory-care median, or facility details that are not in the public record.

CMS star ratings appear only for nursing homes and are always labelled as CMS's. MHCC rates are labelled as self-reported. Where data is missing -- assisted living inspection results, license expiration dates -- we say so instead of filling the gap.

How often is the directory refreshed?

We re-download the OHCQ and MHCC files and the CMS provider data at least quarterly and after major CMS releases, and every page shows its last-verified month.

Cost, rule and program pages are re-checked against their primary sources on the same cycle.

How do I report an error?

Email advisors@baltimoresenioradvisor.com with the page and the correction; facility operators can also ask OHCQ, MHCC or CMS to correct the underlying record, which we will pick up on the next refresh.

We fix factual errors promptly and note substantive changes on the page. Corrections that come from a facility are checked against the agency record before we change a listing, because the directory reproduces public records rather than marketing material.

How do we decide which towns get their own page?

A town or ZIP code gets its own page only when the OHCQ roster supports one with real local data -- enough licensed programs to list and compare; everywhere else, programs appear on the county page so that no page exists just to repeat another.

Facility pages follow the same rule. Every CMS-certified nursing home has a page because CMS publishes ratings, inspection citations, staffing and fines for it. Assisted living programs get a page only if they have at least 30 licensed beds and an MHCC profile; smaller homes appear as rows with their full license data on town, ZIP and directory pages.

Is a CMS star rating the same as our opinion?

No -- we have no ratings of our own.