Every figure on PlainDoctor originates in a public federal dataset. We download the raw files published by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) — the NPPES provider registry, the Medicare Part D Prescriber file, the MIPS performance data, and the Five-Star nursing-home ratings — load them through a documented, version-controlled data pipeline, and render them into provider, hospital, and nursing-home profiles using shared templates. No profile is hand-written, and no number is typed in by an editor. Each value you see is read directly from the official source record.

Our editorial team is responsible for the parts a pipeline cannot decide on its own: which datasets to use, how each metric is defined and labeled, what the methodology says, which derived measures (such as a national or specialty percentile) are computed and how, and what we will not publish. The pipeline then applies those decisions uniformly across the whole country, so the rule that governs one provider's page governs all of them.

We publish only data that comes from official government sources, and we name the source on every page. Our datasets are:

• CMS NPPES (National Plan and Provider Enumeration System): provider name, credentials, NPI, specialty taxonomy, and practice location, from the most recent monthly data dissemination.
• NUCC Health Care Provider Taxonomy: the specialty classification standard used to label every provider.
• CMS Medicare Part D Prescriber Public Use File: prescribing claim counts, costs, and drug-level breakdowns by NPI, released annually with roughly a two-year lag.
• CMS MIPS Performance Data: Merit-based Incentive Payment System quality scores by provider.
• CMS Five-Star Quality Rating System: inspection, staffing, and quality-measure ratings for Medicare-certified nursing homes.

We do not scrape third-party sites, we do not republish patient reviews or proprietary rating algorithms, and we do not generate any provider data ourselves. Where a figure is derived from the official data (for example, a percentile or a specialty average), the page links to our methodology, which sets out exactly how it is calculated.

Because the data is read straight from federal files, the most common source of error is the upstream record itself: NPPES taxonomy and practice addresses are self-reported by providers and can be stale, and Medicare-based statistics reflect only the Medicare population. Our pipeline applies systematic checks before a value is published. It screens out implausible outliers, shows a value as unavailable rather than guessing when the source suppresses or omits it, and reconciles derived measures (percentiles, averages) against the full population they are drawn from.

When we find that a displayed number is wrong, we fix the cause, not the symptom. We trace the value back to the data layer, correct the derivation or screening rule there, and regenerate the affected pages, so the same class of error is resolved everywhere at once rather than patched on a single page.

PlainDoctor does not accept payment, sponsorship, or promoted placement from providers, hospitals, manufacturers, or any healthcare entity. Our only revenue source is contextual display advertising served by Google AdSense. Advertisers have no influence over which entities we cover or how their data is presented, and they receive no preferential placement. We publish no subjective ratings and take no editorial position on whether a given provider or facility is good or bad; we present the official data and the caveats that come with it, and leave the judgment to you and your clinician.

CMS releases the NPPES file monthly, the Five-Star nursing-home ratings monthly, and the Part D and MIPS datasets annually on their own slower schedules. We refresh our database to incorporate each new federal release and re-stamp the affected pages so the published date reflects when the content genuinely changed. The data vintage in effect is named on every data page, on our About page, and in our methodology.

If a figure looks wrong, please tell us. We treat data-error reports as a priority and follow the same process every time:

1. Report. Email hello@plaindoctor.com with the page URL and the figure you are questioning.
2. Verify. We check the value against the official CMS source record for that provider or facility — and, for credentials, against the NPPES NPI Registry.
3. Fix at the source. If the figure is wrong on our side, we correct the underlying data or derivation rule and regenerate every page it affects.
4. Note it. If the figure is correct but reflects a known upstream reporting quirk (for example, a self-reported NPPES address that is out of date), we explain the caveat rather than silently changing it.

Some apparent errors trace back to the federal source itself. Because NPPES is self-reported and providers update it on their own schedule, a practice address, phone number, or specialty may be out of date at the source. When that is the case, we will tell you so and point you to the official CMS record so you can verify it directly. To correct your own NPPES record, providers should update it through the official CMS NPPES system; we mirror the public file and cannot change a provider's registered information on their behalf.

Questions about our standards, methodology, or a specific figure are welcome at hello@plaindoctor.com. For more on what the data covers and how it is processed, see our About page and methodology.