Greenville Senior AdvisorHow do I check whether a Greenville assisted living facility is licensed?
Use the S.C. Department of Public Health's Find a Facility map: choose the Community Residential Care Facilities tab, search by name or location, and the facility's pin shows its license number and expiration date, licensed beds, administrator and the regulation it is licensed under.
The map can also export the full list for a facility type to a spreadsheet, which is the data our directory is built from. If a residence that calls itself assisted living or a personal care home does not appear under CRCFs, it is not licensed as one. Unlicensed care homes are a real problem in South Carolina; report a suspected one to DPH Healthcare Quality.
Where do I find DPH enforcement actions against a facility?
DPH Healthcare Quality publishes a monthly report of administrative orders and consent orders on its Healthcare Quality Enforcement Actions page; each entry names the facility and licensee, summarizes the inspections and violations, and states the penalty and required corrective actions.
From January 2025 to September 2026, DPH's monthly enforcement reports list 23 orders against CRCFs statewide; 3 of them name a CRCF in our four counties. Each report also lists prior orders against the same party in the past five years. A consent order means the facility agreed to the penalty without a contested hearing. Our facility pages list every order we found from January 2025 onward; for older history, read the archived reports on DPH's page, which go back many years.
| Violation 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 instead use S.C. Code 44-7-320(C)).
How do I get a South Carolina CRCF's inspection report?
Ask DPH Healthcare Quality in writing: Regulation 60-84 makes reports of inspections and investigations, with the facility's response, available to the public on written request, with individuals' names redacted (Section 202.E).
You can also ask the facility directly for its most recent inspection report and its signed plan of correction, which it must have on file. A facility that will not show you either is giving you useful information. Because DPH inspects CRCFs as it deems appropriate rather than on a published cycle, ask when the last visit was and whether it was a routine inspection or a complaint investigation.
How do I check a nursing home's inspection history?
Use CMS Care Compare, which publishes each certified nursing home's star ratings, most recent standard health inspection date, deficiency counts, staffing hours, turnover and fines; DPH acts as the state survey agency that conducts those federal inspections in South Carolina.
Our nursing home pages reproduce the Care Compare figures with the data date and compare each home with the four-county median. Note that several Upstate nursing homes appear under a different name on CMS's data than on their DPH license, usually after a change of operator; search Care Compare by address if a name search fails.
How can I check an administrator's license in South Carolina?
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 (LLR), whose online license lookup shows license status and any board discipline.
DPH's facility record names the administrator, and the board's lookup confirms that person holds a current CRCF or nursing home administrator license. A recent administrator change is common and not a red flag by itself, but a building that has had several administrators in a year is worth asking about. For nursing homes, CMS also reports how many administrators have left in its measurement period.
At a glance
| Public records will tell you | Public records will not tell you | |
|---|---|---|
| License | Number, expiration, licensed beds, licensee, administrator | Whether there is a vacancy |
| Enforcement | DPH orders, penalties and cited violations | Every routine deficiency (request the report) |
| Nursing homes | CMS stars, inspections, staffing and fines | How a specific unit feels at night |
| Assisted living | License and Alzheimer's unit flags | A state or CMS rating |
Sources include S.C. Code Regs. 60-84, DPH Healthcare Quality and SCDHHS pages and bulletins, CareScout, CMS and VA rate tables as cited above; see our editorial standards.
