How it works
Verification, and the clock.
Two things make this directory different from the ones you've used. We check that people are who they say they are, and we take listings down when nobody confirms them. Here's exactly how both work, including what we can't do.
NPI matched
The name, credential, and taxonomy on the listing match the national NPI registry, which is public data maintained by CMS. It confirms the person and the discipline, and nothing else.
Practice affiliation verified
Evidence tying the clinician to the practice on the listing: a link clicked at the practice domain, a reachable practice website that lists them, or a person answering the practice's published number.
Practice email verified
Both of the above together. Somebody controlling an address at the practice domain clicked a link, and the name matches the federal record. It can't stand on its own, and the build won't let it.
There's no "verified provider" seal here, on purpose. One badge that says everything says nothing, and it reads like credentialing, which this isn't. So each badge names one thing that was checked, shows the date it was checked, and links to its own definition.
What we don't do is claim to have verified a license. There is no single national license database, licensing is run by more than fifty separate boards, and an NPI proves nothing about licensure. Saying "license verified" when we haven't checked would be a lie, so there's no such badge and the build refuses a listing that tries to claim one.
Availability is a fourth thing, and it's deliberately not called verified. Whether somebody is taking patients is their own statement about their own panel and it can change in a week, so it shows as the date they last confirmed it.
Always verify licensure and credentials directly with the clinician and the relevant state board before making a referral. Every listing links to the board's own lookup for the states that clinician practices in. The full verification standard is here.
The clock
Two windows, and what happens at the end of each.
Availability goes stale much faster than the rest of a profile, so it gets its own, shorter window.
| What | Window | What happens at the end |
|---|---|---|
| Taking new patients | 90 days | The status drops to "needs confirmation" and stops showing as open in search |
| The whole profile | 180 days | The listing goes dormant, hidden from search and out of the search index |
| A dormant listing | 12 months | Restored in one click at any point. After a year it's removed for good |
One click, or one word
At day 75 we send a nudge, and at day 150 an email with three buttons: still taking patients, waitlist, or not right now. One click, no password. Requiring a login is how every other directory ends up full of stale data.
Dormant, not deleted
We don't punish a clinician for a busy quarter. The page keeps its address and its history, it just stops appearing until somebody says it's still true.
Why we can promise this and the paid directories can't
It isn't that they're careless. It's structural. On a paid directory, the listing is the product they sell you, so removing a stale profile means losing revenue. Nobody builds a system whose main job is to delete their own inventory.
HandshakeMD is free, so a listing costs us nothing to remove. That single fact is what lets us say the thing nobody else can: if it's here, somebody confirmed it recently, and you can see the date.
What's in the index, and what isn't
We're building the national index from the public NPI registry, so most clinicians in the country have a page waiting to be claimed. Those unclaimed pages are deliberately kept out of search engines and out of our own search results until a clinician claims and confirms one. An unclaimed page isn't a listing, it's a placeholder, and treating it as a listing is how directories end up full of phone numbers that ring nowhere.
No patient information, ever
Nothing on HandshakeMD is built to carry patient information, and our terms prohibit posting it. Referrals happen the way they always have, by fax, by portal, by phone, or by the patient calling. We're the part that tells you who to call.
Ready to be listed?
About eight minutes, free permanently for the listing itself, and you can take it down whenever you want.