Methodology
How the Desk Score is assigned
Every provider receives a Desk Score from 0 to 100 across six weighted dimensions, then a letter grade. The same rubric runs against every provider — 6 factors, one formula, no exceptions. Here is exactly what we measure and how much each dimension counts.
Price transparency
25%Whether the provider publishes all-in monthly pricing up front — sticker price, intro vs. renewal rate, and any step-up. Opaque or drip-reveal pricing costs significant points.
State access
20%How many U.S. states the provider actively serves, and whether that coverage is disclosed clearly. 'All 50' with proof outscores 'multi-state' with no published list.
Molecule range
18%Breadth of GLP-1 molecules offered (semaglutide, tirzepatide), plus route options — injection, oral, and sublingual — and titration flexibility.
Onboarding speed
15%Time from first inquiry to first prescription: intake form length, async vs. synchronous consultation model, and pharmacy turnaround signals.
Support responsiveness
12%Availability and quality of clinical follow-up, side-effect escalation pathways, and patient-support access (async messaging, phone, pharmacy liaison).
Licensing & trust
10%Provider verification confidence: prescriber licensing signals, pharmacy accreditation disclosures, and compounding-regulatory compliance posture.
The grade scale
A (93+), A− (90–92), B+ (87–89), B (83–86), B− (80–82), C+ (77–79), C (below 77). A grade is a relative read on today's market, not a safety rating or a medical endorsement.
When a provider does not say what it prescribes
Molecule range is scored from what a provider publishes. Where a company does not name the GLP-1 molecules it prescribes anywhere we can read — not on its pages, not in its plans, not in its FAQ — that dimension is scored at its floor, and the review says so with the date we checked. This is a statement about disclosure, not a finding that the company offers nothing: an undisclosed formulary and an absent one are different facts, and we do not have evidence to tell them apart from the outside. A provider moves off the floor as soon as it publishes what it prescribes, or as soon as we can establish it another way.
When a company leaves the category
A Desk Score measures a GLP-1 telehealth service. If a company stops selling one, there is nothing left for the six dimensions to measure, so it is retired: no score, no grade, no rank, and no place on the ranking, the price ladders, the medians or the head-to-head comparisons. Its review is never deleted and never hidden — it is rewritten to say, with the date it was checked, what the company sells now. Retiring is not a low grade and not a penalty. It is the absence of the thing this site grades.
- AmberHealth — retired August 2026; the site now sells a single hops-extract dietary supplement.
When one company is absorbed by another
Sometimes a brand stops trading not because the service ended but because another company took it over. The service still exists; the name does not. We retire the absorbed brand for a different reason than a company that left the category: its score was measured on a business that is no longer open under that name, and the company it became is already ranked here, so keeping both would list one business twice. So the absorbed entry loses its score, its rank and its place on every ranking, ladder, median and comparison, and it stops carrying an outbound link, because there is no longer an address of its own to send anyone to. Its review is never deleted and never hidden — it is rewritten to say, with the date we checked and quoting the surviving company's own notice, what happened, and it links straight to the review of the company that now runs the service. That link is the point: a reader who searched the old name is looking for something that still exists.
What the Desk Score never reflects
Affiliate relationships. Assume any provider we list may compensate us — a provider that pays us a referral commission runs through the identical rubric as one that doesn't. A weak provider scores low regardless, and an unflattering finding on a paying provider stays in the review. The number is never for sale. See our disclosure.
Provider facts come from each provider's public disclosures and our own provider matrix at the time of scoring; they change often. This is consumer research, not medical advice.