Verification standards.

This Verification Standards page explains how HandshakeMD, operated by shrinkMD Publishing LLC, a Florida limited liability company (“Company,” “we,” “us,” or “our”), verifies healthcare professionals and practices listed on the Platform.

Verification is intended to improve trust and data quality. It is not the same as comprehensive credentialing, privileging, accreditation, quality review, or endorsement.

1What verified means

A verification label means that the Company reviewed one or more pieces of professional or practice information and compared them with one or more sources that we considered reasonably appropriate at the time of review.

Depending on the type of verification, we may review information such as:

• professional identity;
• National Provider Identifier information;
• professional license information;
• practice affiliation;
• professional email domain;
• practice website;
• business records;
• publicly available professional information; or
• information supplied by an authorized practice representative.

A verification label does not mean that every fact on a profile has been independently confirmed. Almost everything on a listing is the clinician's own description of their own practice.

2Verification is not credentialing

The Platform is not a hospital credentialing office, health plan credentialing organization, medical staff office, accreditation body, or credential verification organization.

Unless expressly stated otherwise, our verification process does not include comprehensive primary source review of:

• medical or professional education;
• residency or fellowship training;
• hospital privileges;
• malpractice history;
• criminal history;
• disciplinary history;
• exclusion databases;
• controlled substance registrations;
• board certification;
• peer references;
• employment history;
• clinical competence;
• quality of care; or
• patient outcomes.

Organizations with credentialing obligations must perform their own credentialing.

3Verification is not an endorsement

Verification does not mean that the Company:

• recommends the professional;
• endorses the practice;
• guarantees quality;
• guarantees competence;
• guarantees suitability for a particular patient;
• guarantees current availability;
• guarantees insurance participation; or
• guarantees that every credential listed is accurate.

Users should conduct their own due diligence before making referral or healthcare decisions.

4The badges, one at a time

There is no single unexplained badge on this site. Each label below names one attribute that was checked, so a reader can see what was done instead of guessing. A listing can carry some of these and not others, and most do.

Practice email verified. Somebody controlling an email address at the practice's own domain received a single use link and completed it.

What it does not mean. It does not establish identity. A colleague, an office administrator, a shared inbox, or anybody with access to that mailbox could have completed it. It says nothing about licensure, scope, or quality, and it is not the practice vouching for this clinician's work.

Sources used. practice domain email.

NPI matched. The name, credential, and primary taxonomy on the listing match the National Plan and Provider Enumeration System record for the stated NPI, and the number passes its own check digit.

What it does not mean. It does not mean the person holds an active license. CMS states plainly that issuing an NPI does not establish licensure, credentialing, or endorsement.

Sources used. the National Plan and Provider Enumeration System.

Practice affiliation verified. One of the following: a verification link clicked at the practice domain, a practice website we can reach that lists this clinician, or confirmation from a person answering the practice's published number.

What it does not mean. It does not mean the clinician is currently employed there, and it does not mean the practice website is accurate or current.

Sources used. practice domain email, the practice website, the practice's published telephone number.

Profile claimed. An individual or an authorized representative completed the claim process for the listing.

What it does not mean. It does not mean any credential was checked. A claimed profile with no other badge has had nothing verified.

Sources used. our own claim process.

License verified, which we do not issue. Nothing, today. Licensing is administered by more than fifty separate boards with different systems and many have no public lookup at all, so we do not claim to have checked a license. The label is defined here so that the wording exists and has been reviewed before any such check does.

What it does not mean. Because it is never displayed, it means nothing about any listing. Confirm licensure with the relevant state board yourself, every time it matters.

Availability, which is not a badge. Whether a clinician is taking new patients is their own statement about their own panel, and it can change in a week. The word verified is kept away from it deliberately. It is shown as the date they last confirmed it, with a meter for how fresh that is, and a listing that goes unconfirmed stops showing as open. Section 14 covers how that works.

5Sources we may use

Verification may rely on sources such as:

• National Provider Identifier records;
• state licensing databases;
• licensing board websites;
• professional association records;
• practice websites;
• professional websites;
• business domain email addresses;
• public business records;
• authorized practice personnel;
• professional directories;
• other public records; or
• documents submitted by the professional or practice.

We may change the sources or methods used over time. Section 4 says which sources are actually used for each badge today, which is a shorter list than the one above.

6Public sources may be incomplete or delayed

Government and third party databases may contain:

• outdated information;
• typographical errors;
• incomplete information;
• reporting delays; or
• discrepancies.

A verification decision based on a public source is only as reliable as the source information available at that time.

