For Providers

Status is earned,
never bought.

The Way In is building a provider education network where payment never buys standing. None of it is running yet. Verification, teaching, moderation, appeals, listings, referrals, and revenue share are all still being built, and no standing or earning is available today.

Apply to the network Go to your provider portal Provider login See the earned ladder
verified-provider network · credential checks are not running yet
The earned ladder
Verified Contributorentry
entry check: your license confirmed with the board that issued it, plus your NPI number where that applies.
  • credential flair
  • expert forum
  • provider lounge
Resident Expertearned tier
for providers who keep good standing here over time. We are not promising it will bring you patients.
  • bylined articles
  • public profile
  • directory listing
Facultyinvitation tier
A leadership role. We have not yet decided how faculty are chosen, reviewed, or removed, or how appeals would work.
  • AMAs and panels
  • Roundtables
  • Disclosed placement only
Our rule is that standing must be earned, never bought. If paid visibility ever exists here, it will be labeled clearly, kept separate from standing, and reviewed by a lawyer first.
Apply to the network
Why join

An audience and a network we are still building

The movement is being built for people who want deeper education and better questions to bring to their provider. We are new, so we cannot yet tell you how many members there are, how many are looking for a provider, or what joining would do for your practice.

REACH

A planned education-first audience

We are building this to help members understand the model and ask sharper questions. Every member arrives with different knowledge and different readiness, so none of that can be taken for granted.

FINDABILITY

directory discovery

The directory is being built to help members start a provider search. It will not tell anyone you are the right fit for them, promise that you will be found, send you referrals, or replace a member checking your credentials and your care for themselves.

VOICE

educational publishing

Bylined articles, AMAs, panels, courses, and forums are all planned. We are still building them, so none of them are available yet and we cannot say how many people they would reach.

INTEGRITY

A directory designed to resist pay-to-win

The rules we are writing keep paid visibility separate from earned standing, and forbid dressing up a paid slot as a recommendation. The parts that make those rules stick, including how listings are ordered, how conflicts are handled, and how you appeal, are still being built.

The earned ladder

How standing grows through contribution

Credentials open the door. Helpful contributions, quality, clear boundaries, moderation, and appeals will decide whether standing grows or changes. We are still building all of it.

Verified Contributor
check: your license confirmed with the board that issued it, plus your NPI number where that applies

This is the entry tier, and none of it is open yet. Before the credential flair, the expert forum, or the provider lounge can open, we have to confirm who you are, check your license with the board that issued it, and set clear rules for what can be discussed.

  • credential flair on governed contributions
  • general-education expert forum
  • provider-lounge access
Still to decide: what counts as a helpful contribution, how often you need to take part, how posts are moderated, how you are told before anything changes, how you appeal, and how often we recheck your license.
Resident Expert
for providers who keep good standing here over time

A later tier may open up publishing and a directory listing. It cannot promise you patients, referrals, or a bigger practice.

  • bylined articles with review and conflicts
  • public provider profile
  • directory listing, with no promise that anyone will find you
Still to decide: how we keep a listing current, how often we recheck it, how it changes or comes down, how you are told, and how you appeal.
By invitation
Faculty
invitation tier

A future faculty role may help shape what gets taught. We still have to write and publish how faculty are chosen, how conflicts of interest are handled, what say they have, how someone is removed, and how to appeal.

  • AMAs and panels
  • Roundtable sessions
  • course collaboration
  • any paid placement always disclosed
Founding Faculty is meant to recognize the earliest contributors whose work helps set the standard for the network.
status-decay policy

Credentials require rechecks. Standing may decay under published rules.

Being verified and having standing are two different things. A license has to be rechecked over time, and standing is meant to fade when someone stops taking part. We are still working out how often we recheck, how you are told, how you appeal, and how a paused account comes back. None of it is running yet.

The plan is that you always know where the line is, you are told before anything changes, you get a chance to respond, you can appeal, and there is a lasting record of what happened. No provider should lose standing because of a hidden decision nobody can review.

1 · Standing holds
Meeting the criteria we publish would hold your standing where it is. We have not yet decided what gets measured, who reviews it, or how the record is kept.
2 · A grace nudge
Falling behind would mean a heads up and a window of time to catch up before anything changes.
3 · Drop a tier
Staying inactive could move you down a tier, after notice and a chance to appeal. Your license is handled separately and still has to be rechecked with the board that issued it.

