The short version
DocBeat lists primary care physicians, dermatologists, cardiologists, orthopedic surgeons and psychiatrists (MD and DO) whose records we have checked against public sources. Physicians we have verified are accepting new patients come first; everyone is otherwise ordered the way a physician judges a colleague: by training, professional record and how they practise. Nobody can pay to appear, to rank, or to be left out of a fact. There are no star ratings and no reviews.
Psychiatry joined on 23 October 2026. Psychiatrists are listed with the same checks as every other field, marked by what they focus on and whether they see patients by video; psychologists, therapists and counselors are not physicians and are not listed, and every psychiatry page carries the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. The same day, every physician was marked by the age group they treat, so a search shows physicians who see adults unless you ask for a children's doctor.
When we are not sure about a physician, we leave them out rather than publish a caveat. A listing here is a statement that we checked.
Who appears
A physician appears when three things are true: they hold an active licence with the medical board of the state they are listed in, they practise primary care (family medicine, internal medicine, general practice, geriatrics or paediatrics) at a location we can place, and the public record supports the facts we would show. Physicians in the Northeast are covered today; a state is added only after its board data, licence checks and addresses have all been reconciled.
The licence check runs every day. A physician whose licence lapses drops off the site and returns when the board shows it active again; a licence lapsed for less than a year is treated as mid-renewal. A physician for whom we cannot find a licence at all is held for review, not listed.
Physicians who work only in hospitals, physicians who see patients only in settings the public cannot book (Veterans Affairs, military, correctional and Indian Health Service facilities), physicians whose listed address turns out to be a residence, and physicians whose record we cannot corroborate are held back rather than shown with a warning. A directory listing on its own never puts a physician on the site: a record with no recent Medicare activity and no update in five years is checked before it appears, however many directories repeat it.
Where we know a physician practises in a state but hold only an out-of-date street from another one, the profile shows the city and ZIP code from their Medicare enrolment and no street or telephone number, and the map places them at the centre of the city.
Who counts as a dermatologist
A dermatologist appears when the same three things are true, with dermatology in place of primary care. The specialty has to be real: a physician (MD or DO) registered in dermatology, or certified by the American Board of Dermatology or its osteopathic counterpart. A physician trained in another field who markets skin care is not listed as a dermatologist, and neither is a nurse practitioner or physician assistant, however capable: this is a directory of physicians.
We then check that the physician is seeing patients. A dermatopathologist who reads slides and does not see patients is left out, as is a physician still in training. Hair restoration on its own is not treated as dermatology practice; a dermatologist who also offers it is listed like any other.
Some dermatologists need a word of description so you can tell whether they are the right one for you. Mohs surgery is a referral procedure for skin cancer, so a Mohs surgeon is listed and marked as one, and a physician registered only as a Mohs surgeon appears after the general dermatologists. A practice that is cosmetic only is listed and marked as cosmetic. "Self-pay practice" appears only when the practice says so itself. These marks describe a practice. They are never part of how physicians are ordered, and dermatologists are never ranked against primary care physicians: the two are searched separately.
Dermatology is published state by state within the states we cover; the coverage page says where it is available today.
Who counts as a cardiologist
A cardiologist appears under the same three conditions, with cardiology in place of primary care: a physician (MD or DO) whose registration, board certification or pattern of practice is cardiovascular medicine or one of its sub-specialties, an active licence in the listed state, and a location where they see patients. Nurse practitioners and physician assistants are not listed, however capable: this is a directory of physicians.
Cardiology has several sub-fields, and the right one matters. Where the pipeline has established what a cardiologist focuses on, it is shown as a plain mark: interventional cardiology, heart rhythm (electrophysiology), heart failure and transplant, cardiac imaging, or adult congenital heart disease. A general cardiologist carries no mark in results. As with Mohs surgeons, a physician registered only in a sub-specialty (interventional cardiology, electrophysiology, heart failure or congenital heart disease) appears after the general cardiologists in a plain search, because patients rarely choose one for themselves without a referral; a cardiologist registered in general cardiology who also practises a sub-specialty ranks normally, with the mark. "Referral required" and "Hospital-based practice" appear only when the practice says so itself. These marks describe a practice; they are never part of how physicians are ordered, and cardiologists are never ranked against primary care physicians or dermatologists.
Cardiology is published state by state within the states we cover; the coverage page says where it is available today.
Who counts as an orthopedic surgeon
An orthopedic surgeon appears under the same three conditions, with orthopedic surgery in place of primary care: a physician (MD or DO) whose registration, board certification or pattern of practice is orthopedic surgery or one of its sub-specialties, an active licence in the listed state, and a location where they see patients. Nurse practitioners, physician assistants and physical therapists are not listed, however capable: this is a directory of physicians.
Orthopedics is a field of sub-specialties, and the right one matters more than in most fields. Where the pipeline has established what a surgeon focuses on, it is shown as a plain mark: hip and knee (joint replacement), hand and upper extremity, sports medicine, spine, shoulder and elbow, trauma and fractures, foot and ankle, orthopedic oncology, or pediatric orthopedics. A general orthopedic surgeon carries no mark in results. These marks describe a practice; they are never part of how surgeons are ordered, and orthopedic surgeons are never ranked against physicians in another field.
A surgeon's focus comes from, in order of trust: the practice's own website or directory, then board and fellowship records, then Medicare billing patterns, then the federal enrolment record, then the registration taxonomy. Billing alone never assigns sports medicine. A surgeon with thin evidence is shown as general orthopedics rather than guessed at.
Orthopedics is published state by state within the states we cover; the coverage page says where it is available today.