7Frequency of verification

Verification is not continuous. Every badge is a point in time check, and every listing shows the date its checks were done.

The Platform may:

• verify information when a profile is first claimed;
• periodically recheck selected information;
• request reconfirmation;
• trigger reverification after material edits;
• reverify after receiving a report;
• suspend verification when information cannot be confirmed; or
• remove a verification indicator if information becomes stale.

Two separate clocks run on every listing. Availability has to be reconfirmed inside 90 days or it stops showing as open, and the whole listing has to be reconfirmed inside 180 days or it comes out of search entirely. How it works sets out the reminders and the windows.

8Professional responsibility to keep information current

Professionals and authorized representatives remain responsible for keeping listings accurate.

Verified users should promptly update material changes involving:

• license status;
• practice affiliation;
• location;
• specialty;
• telehealth states;
• insurance participation;
• availability;
• contact information; or
• other material professional information.

Verification does not remove that obligation, and neither does a reminder email. The obligation is also a term of the Clinician Listing Agreement.

9Changes in license status

If we become aware that a license may be:

• expired;
• suspended;
• revoked;
• restricted;
• inactive; or
• otherwise materially changed,

we may:

• place the listing under review;
• request clarification;
• limit visibility;
• annotate the listing;
• suspend the listing; or
• remove the listing.

The Company may act before completing a full investigation when reasonably necessary to protect users. We would rather take a listing down while we look into it than after.

The draft of this section began by removing a “License verified” label. There is no such label on this site to remove, for the reason given in section 4.

10Board certification

No badge on this site is proof of board certification, and there is no board certification badge.

If a certification appears on a listing, it is the clinician's own statement. Users should independently verify certification if it is material to a decision.

11Specialty information

A professional's specialty or subspecialty may be based on:

• professional self report;
• NPI taxonomy;
• licensure information;
• certification information;
• practice website information; or
• other professional sources.

Specialty information may not reflect every aspect of a professional's actual scope of practice.

12Telehealth verification

If a listing states that a professional offers telehealth in a particular state, that information is based on the professional's own attestation, on public licensure information, or on both.

The Platform does not guarantee that every contemplated telehealth encounter is legally permissible.

The professional and the patient remain responsible for confirming applicable law.

13Insurance information is not verification of benefits

Insurance information shown on a listing is not insurance verification.

The Company does not confirm:

• patient eligibility;
• benefits;
• deductibles;
• coinsurance;
• network status for a specific plan;
• prior authorization; or
• claim coverage.

Users should verify insurance information directly with the insurer and the practice.

14Availability is confirmed, not verified

Where the Platform displays:

• taking new patients;
• waitlist open; or
• not taking new patients,

that status is information provided by the professional or the practice, and it is labelled as confirmed on a date rather than verified.

Where availability has not been reconfirmed recently, we may:

• stop showing the listing as open;
• mark it as unconfirmed;
• display the last confirmation date; or
• request an update.

In practice all four happen automatically. A reminder goes out before the 90 day availability window closes, and if nobody answers it the listing stops showing as open while keeping its date visible.

15No quality score

Verification does not create a score or a ranking of professional quality.

Badges are not intended to imply that one professional is better than another. Search placement and verification are separate concepts, and position on this site is never for sale.

16No guarantee against fraud

We use reasonable methods designed to reduce impersonation and inaccurate listings, but no verification system can eliminate all fraud or misuse.

A person could provide:

• falsified documents;
• compromised credentials;
• misleading information; or
• inaccurate public records.

Users should report suspected fraud or impersonation promptly, and section 17 says how.

17Reports and challenges

Anybody may report concerns regarding:

• professional identity;
• licensure;
• practice affiliation;
• inaccurate credentials;
• misleading information;
• unauthorized profile claiming;
• expired information; or
• other verification concerns.

Email listings@handshakemd.com with the listing address and what looks wrong. There is no form to fill in and no account needed, including if the listing is not yours.

A report does not automatically establish that information is false. We may review available information and take the action we consider appropriate.

18Review process

When a verification issue is reported, we may:

• compare public records;
• contact the professional;
• contact the practice;
• request supporting documentation;
• temporarily modify a verification label;
• freeze profile edits;
• suspend the listing; or
• take no action if the concern cannot be substantiated.

The Platform is not obligated to conduct a formal adjudicatory process. Where a report concerns somebody being listed without their knowledge or consent, the listing comes down first and gets investigated second.

19Verification appeals

If a professional disagrees with a verification decision, they may request review by emailing listings@handshakemd.com with the word appeal in the subject line.

