How this started
Our founder, Kirk, was trying to make decisions about care for his mom. If you have been through it, you know the feeling: you are making one of the most consequential choices of your life, usually on a short timeline, and the information you need either doesn't exist, sits behind a sales call, or is scattered across a dozen government sites that were clearly not built for families.
Prices were vague or hidden entirely. Inspection records existed but were written for regulators, in codes nobody explains. Directory sites looked helpful until you noticed they only listed communities that paid to be there. The one thing nobody could tell him plainly was the thing he actually needed to know: of the options near his mom, which ones are genuinely good, what do they really cost, and what has gone wrong there before.
That gap is the whole reason Haven exists. The data is public. It was simply never assembled in a way that a family under pressure could use.
What we actually do
We pull together the records that already exist — federal inspection findings, staffing levels, quality measures, state licensing rosters, published cost surveys — and turn them into something you can read in an evening rather than a month. Research tools are available nationwide. This deployment is in research-only mode: it does not accept family requests, collect private care details, make referrals, or confirm openings, prices, or care fit.
- 16,763 communities across 402 metro areas, from federal and state records rather than who signed up.
- 418,479 inspection citations parsed and explained — including what each F-tag code actually means.
- 1,021 homes flagged for abuse and 396 under federal Special Focus scrutiny, named by state in our safety research.
- Local cost estimates for every metro, plus a cost calculator and a side-by-side comparison tool for the list a discharge planner hands you.
What we believe
Show the bad news too
A directory that only tells you what is good is an advertisement. We publish citations, abuse flags, fines and Special Focus status right alongside the photos — including for communities we work with.
Source records are not for sale
Paying us does not alter source-labeled CMS or state facts, neutral public-record order, or coverage in markets with verified official rosters. A partnership cannot buy a favorable recommendation.
Say where the number came from
Every cost, rating and statistic on this site names its source and its vintage. Where our data is less precise, we say so on the page rather than rounding it into false confidence.
Families should never pay us
Haven's public research tools are free for families. No family-to-community handoff or placement fee is active through this deployment. Source-labeled records retain their documented source and scope. Families never pay Haven.
Common questions
Who runs Haven?
Haven is built by a small team based in Salt Lake City, Utah. It started with our founder, Kirk, while he was trying to sort out care options for his own mother.
Is Haven free for families?
Haven's public research tools are free for families. No family-to-community handoff or placement fee is active through this deployment. Source-labeled records retain their documented source and scope. Families never pay Haven.
Can a partnership change what Haven shows?
No. A participation agreement cannot change a source label, official record, or neutral public-record order, and it cannot buy a favorable recommendation. CMS fields remain as CMS supplies them, and state-assisted-living records remain separate. In markets with verified official-roster coverage, we show every licensed community, not only the ones we have agreements with.
Where does Haven's data come from?
Federal CMS Care Compare data for nursing homes — ratings, staffing hours, inspection citations, and penalties — plus state licensing rosters for assisted living, published cost-of-care surveys, and public business listings. Currently 16,763 communities across 402 metro areas, with 418,479 inspection citations analyzed. Every page says where its numbers came from.
Keeping public records accurate
This research-only deployment cannot accept family help requests or private details by email. To flag a public fact on a community profile, use its Data status & corrections panel and include no private information.