Trust & integrity

Editorial policy.

Version: 1.0 · Effective: [Effective date]

APPadap takes commission from staffing partners. APPadap also publishes provider reviews of those same partners. That is a real conflict, and the integrity of this platform depends on managing it openly. This page describes exactly how.

1. Editorial firewall

The team that handles partner relationships, billing, and sales has no authority over review visibility, search rankings, or moderation outcomes. Moderation decisions are made by clinician moderators who do not see commercial data. Aggregate review scores are computed by automated rules that cannot be manually adjusted in favor of any partner.

2. What partners cannot pay for

Removal of negative reviews. Reviews can only be removed under our published moderation rules — never on commercial grounds.
Boosting in default search results. Default ranking is determined by fit, peer ratings, recency, and pay-timeliness data — not by partner spend.
Higher star ratings. Star ratings are computed from verified provider reviews. Partners cannot adjust them.
Editorial coverage in our blog/insights. No "sponsored" content disguised as editorial. Sponsored content, when it exists, is clearly labeled.

3. What partners can do

Respond to reviews publicly. Partners with verified, claimed profiles can post a public response to any review under their listing.
Dispute factually inaccurate claims. Through our standard moderation process, partners can flag a review they believe is factually false. We investigate; we do not automatically remove.
Improve their listings. Partners can update assignment details, add photos, list amenities, and provide accurate scope information.
Buy clearly labeled placement. When paid placement appears, it is visually distinct, marked with a "Sponsored" or "Featured Partner" tag, and never represented as organic.

4. Review verification and authenticity

Every review on APPadap is posted by an NPI-verified clinician with an identity-verified account. Pseudonymous attribution protects providers from professional retaliation; internal verification protects partners from astroturf and bad-faith reviews. We do not allow:

Reviews from non-verified accounts.
Reviews from individuals with an undisclosed financial relationship to a competitor.
Reviews from staffing partners about themselves or about competitors.
Reviews containing Protected Health Information, defamatory content, or threats.

5. Moderation principles

Strong negative opinion is allowed. A frustrated, harshly worded, but factually grounded review of a real experience is not "abusive." It is the point of this platform.
Factual disputes are investigated. When a partner flags a review as factually inaccurate, we ask the reviewer for substantiation, the partner for documentation, and either confirm, edit, or remove based on the evidence.
Defamation, harassment, and PHI are removed. Reviews that target individuals personally, contain protected health information, or are clearly malicious are removed and the poster is sanctioned.
Decisions can be appealed. Both reviewers and partners can appeal moderation decisions. Appeals are heard by a moderation panel that did not make the original decision.

6. Disclosure standards

Affiliate links are visually marked and explained on every page where they appear.
Sponsored placement is visually distinct from organic results.
If a relationship between APPadap and any partner could materially influence a reader, we disclose it — on the page, in plain language, every time.

7. Conflicts at the company level

APPadap’s founders and team members may individually hold relationships with healthcare organizations, professional societies, or other locum platforms. Those relationships are disclosed on our About page and updated annually.

8. Independent audit

Once we reach scale, we will commission an annual independent audit of our editorial-firewall practices, with the results published publicly. We will share methodology, findings, and our planned remediations.

9. Reporting integrity issues

If you believe a partner has improperly influenced content on APPadap, or that a review has been wrongly removed or wrongly retained, please contact us. We treat editorial integrity reports as the highest-priority category of inbound. Email integrity@appadap.com.