How we source our guides

Navigate Care publishes these guides. Research, drafting and editing can include AI assistance. We compare benefit and policy claims with primary sources and correct wording that overstates what those sources say.

Publication under our name does not mean a physician, nurse or lawyer reviewed an article. We do not claim a professional review unless it is documented. A source check confirms the stated general rules against the cited material; it does not determine your coverage or replace advice about your situation.

We are not a law firm and we are not your parent's physician. Where a question genuinely needs a lawyer or a doctor, our guides say so.

The rules themselves. Medicare.gov, the CMS website, the Medicare Benefit Policy and Claims Processing Manuals, the annual Physician Fee Schedule, and the official Medicare & You handbook. When a guide says what Medicare does or does not cover, this is where it comes from.

Federal data and research. The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, the CMS Office of the Actuary, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, the National Institute on Aging, and peer-reviewed literature where a clinical claim needs it.

Independent non-profits. KFF, the Medicare Rights Center, the National Council on Aging, and the state SHIP programs — used for context and for plain-English framing, never as a substitute for the underlying rule.

Source lists appear on the article pages. Where a source has an explanatory note, it tells you which claim to check there. Some older guides still need source lists or a fresh review; a link alone does not establish that every statement has been verified.

• Research and editing may use AI tools. A source check is not a clinical review or an endorsement by Medicare or CMS.
• For guides with a source-review date, we link the primary sources that support the benefit and policy rules.
• We avoid dollar figures that reset every January. Premiums, deductibles and caps change annually and stale numbers do real harm, so we explain the mechanism and point you at the current figure.
• We say plainly when Medicare does not cover something. A guide that oversells a benefit is worse than no guide at all.
• We write for the family, not for the search engine. If a topic does not deserve a guide, we do not write one.

Medicare changes every year, and some of it changes mid-year. Check the source-review date when an article provides one. We add that date only after a documented check of that article's current content. Articles without a source-review date should not be assumed to have passed the same review.

Each guide shows when it was last updated, and when it was first published if the two differ. An old date on a guide about a rule that has not changed is not a problem; we would rather show you the real date than refresh it for appearance.

Navigate Care sells a service. We match families with a dedicated health care navigator, and we are paid for it — through coverage or payment arrangements that depend on the patient's eligibility. Medicare Part B may cover Principal Illness Navigation or Community Health Integration for eligible patients. Deductibles and coinsurance can apply; other insurance may reduce the amount owed. We explain expected costs before a patient decides whether to use ongoing services.

So yes, we have a reason to want you to call us. We try to earn that by writing guides that are genuinely useful even if you never do — including the ones that tell you how to get help for free from a SHIP counselor or your Area Agency on Aging, and the ones that explain when you do not need anyone at all.

If a guide is wrong, out of date, or unclear, we want to know. Write to guides@trynavigate.care and a person will read it.

When a correction changes a benefit rule or other material information, the article's content and relevant sources need to be reviewed together. The publication date, content-update date and source-review date describe different events.

They are general information about how Medicare and the care system work. They are not medical advice, legal advice, or financial advice, and they cannot account for your parent's specific plan, diagnosis or state.

Coverage details vary by plan and change over time. Before you act on anything here, confirm it against your own plan documents, or let us confirm it with you.