Decay is meant to keep standing current, but trust depends on accurate identity, current credentials, fair metrics, appeals, moderation, and transparent enforcement together.

The directory

A place to start a provider search

The profiles below are made-up examples that show the layout. A real profile would show a license we checked with the board that issued it, where the provider is licensed, where their specialty listing comes from, when their standing was last confirmed, any conflicts of interest, whether they paid to be seen, and what the listing does not tell you.

RM
Sample provider A
sample specialty

An example of where a provider's specialty, where they are licensed, what they cover, and the limits of the listing would appear.

Sample tier Verification pending
JO
Sample provider B
sample specialty

An example of where teaching topics, the limits of a provider's role, their sources, and any conflicts of interest would appear.

Sample tier Verification pending
CL
Sample provider C
sample specialty

An example of where a provider's teaching focus, and the limits of the evidence behind it, would appear.

Sample tier Verification pending
AP
Sample provider D
sample specialty

An example of where the evidence for a specialty, and the place a provider is licensed, would appear.

Sample tier Verification pending
MD
Sample provider E
sample specialty

An example of where topics, scope, evidence, and referral limits would appear.

Sample tier Verification pending
RH
Sample provider F
sample role

An example of how a faculty role would appear. Nobody holds this role today.

Sample tier Verification pending

The profiles above are examples. When a verified mark does appear, it will point to one named provider, the board that issued the license, where they are licensed, the date we checked, when the license expires, when we check again, and whether it was ever pulled. Paying for visibility never changes standing.

How verification works

Trust, checked at the source

A verified mark has to mean something exact, not just look good. Before The Way In shows one, it has to point to one named provider, the board that issued their license, where they are licensed, the date we checked, when the license expires, when we check again, and whether it was ever pulled.

01

How we plan to check a license

The plan is to confirm an active license with the board that issued it, and match NPI records where they apply. The rest is still being built: what a provider is allowed to do, where they are licensed, their specialty, any discipline on record, expiration dates, what happens when records do not match, how often we look again, and what we do when a board's records cannot be reached.

02

Ongoing standing

Verification and standing are not the same thing. Showing up and being helpful may build standing, but a tier badge on its own does not prove that someone is an expert today. That takes a current license, real activity, and the quality, moderation, and appeal rules we have not finished writing.

03

Community rules we will publish and enforce

The rules we are writing let providers discuss research, opinion, personal experience, protocols, compounds, genes, and dose context, as long as the evidence and its source are named, the unknowns are stated, and it is clear who is speaking, what to avoid, when something needs urgent help, and who should be asked next. They forbid diagnosing or prescribing for an individual. They also require clear notice, moderation, appeals, and enforcement anyone can see.

Compliance & ethics

Built clean on purpose

The model is designed so a provider can participate without crossing a line. This is informed strategy, not legal advice. Final terms are pending review by an attorney.

The rules we are building this on

These are the rules we are building to. None of them are running yet. Each one still needs the product, the written policies, the people to run it, and a lawyer's review before it means anything in practice.

  • General education on-platform. Providers may discuss research, opinion, anecdote, protocols, compounds, genes, and dose context with required evidence and role boundaries. Nothing here authorizes individual diagnosis or prescription.
  • No doctor-patient relationship is formed in threads. Participating in Ask the Experts or an AMA does not create a treating relationship. Members are told this clearly and repeatedly.
  • Individual care happens in your own practice. Any actual diagnosis or treatment occurs off-platform, in your own practice, under your own license, on your own terms.
  • flat, fair-market visibility fees only. The plan is a flat fee for being listed, never a fee per referral, a fee per patient, or a share of what you earn from care. A lawyer still has to review the final terms, the pricing, and how it is enforced.
  • Standing will never be for sale. The rules we are writing forbid paying to rank higher, skip the ladder, or buy a tier. We still have to build the controls, the records, the moderation, and the appeals that keep that promise honest.

† How to read this page

Apply to the network

Apply for review.
Help build a governed provider network.

Tell us who you are and ask to be reviewed. No verified mark will appear until we have confirmed the license with the board that issued it, and matched NPI records where they apply. Review is free, and payment never buys standing.

Checking your account before opening the application.

Review will check your license with the board that issued it, and your NPI where it applies. We are still writing the privacy rules that cover how your details are stored, used, shared, and deleted, and they are not published yet.