Home Care Pulse Partnership and Reviews Integration Helps to Effectively Build Agencies’ Online Reputation

EDITOR’S NOTE: The below press release has been updated from its original version issued on November 28, after more home care agencies were identified as Caring Stars of 2018 through the Home Care Pulse reviews program. The details in the release below are the most up-to-date figures.

San Mateo, CA; December 1, 2017: After the Thanksgiving holiday, it’s common for families to discover their elderly loved ones are in need of more companionship and care, and they turn to the Internet to explore the options for in-home care and senior living. To help them in their senior care search, Caring.com has announced its annual list recognizing in-home care agencies for service excellence based on consumer ratings and reviews, or the “Caring Stars of 2018” for in-home care. The 2018 award winners for top-rated in-home care includes 253 in-home care agencies across the nation, and expands Caring.com’s announcement earlier this month celebrating the Caring Stars of 2018 in senior living and Caring.com’s 10-year anniversary.

When originally launched in 2012, the Caring Stars program was the first-of-its-kind in the senior living industry. After years of the program’s growth in use and popularity, Caring.com began including in-home care agencies with the 2017 award, and 142 agencies were honored in that inaugural year for their participation.

Caring.com’s partnership and reviews software integration with Home Care Pulse this year has thus far enabled about 500 in-home care agencies nationwide to more proactively and easily build their online reputation, by increasing the volume of consumer reviews published on their Caring.com in-home care listings. More than 100 of those participating agencies met the high threshold to become a Caring Star of 2018, helping to increase the number of Caring Stars winners in the home care category by 78% in 2018 vs 2017.

To qualify for the 2018 Caring Stars award for in-home care, the agencies had to meet the following criteria:

  • Have 10 or more consumer reviews on their Caring.com listing by the qualification deadline, with an overall average rating of 4.5 stars or higher (on a scale of 1 to 5);
  • Have 3 or more reviews on their listing dated between October 1, 2016 – October 15, 2017, including at least one that was posted during 2017 and at least one that had a 5-star rating; and
  • Respond to any/all negative (1-star or 2-star) reviews on their listing.

“Congratulations to these top-rated in-home care agencies, for receiving high praise in online reviews from family caregivers and older adults and standing out among the best in the nation,” said Caring.com’s CEO Karen Cassel. “The Caring Stars program, and our collaboration with Home Care Pulse, both help us to meet the senior care needs of families across the country, and we’re thrilled to compile and showcase this important list each year to support their search for agencies in their area.”

More information about the Caring Stars program is available by contacting Caring.com’s reviews team at community@caring.com or (650) 762-8190. The winner lists are published each year for families at https://www.caring.com/bestseniorliving and linked via Caring.com’s homepage as well.