Guides to California senior care
Short guides, written and maintained by Covelight Care and checked against the state’s own sources — the California Department of Social Services records that power this site, and, where a guide quotes the law, the statute or regulation text itself. Every California-specific number on these pages is pulled from our copy of the state record when the page is built — nothing is estimated or invented. Each guide shows its own review date.
RCFE vs. assisted living vs. skilled nursing
What California’s care-home terms actually mean, who licenses each, and what Medicare and Medi-Cal do — and don’t — pay for.
The Assisted Living Waiver (ALW), explained
How Medi-Cal can pay for the care portion of assisted living: eligibility, the participating counties, and how to apply.
Board and care vs. assisted living
Same California license, different scale: what six-bed homes and large communities each offer, and what each costs.
How to check a care home’s license
Verify any California care home in about a minute: our free roster search, the state’s own lookup, and how to read the statuses.
The Medicare discharge clock
The notices a hospital or nursing facility must give you, the appeal deadlines hour by hour, and who pays while a review runs — in the regulation’s own words.
Three documents every care home must hand you
A blank admission agreement, the three-year rate-increase history, and the ombudsman’s contacts — California law entitles you to each one before you sign anything. The exact words to ask, and the state’s own sentences to point to.
The real admission sequence
The paperwork folklore, corrected from the regulations: when the admission agreement is actually signed, how long the doctor’s assessment stays valid, where the TB test lives, and whose job the appraisal is.
SSI in care homes: five myths
What California law actually says about SSI in licensed care homes — the payment standard, deposits, rate increases, and refunds — each myth answered in the statute’s own words.
Hospice in a care home
Staying in a licensed care home on hospice is lawful and common when the state’s approval is in place. What the hospice care waiver is, what must exist before services begin, and three questions to ask.
The first 90 days
What the research honestly shows about the months after a move: how common the hard stretch is, the shape it usually takes, and the small, concrete things that measurably help.