Why You Can't Yelp Your Way to a Safe Nursing Home

The multi-billion-dollar illusion of online reviews for care facilities, and how to actually spot the red flags.

If you want a decent carbonara in Chicago, Yelp is fine. If you want to know if a nursing home in Des Moines routinely leaves residents sitting in their own waste for six hours, Yelp is worse than useless. The five-star review you see online was likely written by the marketing director’s niece, while the one-star review was left by a disgruntled ex-employee who got caught stealing pain patches. The stakes are too high for crowdsourced vibes, yet millions of families still shop for care facilities the same way they shop for tacos.

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