Data methods · Source-first research
Occupancy and availability: what we know, and what we don't
A full community, an available apartment, an occupied licensed bed and a care team accepting new clients are four different facts. LaterStages reports them separately.
Our four levels of evidence
- Government-reported historical figures. CMS nursing-home average daily resident count divided by certified beds; selected state utilization reports where definitions are compatible.
- Operator-confirmed information. A provider identifies current units or openings, care level, verification date and a contact. We label this provider-reported, not government-verified.
- Other sourced research. Information derived from published sources. We show the source and reporting period; older information is not marked live.
- Not publicly reported / not verified. The default when we lack enough evidence. This is never represented as 0% occupancy or a vacant room.
Different categories require different denominators
- Nursing homes: average residents per day / certified beds. Staffing constraints can make a seemingly vacant bed unusable.
- Assisted living / memory care: residents or occupied rooms / licensed beds or units, only if clearly comparable. Memory care may be part of a larger facility, so never assume its room count equals the whole building.
- Independent living / active-adult rentals: leased or occupied units / rentable or total units. The landlord may distinguish leased from physically occupied.
- 55+ for-sale communities: home inventory, completed homes and resale listings—not a care occupancy rate.
- Adult day: average attendance / licensed daily program capacity, with the reporting window shown.
- Home care, home health, hospice: capacity to accept patients or clients and coverage area, not bed occupancy.
Sources and verification
Our first structured government source is CMS Provider Information, dataset 4pq5-n9py. We match individual homes by CMS Certification Number (CCN), not by a loosely similar business name. The calculation uses CMS's “Average Number of Residents per Day” divided by “Number of Certified Beds.” We keep source dates and anomalies; percentages do not represent current availability.
We also evaluate California HCAI long-term-care reports, Texas HHSC occupancy reports, regulator inspection summaries, operator vacancy feeds and other direct submissions. These sources have different definitions and do not automatically cover all care categories.
Refresh policy: published data is retained with a reporting period and date checked. Provider availability requires recent confirmation; otherwise it reverts to unverified. Source errors or mismatched provider IDs never produce a guessed percentage.
For facilities: to provide a correction or a dated availability update, email hello@laterstages.com with your facility URL, unit type, reporting period and documentation. Submissions are reviewed; they do not affect rankings.
Occupancy is not a facility quality score. Confirm current openings, staffing, care fit, admission requirements, and pricing directly with the provider.