How results are ordered

When you send a request, Connect lists the independent providers who can take it. This page is the whole method: who can appear, the order they appear in, what never changes that order, and what is counted about a provider — and when. While Connect starts up we apply it by hand; the software will apply the same rules, and if a rule changes, this page changes first.

Who can appear

A provider appears for a request only if all of these are true:

They said yes. Connect is opt-in: we ask every provider before any organization sees them.
Their listing on phlebflow.com is live, with a certification number on file and no expiry date in the past.
They list the ZIP code where the draw happens. Coverage is what the provider declares, not a radius we compute.
They are not on vacation mode.
They list the type of collection you asked for, and every capability you marked as required that the listing can answer (pediatric, geriatric, specialty kits, lab drop-off). What a listing cannot answer — shipping, for example — is marked "ask the provider", never assumed.

Paying a membership fee is never a condition for appearing while Connect starts up, and will never be a condition for appearing higher.

The order

Eligible providers are ordered by these five things, in this order. A tie on one moves to the next; a tie on all five is broken alphabetically.

1 Covers the ZIP

Everyone on the list lists your ZIP code. While Connect starts up this is yes or no; distance within the ZIP is not measured.

2 Availability

For a same-day request, providers who declare same-day work come first. For a weekend window, providers who declare weekend availability come first.

3 Fit

An exact match on the type of collection, then each required capability the listing confirms.

4 Verified credentials

A credential we checked at the issuing registry, on the date shown, ranks above one on file and not yet verified. Both are labelled as what they are.

5 Performance in Connect

Only what was confirmed by both sides inside Connect, and only after a provider has five confirmed completed visits. Until then every provider is "New in Connect" and this criterion is empty.

What never changes the order

What anyone pays. Not the provider's membership fee, not your subscription, not the fee proposed for the visit.
Declining. Declining an invitation, or letting one expire, never counts against a provider, and no count or rate of declined invitations is computed or shown.
Your favorites. Providers you worked with before are shown to you as their own group, marked as such — not moved up the shared order.
Directory reviews. Reviews left by patients on phlebflow.com are shown as information. They do not order the list.
Insurance level. Shown with its expiry date; not used for ordering.

What is counted, and when

Both sides, or nothing. An event counts when one side records it and the other confirms it. The provider records arrival and completion; you confirm completion, whether they arrived within the window, and whether you would hire them again.
On time means arrival within the window you gave, confirmed by you — not a yes/no the provider reports alone.
Cancellations. A provider cancelling after they confirmed counts. A request you cancel, an invitation that expired, or one we could not deliver never counts against anyone.
No-shows are recorded when you report one; the provider is asked to confirm or dispute it before it counts.
Disputes. Either side can dispute a visit with one of five reasons — patient not home, wrong window, provider late, could not draw, other — plus a line without patient details. We decide, record the outcome, and tell both sides.
No silent changes. A provider is told, with the reason, before anything about their standing changes.
Requests involving the operator's own affiliated provider are excluded from everything shown to other organizations, and the operator does not decide disputes it is a party to.

Two things we do not do (yet)

These have been proposed and are not in use. If either is adopted, this page says so before it is applied.

Using how narrow a provider's coverage is as a stand-in for distance inside the first criterion.
Using the insurance level to break a tie inside the fourth criterion.

How a credential earns "verified": phlebflow.com/how-we-verify. Questions about a specific result: connect@phlebflow.com.