How matching works
When you finish an intake, MatchedCare scores every available clinician against what you told us and ranks the best fits. Here is exactly how that ranking is built — plainly enough for a parent to follow, and precisely enough for a licensed clinician to trust.
Six factors, weighted
Each match gets a fit score built from six factors. The weights reflect how much each one tends to matter to whether care actually works:
- Clinical fit — 30%. Does the clinician's specialty and experience match the concerns you described? This carries the most weight, because the right clinical focus matters most.
- Style fit — 25%. Communication style, structure, and approach — the difference between a therapist who feels right to work with and one who doesn't.
- Logistics — 15%. Availability, session format, and insurance or payment fit, so a strong match is also one you can actually start.
- Language — 15%. Being able to do the work in your preferred language. When it matters, it matters a great deal, so it stands on its own.
- Narrative — 10%. How well your own description of what you're looking for lines up with how the clinician describes their work.
- Gender — 5%. Provider gender when you've expressed a preference — honored, but weighted lightly.
A quality threshold
We would rather tell you honestly that we don't yet have a strong match than hand you a weak one. Every match has to clear a minimum quality bar before we'll show it. If nobody clears it, we say so and place you on a short waitlist while we onboard clinicians who fit — rather than padding the results.
Payment never touches the ranking
This is the part we care about most: money is not one of the factors above, and it never will be. No clinician can pay to rank higher, to appear more often, or to be labeled a better fit. There is no sponsored placement anywhere in the results. The score is about fit, full stop.
We keep the exact scoring internals private on purpose — not to hide anything from you, but so no one can reverse-engineer the algorithm to game their way to the top of your results. The factors and their weights, above, are the whole story of what we optimize for.
Common questions
Can a therapist pay to rank higher in my matches?
No. Payment is not one of the six factors and has no effect on ranking, placement, or how often a clinician is shown. There is no sponsored or promoted placement on MatchedCare.
What are the factors behind a match, and how are they weighted?
Six factors: clinical fit (30%), style fit (25%), logistics (15%), language (15%), narrative fit (10%), and gender preference (5%). They add up to a single fit score that determines ranking.
What happens if no therapist is a strong match for me?
Every match must clear a minimum quality threshold. If none do, MatchedCare tells you honestly and adds you to a short waitlist while we onboard clinicians who fit, rather than showing you a weak match.
Why don't you publish the exact algorithm?
We publish the factors and their weights, which is what shapes your results. We keep the precise internals private so that no provider can reverse-engineer and game them — which protects the integrity of your matches.
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