The request should include:

• name;
• the listing address;
• the disputed decision;
• supporting information; and
• current contact information.

We may ask for additional documentation, and we will answer in writing.

20Removal of verification status

A badge may be removed for reasons including:

• failure to reconfirm information;
• inability to verify updated information;
• conflicting public records;
• suspected fraud;
• material inaccuracies;
• expiration of licensure;
• unresolved authorization disputes;
• violation of Platform rules; or
• other circumstances that reasonably call the verification into question.

Removal of a badge does not imply professional misconduct. The most common reason by a distance is that nobody answered a reminder email.

21Public professional information

The Platform may display professional information obtained from lawful public sources even where a listing has not been claimed or verified.

A profile can therefore be:

• unclaimed;
• claimed;
• partially verified;
• verified for one category and not another; or
• under review.

Those distinctions are visible on the listing itself rather than left to inference. An unclaimed listing built from the public NPI registry is kept out of search engines and out of our own search results until a clinician claims and confirms it.

22Labels are specific on purpose

There is no “Verified Provider” seal on this site and there will not be one. A single unexplained badge sounds like credentialing and endorsement, which is exactly what it is not, and it tells a reader nothing about what was actually checked.

So the labels are specific: practice email verified, npi matched, practice affiliation verified, profile claimed. Each one names one attribute, each one links to its own definition in section 4, and each one carries its qualifier beside it rather than only in this document.

Availability is kept out of that vocabulary entirely, for the reason in section 14.

23What you see on a profile

Every listing shows its badges together, at the top of the availability card, above the status and the confirmation date.

A listing with all three checks done shows:

• Practice email verified
• NPI matched
• Practice affiliation verified

under a line reading “Checked” with the date, then the availability status, then the date the clinician last confirmed that status, then a link to this page.

Hovering a badge, or reaching it with a keyboard, shows that badge's one line qualifier. Tapping it on a phone opens its definition here. A screen reader reads the qualifier as part of the badge. The qualifier is not optional decoration, which is why it is not hidden behind a hover alone.

A printed profile shows every qualifier in full, in the flow of the page, because a printout has no hover.

24What we never check

This is the list worth reading twice. Everything below is something we do not check and never present as checked.

Licensure. There is no single national license database, so we do not claim to have verified one. See the License verified entry above.

Board certification. We do not check it and we do not display it as verified. A certification on a listing is the clinician's own statement.

Education, training, residency, or fellowship. Not reviewed. An organization with credentialing obligations must do its own primary source verification.

Malpractice, disciplinary, or criminal history. Not reviewed, and not displayed.

Exclusion databases and controlled substance registration. Not reviewed.

Clinical quality. We make no assessment of it, we collect no reviews, and no badge here is an endorsement or a recommendation.

Insurance benefits. A listed insurer is not verification of benefits. Panels change and plans differ by product, so confirm coverage with the practice and your plan.

An organization with credentialing obligations, which means a hospital, a health plan, an employer, or a medical staff office, must do its own credentialing and primary source verification. Nothing on this site substitutes for that, and nothing here is offered as if it does.

25Verification does not replace independent due diligence

Patients, referring professionals, employers, health plans, hospitals, and other users should independently confirm information that is important to their decision.

Sources include:

• state licensing boards;
• certification organizations;
• health plans;
• professional practices;
• hospitals;
• employers; or
• other primary sources.

Every listing links to the board lookup for the states that clinician practices in, so this is one click rather than a research project.

26No liability for reliance on verification

Verification labels are informational only.

The limitation of liability provisions in the Terms of Use apply to verification information.

To the maximum extent permitted by law, the Company does not guarantee or warrant the completeness, accuracy, or continuing validity of verification information.

27Changes to these standards

We may modify our verification methods as:

• the Platform evolves;
• better data becomes available;
• legal requirements change;
• fraud risks change; or
• additional verification technology becomes available.

The current version of these Verification Standards is always the one posted here, and it carries a version string at the top.

A new badge cannot appear on a listing before it appears in section 4 of this page. The two are generated from the same definition, and an automated check fails the build if a badge is displayed that this page does not define, or defined here and never explained.

28Contact

Questions about verification, and reports of incorrect professional information:

Verification and listing reports: listings@handshakemd.com

shrinkMD Publishing LLC, a Florida limited liability company
Operator of HandshakeMD
General correspondence: by email. We do not publish a general mailing address, because the address below is our registered agent rather than an office, and post sent to it for anything other than formal legal notice may not reach us.
Registered agent for service of process in Florida: Northwest Registered Agent LLC, 7901 4th St N Ste 300, St. Petersburg, FL 33702
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