Who counts as a psychiatrist
A psychiatrist appears under the same three conditions, with psychiatry in place of primary care: a physician (MD or DO) whose registration, board certification or pattern of practice is psychiatry or one of its sub-specialties, an active licence in the listed state, and a way to see patients. Psychiatric nurse practitioners, psychologists, therapists and counselors are not listed, however capable: this is a directory of physicians, and the playbook says when one of them is the right first call.
Where the pipeline has established what a psychiatrist focuses on, it is shown as a plain mark, in the words the practice uses: General Psychiatry, Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, Geriatric Psychiatry, Addiction Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, Interventional Psychiatry (TMS, ECT, Ketamine), Neuropsychiatry, or Perinatal / Reproductive Psychiatry. A search for a child psychiatrist or an addiction psychiatrist keeps only those. Every psychiatrist is ordered by the same rule as everyone else in the field; no registration is placed after another. "Telehealth visits", "Virtual visits only", "Medication management", "Psychotherapy" and "Self-pay practice" appear only when the practice's own page says so; nothing is ever shown as a "no".
A psychiatrist who sees patients only by video is listed under the state where they are licensed, with no office address and no pin on the map, and appears in searches for that state and town.
Every psychiatry page carries the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. Psychiatry is published state by state within the states we cover; the coverage page says where it is available today.
Who each physician sees
Every physician is marked by the age group they treat: adults, children, or both. A search shows physicians who see adults unless you ask for a children's doctor, by the "Children's doctors" control or by words like "pediatric", "child" or "teen" in what you type; then it shows those who see children and leaves out the adult-only. A physician who treats children is marked "Treats children" or "Treats children and adults" on the row and the profile; adults is the default and carries no mark. Primary care lists no pediatricians, so the control is absent there and a search for one says so. A profile is never hidden by this: only search results are filtered.
How results are ordered
Three things decide the order, in this sequence.
First, whether the physician is the kind you searched for. A physician registered only in a sub-specialty (a Mohs surgeon, an interventional cardiologist) appears after the generalists of the same field, as described above.
Second, whether we have verified that the physician is accepting new patients. Those physicians are listed first, with the date we checked, because a physician who cannot see you is not an answer to your search. The check is about the physician's own panel; it says nothing about any one insurance plan, so confirm yours when you call. Where we have not verified it we say nothing: a physician without the mark may well be accepting, and their place in the list is not a judgement on them. You can also choose to see only the physicians we have verified.
Third, every physician is placed in one of three tiers from three things: where and how they trained, their professional record (licence standing, board actions and malpractice history from state and federal records), and their pattern of practice (outpatient primary care, complexity of the patients they see, how the practice is structured). Higher tiers come first.
Within a tier, physicians are equals, and we treat them that way. If you searched near a place or a ZIP code, nearer physicians come first. Otherwise the physicians whose records we have corroborated most fully come first, and the rest appear in an order that changes between visits so that position cannot be read as a rank. Searching a name orders by how well the name matches.
Two things never affect order: money, and whether a practice charges a membership fee. Membership practices carry a marker so you know before you call, and nothing more.
What a profile shows, and where each fact comes from
Name, credentials and specialty: the National Plan and Provider Enumeration System (NPPES), the federal registry every practising physician is in.
Practice address and phone: the practice location in NPPES, checked against state records. Where an address may be a residence, the street is withheld and only the town is shown.
Licence status: the state medical board, refreshed on the board's own schedule. Board actions are shown as a flag with a pointer to the board, never as our summary.
Training and years in practice: medical school, residency and board certification from the board's own profile and graduation records, reconciled with the board. Board certification is shown as a status, never a date. Where a fact is missing we found no record of it; that is not a statement about the physician.
Publications: indexed journals, matched to the physician by name and affiliation.
Membership practice (concierge, direct primary care, functional, virtual-first): the practice's own page plus at least one independent source, reviewed by a person. A fee is shown only when the practice states one, with the date we saw it.
Accepting new patients, in three tiers. "Accepting new patients" with a date means a bookable appointment or a directory we have tested said so, on that date. "Likely accepting, not yet verified" means the only evidence is weak: a practice website, a directory that never says no, or billing records. "Not yet checked" means we hold nothing either way. A stale "not accepting" costs a physician patients, so we never show one.
Insurance, one word per plan. "Yes" means two independent sources agree (a carrier's directory and a state filing, for instance), or Medicare's own enrolment records, or a state's Medicaid list. "Probable. Call to check." means one source only: a carrier's directory, or the physician's own report to a state registry, which may be up to two years old. Carrier directories are known to list physicians who no longer take the plan, which is why one source is never a yes. "No" appears only for physicians on Medicare's opt-out list; a plan that is not shown is not a no, because we do not hold every carrier yet. Each line carries the month it was last seen. The "My insurance" filter on search keeps physicians with a row for your carrier and lists the sure ones first.
What we leave out on purpose
Star ratings and patient reviews, because they are easy to game and impossible to audit. Advertising and sponsored placement, because the order would no longer be ours. Our own composite scores, because a number invites a precision the evidence does not have. Anything a physician would pay to change.
Who decides
Two practising physicians, the co-founders, sign off on the method, on what counts as primary care, and on every state before it goes live. Changes to the method are recorded on this page with a date. Their names are on the leadership page.
Corrections and removal
Every profile has a "Report inaccurate information" control. A report reaches a person, not a queue. We acknowledge within five business days and correct the record, or explain why we did not, within ten.
If you are the physician: write to hello@docbeat.ai from an address we can connect to your practice, or through your board's contact, and we will correct any fact, withhold your street address, or remove your listing. Removal is honoured; we do not argue a physician into staying. We do not accept requests to change your position in results, because position is not for sale to you either.
Facts we cannot verify after a report are removed rather than left with a note.