About
An introduction service that tells you how it is paid
Hearth helps families in the Greater Toronto Area work out what home care they need, what it costs, and which agencies actually serve their municipality. We are not a care provider, we do not employ care workers, and we never take a share of what you pay an agency.
Business model
How we make money, plainly
Home care agencies pay us when we pass them an enquiry. That is the whole model. Families are never charged, and the price you negotiate with an agency is between you and them.
This creates an obvious tension, so here is how we manage it: listings are alphabetical, paying us does not move an agency up a page, and every agency in our directory appears whether they pay us or not. The ones that pay simply receive the enquiries.
We think a lead-generation business can be run honestly if it is transparent about being one. The alternative, pretending to be an impartial ranking while selling placement, is what makes this whole category untrustworthy.
What we will not do
- Sell your details to anyone other than the providers matched to your request.
- Take a commission on the care you buy.
- Rank or score providers, or accept payment for position.
- Publish testimonials or statistics we cannot evidence.
- Ask for a diagnosis or health records we do not need.
Scope
Where we work, and what we cover
We cover 25 municipalities across Toronto, Peel, York, Durham and Halton, and list 53 home care agencies. We deliberately started narrow: a directory that is genuinely accurate for the GTA is more useful than a national one that is thin everywhere.
We currently cover home care only. Retirement residences and long-term care homes are licensed and inspected under separate provincial regimes, and we would rather add them properly, with the inspection record attached, than list them as names on a page.