How matching works

The three steps

1. 1

   You tell us what you are looking for

   A service category, a rough timeframe, a ZIP code, and a way to reach you. Nothing clinical.

2. 2

   We check participating providers

   We compare your ZIP code and service against each participating provider's declared coverage, declared services, active status, and whether they are currently taking requests in that category.

3. 3

   A provider may contact you

   If one matches, we hand over your request. Everything after that — availability, eligibility, pricing, and whether they can help at all — is the provider's decision.

Exactly what we check

There is no scoring model and no machine learning here. Four boolean checks decide where a request goes, and every one of them is recorded.

Service coverage

Has the provider declared that it offers this service category? If not, the request is never routed to them, regardless of how close they are.

ZIP coverage

Is your ZIP code in the coverage list the provider gave us? Coverage lists change, and a ZIP being listed is not a promise of availability on any given day.

Active status

Is the provider currently participating? A paused or removed provider receives nothing.

Accepting requests

A provider can offer a service and still not want requests for it this week. We honour that separately from whether they offer it at all.

What we share, field by field

When there is a match, this is the complete list of what the provider receives. There is nothing else.

• The service category you selected and your rough timeframe.
• Your ZIP code, and the street address you gave for the visit.
• Your first and last name.
• Your phone number or email address, and which you prefer.
• The language you were reading the site in.
• The version of the consent text you agreed to and the time you agreed.
• Marketing source information such as the campaign that brought you here.

What we do not do

• We do not assess whether you need care, and we do not triage. Nothing on this site is a clinical judgment.
• We do not book appointments. We cannot see a provider's calendar.
• We do not decide whether a provider is any good. Where we have reviewed a licence, the profile says what was reviewed and when; where we have not, the profile says that instead.
• We do not sell your information to data brokers or list buyers.
• We do not contact you ourselves about care. The provider does that.

How we are paid

When there is no match