Methodology version: pre-release 1.0
How MDRank evaluates medical devices
MDRank is being rebuilt as an exact-model evidence system. No product earns a public ranking merely because it appears in a manufacturer catalog, affiliate feed, competitor page, or AI-generated summary.
Exact-model identity
Regional variants, suffixes, packages, and accessories remain separate until equivalence is documented.
Deterministic scoring
Versioned category manifests control eligibility gates, dimensions, weights, penalties, confidence shrinkage, tie-breakers, freshness, and review triggers. An LLM does not choose numeric rules.
Score separated from confidence
The MDRank Score describes the result under a category rubric. Evidence Confidence describes how complete, independent, current, and consistent the supporting evidence is.
Public experience kept separate
Permitted owner feedback may support recurring usability and ownership themes. It cannot establish clinical accuracy, regulatory status, validation, safety, or medical suitability.
Commercial isolation
Affiliate, sponsorship, margin, inventory, conversion, and advertising data are unavailable to the scorer.
Human-approved publication
Automation may research, draft, validate, and build previews. Every new public product page requires an explicit human Publish action.
Blood-pressure concepts remain separate
Exact-model regulatory status, independent validation, measurement-performance evidence, resistance to positioning or technique errors, cuff fit, usability, display readability, data handling, power, warranty, ownership cost, and Evidence Confidence are distinct inputs. Resistance to positioning error is not proof of measurement accuracy. FDA clearance is not FDA approval, endorsement, independent validation, or proof that one device is more accurate than another.
Testing language
MDRank will state the testing status on every public result. “Hands-on,” “independently tested,” “clinically proven,” and similar language is prohibited unless an exact-model protocol, sample, tester, date, method, and result are documented for that page version.