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RxRoute

How results are ranked.

Methodology v1 · Published August 2026 · Applies to every result

When a prescriber submits a request, every matching pharmacy is ordered by the same four criteria, in the same order, for everyone. Nothing about the order can be bought, and nothing about it is secret.

  1. Fill status

    Results group by status first. Pharmacies whose rules say they can fill rank ahead of those that would need to order; limited and restricted statuses follow. A pharmacy that has said it’s unable to fill is shown as exactly that — so nobody drives there to find out.

  2. Freshness of confirmation

    A status confirmed this morning outranks one confirmed last week. Every status carries its confirmation date — the “Pharmacy confirmed X days ago” line — statuses expire on the pharmacy’s own schedule, and stale ones sink.

  3. Distance

    Closer to the request’s 3-digit ZIP area ranks higher. Distance is computed from the area, never from an address — requests don’t contain one.

  4. Plan compatibility

    A pharmacy whose accepted plan types match the request’s plan type ranks above a mismatch.

Excluded from ranking — entirely.

Subscription tier is not a ranking input. Neither is payment history, tenure on the platform, request volume, nor any commercial relationship with RxRoute. A Basic location and a Pro location are ordered by exactly the same four criteria — there is no mechanism to buy placement, and none will be added.

The six fill statuses

Every result carries exactly one of these, always together with its freshness line. The token is the value as it exists in the system — the published methodology ranks on these and nothing else.

  • Likely availablePharmacy confirmed todaylikely_available

    The pharmacy’s current fill rules and a recent confirmation indicate it can fill requests like this one.

  • Orderable· 2-day lead timePharmacy confirmed 2 days agoorderable

    The pharmacy can fill after ordering — always shown together with its stated lead time.

  • LimitedPharmacy confirmed todaylimited

    The pharmacy can fill with limits — for example, certain strengths or plan types only.

  • Confirmation requiredPharmacy confirmed 5 days agoconfirmation_required

    The pharmacy asks to confirm this kind of request before the prescriber sends anything.

  • Unable to fillPharmacy confirmed yesterdayunable_to_fill

    The pharmacy has said it can’t fill this — shown so nobody drives there to find out.

  • Established patients onlyPharmacy confirmed 3 days agoestablished_patients_only

    Fillable only for patients the pharmacy already serves — a policy status, not an availability status.

Why “confirmed X days ago” is everywhere

A fill status is only as good as its age, so the confirmation date is part of the result — not fine print. Pharmacies re-confirm on their own schedule, statuses expire automatically, and anything stale falls down the list until it disappears.

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