Charleston Senior AdvisorHow do I confirm a Charleston assisted living facility is licensed?
Open the S.C. Department of Public Health's Find a Facility map, pick the Community Residential Care Facilities layer and search by name or address; the facility's entry shows its license number, expiration date, licensed beds, administrator and the regulation it is licensed under.
The same map can export a whole facility type to a spreadsheet, which is how our directory is built. A home that calls itself a personal care home or assisted living but does not appear under CRCFs is not licensed as one. Report a suspected unlicensed care home to DPH Healthcare Quality at 1-800-922-6735; residents of unlicensed homes have none of the regulation's protections.
Where are DPH's enforcement orders published?
On DPH Healthcare Quality's Enforcement Actions page, as a monthly report of administrative and consent orders; each entry names the facility and licensee, summarizes the inspections and violations found, and states the penalty and corrective steps.
DPH's reports for January 2025 to September 2026 list 23 orders against CRCFs statewide; 2 of them name a CRCF in the tri-county area. Each entry also lists any earlier orders against the same party in the previous five years. Our facility pages list every order we matched from January 2025 on. Penalties scale with the class of violation and how often it repeats within 36 months:
| Repeat within 36 months | Class I | Class II | Class III |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | $500-1,500 | $300-800 | $100-300 |
| 2nd | $1,000-3,000 | $500-1,500 | $300-800 |
| 3rd | $2,000-5,000 | $1,000-3,000 | $500-1,500 |
| 4th | $5,000 | $2,000-5,000 | $1,000-3,000 |
| 5th | $5,000 | $5,000 | $2,000-5,000 |
| 6th | $5,000 | $5,000 | $5,000 |
Source: Regulation 60-84, Section 302.F (DPH may also act under S.C. Code 44-7-320(C)).
How do I get a CRCF's inspection report?
Write to DPH Healthcare Quality: Regulation 60-84 makes inspection and investigation reports, with the facility's response, available to the public on written request, with individuals' names removed (Section 202.E).
You can also ask the facility itself for its latest report and signed plan of correction, which it must keep. A building that will not show you either has told you something. Since inspections happen as DPH deems appropriate, ask the date of the last visit and whether it was routine or a complaint investigation.
How do I look up a nursing home's inspections and ratings?
Use CMS Care Compare, which shows each certified nursing home's star ratings, latest standard health inspection date, deficiency counts, staffing hours, turnover and fines; DPH carries out those federal inspections as South Carolina's state survey agency.
Our nursing home pages reproduce the Care Compare figures with their data date and compare each home with the tri-county middle value. Several Lowcountry homes use a different name in CMS's data than on the DPH license, usually after a change of operator, so search Care Compare by street address if the name search comes up empty.
How can I verify an administrator's license?
CRCF and nursing home administrators are licensed by the S.C. Board of Long Term Health Care Administrators at the Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation, and LLR's online license lookup shows status and any discipline.
DPH's record names the administrator; LLR confirms the license is current. One recent change of administrator is normal. Several in a year is worth a question. For nursing homes, CMS also counts how many administrators left during its measurement period, which appears on our pages.
Side by side
| Public records will show you | Public records will not show you | |
|---|---|---|
| License | Number, expiration, beds, administrator (DPH) | Monthly price |
| Enforcement | Administrative and consent orders by month (DPH) | Every routine citation, unless you request reports |
| Nursing homes | CMS stars, inspections, staffing, fines | How a hall feels at night |
| Assisted living | License and Alzheimer's unit flag | Star ratings (CMS does not rate CRCFs) |
Sources: S.C. Code Regs. 60-84, DPH Healthcare Quality, SCDHHS bulletins and charts, CareScout, CMS and VA rate tables, as cited in each answer. See our editorial standards.
