1. A method comprising: receiving, by one or more computing devices of a matching-engine system, a search query from a client device of a user of the matching-engine system, the search query comprising: a geographic location of the user; a preferred date and time for an appointment for the user; and one or more of a user-specified symptom or a user-specified treatment; determining, by one or more of the computing devices, at least one base-concept based on the search query, the base-concept comprising a medical diagnosis or a medical procedure; identifying, by one or more of the computing devices, a set of one or more physicians to be recommended to the user based at least in part on: a geographic location of each of the one or more physicians; an availability of each of the one or more physicians with respect to the preferred date and time for the appointment for the user; a performance-score of each of the one or more physicians associated with the base-concept, wherein the performance-score is calculated based on a weighted aggregate of individual performance-scores for one or more sub-concepts of the base-concept, wherein the individual performance-scores are calculated by: (1) accessing one or more Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) codes based on claims data received from the physician, wherein the CPT codes refer to a medical service provided by the physician in connection with the one or more sub-concepts; (2) determining one or more relative value units (RVUs) corresponding to the one or more CPT codes, wherein the RVUs corresponding to a CPT code represents a location-independent measure of overall resources used for the medical service; (3) calculating a physician-cost-factor for the physician associated with the one or more sub-concepts, wherein the physician-cost-factor is based on the RVUs corresponding to the medical service provided by the physician for the one or more sub-concepts; (4) accessing an average cost factor associated with the one or more sub-concepts for a plurality of physicians, wherein the physician and the plurality of physicians share a common specialty and common geographic location; and (5) comparing the physician-cost-factor with the average cost factor, wherein the individual performance-score for the physician for the one or more sub-concepts is increased if the physician-cost-factor is lower than the average cost factor; a readmission rate of each of the one or more physicians; a reinfection rate of each of the one or more physicians; an average length-of-stay for patients of each of the one or more physicians; a relative invasiveness of procedures of each of the one or more physicians; and a rating of a healthcare facility associated with each of the one or more physicians; and sending, by one or more computing devices, a search-results page to a client device of the user, the search-results page comprising references to one or more of the physicians in the set of physicians.
1. A method comprising: receiving, by one or more computing devices of a matching-engine system, a search query from a client device of a user of the matching-engine system, the search query comprising: a geographic location of the user; a preferred date and time for an appointment for the user; and one or more of a user-specified symptom or a user-specified treatment; determining, by one or more of the computing devices, at least one base-concept based on the search query, the base-concept comprising a medical diagnosis or a medical procedure; identifying, by one or more of the computing devices, a set of one or more physicians to be recommended to the user based at least in part on: a geographic location of each of the one or more physicians; an availability of each of the one or more physicians with respect to the preferred date and time for the appointment for the user; a performance-score of each of the one or more physicians associated with the base-concept, wherein the performance-score is calculated based on a weighted aggregate of individual performance-scores for one or more sub-concepts of the base-concept, wherein the individual performance-scores are calculated by: (1) accessing one or more Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) codes based on claims data received from the physician, wherein the CPT codes refer to a medical service provided by the physician in connection with the one or more sub-concepts; (2) determining one or more relative value units (RVUs) corresponding to the one or more CPT codes, wherein the RVUs corresponding to a CPT code represents a location-independent measure of overall resources used for the medical service; (3) calculating a physician-cost-factor for the physician associated with the one or more sub-concepts, wherein the physician-cost-factor is based on the RVUs corresponding to the medical service provided by the physician for the one or more sub-concepts; (4) accessing an average cost factor associated with the one or more sub-concepts for a plurality of physicians, wherein the physician and the plurality of physicians share a common specialty and common geographic location; and (5) comparing the physician-cost-factor with the average cost factor, wherein the individual performance-score for the physician for the one or more sub-concepts is increased if the physician-cost-factor is lower than the average cost factor; a readmission rate of each of the one or more physicians; a reinfection rate of each of the one or more physicians; an average length-of-stay for patients of each of the one or more physicians; a relative invasiveness of procedures of each of the one or more physicians; and a rating of a healthcare facility associated with each of the one or more physicians; and sending, by one or more computing devices, a search-results page to a client device of the user, the search-results page comprising references to one or more of the physicians in the set of physicians. 15. The method of claim 1 , wherein the performance-score is further based on one or more sub-concepts associated with the base-concept, the sub-concept being determined by a user history or user input of additional user-specified symptoms or user-specified treatments.