How we find practices, what we measure, and how the visibility score is calculated. Every rule here applies to every practice the same way.
How easily a potential patient finds a practice online, through three channels: Google search, AI assistants, and Google’s map results. It does not measure quality of care, outcomes, credentials or patient satisfaction.
Each channel is scored from 0 to 100 against the other practices in the same market. A channel score of 100 means the practice is at or above the 90th percentile in its market, so several practices can share a 100. Comparing against the 90th percentile rather than the single top practice keeps one outlier from flattening everyone else.
Every search phrase for which the practice’s website ranks on Google’s first page (positions 1–10) with more than 50 U.S. searches a month. Searches containing the practice’s own name are removed: we measure how well a practice reaches people who don’t already know it. Each phrase counts by its search volume, weighted by position (position 1 counts fully; position 10 counts 5%). The total is scored on a log scale.
We asked ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity, with web search on, 35 questions per market: 8 general searches (“functional medicine doctor near me”) and 27 questions written the way patients actually ask (“My TSH is ‘normal’ but I have every thyroid symptom there is. Who will actually listen?”). Each question was asked three times, each naming the area a different way, because patients do: “Northern Virginia” and “the Washington DC area” get different answers. That is 420 answers per market and 5,460 in total. The score is the share of answers that name the practice.
Models used: ChatGPT gpt-5.4-mini, Claude Sonnet 5, Gemini 3.8 Flash, Perplexity Sonar. Model versions are fixed for the edition so quarters can be compared.
Half the channel is metro reach: eight common searches run from a 20-point grid across the market, crediting each appearance in Google’s map results (full credit in the top 3, partial credit below). The other half is home turf: the same eight searches run from the practice’s own address. Home turf keeps single-location practices from being penalised for not appearing on the far side of a large metro.
Whether the practice ranks on Google’s first page for 19 condition searches in its market: Gut health, SIBO, IBS, Thyroid, Hashimoto’s, Hormone imbalance, Perimenopause, Chronic fatigue, Autoimmune, Medical weight loss, GLP-1 / semaglutide, Integrative psychiatry, Mold illness, Lyme disease, Brain fog, Fibromyalgia, Food sensitivities, Adrenal fatigue, Low testosterone. Conditions were chosen from a survey of practice websites across the country — a condition qualifies if at least 30% of practices treat it, or if patient search demand justifies it (GLP-1). These are reported on each practice’s page but not added to the score, because they overlap with Google search.
Practices that present themselves as integrative, functional, holistic or naturopathic medicine and have a physical location in the market. We find them two ways: everyone who ranks on Google for our searches, and everyone who appears in Google’s map results across the market grid. Each practice’s location is confirmed against its Google business listing.
Excluded: single-modality businesses (acupuncture, chiropractic adjustment, massage, IV hydration bars, med spas), hospital and health-system departments, national franchises and telehealth brands, medical-cannabis certification clinics, and practices with no website of their own. Some practices led by chiropractors who offer functional medicine are included, because potential patients see them as alternatives.
The index is published by RMS Health Advisors, a marketing consultancy that works with independent medical practices, some of which may appear in these rankings. Every practice is measured by the same automated method. No practice can pay to be included, excluded or ranked differently.
If something about your practice is wrong — wrong location, wrong website, a practice that shouldn’t be listed — email russell@rmshealthadvisors.com. We review every request and fix factual errors in the next update.