Terms of service

Plain language, and only what is actually true of how we operate. Last updated 2026-09-18. These terms cover everyone: people reading the directory, practices claiming or buying a listing, and businesses sponsoring pages.

Who we are, and what this is not

PainBeacon is an independent directory and information service run by PainBeacon Directory. We are not a medical provider, we do not deliver care, and nothing on this site is medical advice. Listings are not endorsements or referrals. Choosing a clinician is your decision, made with a clinician — never on the strength of a directory entry alone. If you have a medical emergency, call 911.

The directory itself

Clinic records are built from public sources, principally the federal NPI registry, and from information practices give us. Public data goes stale: an address, a phone number, or a set of hours may be wrong, and a clinician may have moved or retired. We correct what we learn about, and we invite corrections at [email protected], but we cannot promise any record is current or complete. Verify anything that matters directly with the practice.

Every practice is listed for free and always will be. No practice pays to appear in the directory, and no practice can pay to be removed from it in order to hide a record that is accurate.

Rankings are never for sale

This is the one that matters most, so it is a term and not just a marketing line. We rank clinics on objective, published criteria, set out in full at how we rank. No payment of any kind — a paid listing, a sponsorship, or anything else — changes a clinic's rank, its position in any list, or what we write. Paid placements are labeled and sit outside ranked lists. If we ever become affiliated with a listed clinic, that is disclosed on the listing and at ownership disclosure, and the criteria do not bend to favor it.

Claiming a practice

Claiming and verification are free. When you claim a listing you are telling us you are authorized to act for that practice, and we confirm that before any change goes live. We may ask for evidence, and we may decline or reverse a claim we cannot verify. You are responsible for what you submit being accurate and for having the right to use it.

Paid listings

Enhanced and Featured are described at for practices, and the price shown there is the price charged. Specifically:

• Verification comes first. We verify you represent the practice before an upgraded listing goes live. If we cannot verify it, we refund you in full.
• Monthly plans renew automatically until you cancel. Cancel any time and it runs to the end of the period you have paid for. We do not refund part-months.
• Prepaid terms bill three months and run four, starting the day the listing goes live rather than the day you pay, and renew month to month afterward at the then-current price. The fourth month is a launch offer: we can withdraw it at any time, and if we do, it never shortens a term already bought. Whatever the page said on the day you paid is what you get.
• Featured is one practice per area. Where an area is already taken, it is not available at any price until it opens up. Availability is not guaranteed and is not reserved by payment alone.
• What a paid listing buys is presentation, not performance. More room, better placement outside the rankings, and a badge. We do not promise traffic, calls, bookings, patients, or a ranking position, and none of those is a condition of the fee.

Sponsorships

Businesses that are not clinics can sponsor pages by state; the rates and rules are at advertise. Sponsorship terms are month to month, 30 days notice, or prepaid by the quarter. Each sponsor gets category exclusivity in the states it buys, for the term it has paid for. Cards are labeled “Advertisement,” carry the line that sponsors never influence rankings or editorial, and sit outside every ranked list.

Creative is subject to our approval, and we decline copy that makes a medical claim. Advertising must comply with the rules of the states it appears in — attorney advertising and health advertising in particular — and that compliance is the sponsor's responsibility, not ours. We may pause or remove creative that puts us or a reader at risk.

Content you give us

You keep ownership of what you submit. You give us permission to display, resize and distribute it as part of the directory and its syndicated feeds, for as long as your listing runs and for a reasonable period afterward in archives and caches we do not control. You confirm you have the right to give us that permission. We may decline or remove anything that is inaccurate, misleading, unlawful, makes a medical claim, or would breach a professional advertising rule.

Payment

Card payments are processed by Stripe under their terms; we never see or store card numbers. Sponsorships and some listings are invoiced instead. Prices can change with notice on the relevant page, and a change never affects a prepaid term already running. You are responsible for any taxes that apply to your purchase where we are not required to collect them.

Ending it

You can cancel at any time, as described above. We can decline, pause, or end a paid listing or sponsorship — for a breach of these terms, a failed verification, or creative we will not run. If we end a paid arrangement for any reason other than your breach, we refund the unused portion of what you prepaid. Removing a paid upgrade does not remove the free listing, which stays as an ordinary directory record.

No warranty, and what we are liable for

The site is provided as is. We do not warrant that it will be uninterrupted, error-free, or that any information in it is accurate or current. To the fullest extent the law allows, PainBeacon Directory is not liable for indirect, incidental, or consequential damages, or for lost profits, revenue, patients or goodwill. Where we are liable, our total liability is limited to what you paid us in the twelve months before the claim. Nothing here limits liability that cannot be limited by law.

Privacy

How we handle information is set out at privacy, which is part of these terms. The short version: the site runs no tracking scripts and sets no advertising cookies, and we intend to keep it that way.

Changes, law, and reaching us

We may update these terms; the date at the top changes when we do, and a material change to a paid arrangement will not apply to a term you have already prepaid. These terms are governed by the laws of the Commonwealth of Virginia, without regard to its conflict of laws rules, and any dispute belongs in the state or federal courts located in Virginia.

Questions, corrections, or a complaint about anything above: [email protected]. We read everything that arrives there.