How We Choose Which Cities to Launch Next
Most people assume a healthcare directory already covers their city. For major metros, that assumption is usually close enough. But for a significant share of the U.S. (smaller cities, rural counties, fast-growing suburbs) the data that exists is outdated, incomplete, or scattered across insurer PDFs that nobody updates consistently. That gap is the problem ProviderQuoHealth is built to close, and it shapes every decision about where we launch next.
Why Provider Directory Coverage Still Has Gaps in 2024
Maintaining an accurate provider directory is harder than it looks, and most existing directories aren't doing it well.
CMS has flagged provider directory accuracy as a persistent national problem, with audits of insurer-maintained directories finding significant error rates: wrong addresses, providers listed as accepting new patients when they aren't, clinicians who left a practice years ago still appearing in active rosters. Those errors aren't minor inconveniences. If you call a number that's no longer in service, or drive to a practice that stopped taking your insurance, you've lost time and potentially delayed care.
The problem isn't evenly distributed. Tens of millions of Americans live in areas where existing data is thin enough that they have no reliable way to compare local providers before making an appointment. Uninsured rates tend to be higher in precisely those regions, which means the people who most need help finding affordable or sliding-scale options are also the least likely to find them through existing tools.
That's why we treat a new city launch as a data-quality project first and a geographic expansion second.
The Four Factors We Use to Pick the Next City
We weigh four things when evaluating a candidate market. None of them alone determines the outcome — they're combined into a prioritization score that gets revisited quarterly.
1. Primary care access ratios. We look at the ratio of primary care physicians to residents in a metro or county. The Health Resources & Services Administration publishes shortage data that gives a baseline, and we supplement it with active NPI registration counts by specialty and zip code. A low ratio means patients face more difficulty finding and comparing in-network providers, which is exactly where a searchable, verified directory adds the most value.
2. Insurance coverage mix. Areas with high rates of uninsured residents or Medicaid enrollees are weighted more heavily in our scoring. Those patients have the fewest alternative resources for finding appropriate care. A commercially insured patient in a well-covered metro can often use their insurer's portal. Someone on Medicaid in a mid-sized Southern city, or uninsured entirely, usually can't.
3. Existing directory saturation. We look at whether accurate, actively maintained local directories already serve an area. If a region is already well covered, adding another directory mostly creates noise. Our goal is to land where the gap is real, not where the market is already crowded.
4. Population size and growth trajectory. Raw population matters because it determines how many people a launch can reach. Growth trajectory matters because a fast-growing suburb can outpace its existing provider data quickly, creating gaps even in places that looked fine two years ago.
What Health Equity Data Tells Us About Underserved Markets
Population size alone is a weak signal. A city of 400,000 can have adequate provider density in some zip codes and a near-total absence of primary care in others. That's why we layer in health equity data before making a final call.
HRSA designates Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSAs): geographic areas, population groups, or facilities where primary care, dental, or mental health providers are critically scarce relative to need. HPSA scores run from 0 to 25; a higher score reflects a more severe shortage. A metro area that looks fine at the county level can contain zip codes with HPSA scores in the high teens.
A cluster of high HPSA scores within a candidate market is a strong signal that an accurate directory could have outsized impact. It consistently moves markets up the prioritization list, particularly for mental health and dental coverage, where shortage designations are widespread even in otherwise well-resourced regions.
Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) factor in here as well. FQHCs serve patients regardless of their ability to pay, and they're often underrepresented in commercial directory data. A market with significant FQHC infrastructure that isn't surfacing those listings well is one where we know we can add something concrete.
How We Validate a City Before We Commit
Deciding a city is a priority is different from being ready to launch it. A premature launch with thin or inaccurate data would undermine the whole point.
Before a market goes live, our data team cross-references provider rosters against NPI Registry records), the federal database of all registered clinicians, to establish a baseline of verified, currently-practicing providers. The NPI Registry confirms that a clinician is actively registered. It doesn't tell us everything (it won't tell us whether someone is accepting new patients today), but it filters out a large share of the stale records that make other directories unreliable.
We also work to establish partnerships with local community health organizations before launch. Commercial data sources frequently miss safety-net providers, FQHCs, and community mental health centers. Relationships with those organizations let us fill those gaps before the directory goes live rather than after.
A city doesn't launch until the listings meet a minimum completeness threshold: enough verified providers across primary care and core specialties that you actually get useful results. That threshold varies by market size, but it's a real gate, not a formality.
How to Tell Us Your City Should Be Next
The prioritization process is data-driven, but aggregate demand is one of the inputs. If a significant number of people from the same metro area submit expansion requests, that signals real unmet need and moves a market up the queue.
You can submit your city through the expansion request form on the site. It takes about a minute, and the data feeds directly into our scoring.
If you're a provider in a market that hasn't launched yet, you can pre-register your listing at /listings/new so your profile is ready when your city goes live. You won't be live in the directory until the market launches, but the setup work is done.
Where to Go From Here
- Check whether your city is already live: Search the ProviderQuoHealth directory to see current coverage in your area.
- Find primary care providers near you: The primary care specialty page shows verified listings with current availability information where it's been confirmed.
- Providers — get ahead of your city's launch: Set up or pre-register your listing at /listings/new.
Important note
This article is for general information and is not medical advice. It is not a substitute for professional care from a licensed clinician. If you have a medical concern, talk to a healthcare provider. If you are experiencing a medical emergency, call 911 (in the U.S.) or your local emergency number.