CONSUMER REPORTS WEBWATCH AND HEALTH IMPROVEMENT INSTITUTE RATE 20 MOST-TRAFFICKED HEALTH INFORMATION SITES
New site helps consumers identify most credible and trustworthy health sites online
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BERKELEY, CA, June 9, 2005 — Consumer Health WebWatch, a joint project of Consumer Reports WebWatch and the Health Improvement Institute (HII) today released first-ever ratings of the top 20 most-trafficked health information Web sites at its “Trust or Consequence” conference here. Health experts, consumers and the media gathered to learn how site reliability, credibility and transparency affect consumers in their search for health information online. These landmark ratings can be found at www.healthratings.org.
According to The Pew Internet and American Life Project, since 2002, almost 80 percent of Internet users, an estimated 95 million adult Americans, use the Web to do health research. Not only do they perform Internet searches after diagnosis of an illness, but more often they're using the Web when they have questions about everyday health topics such as diet and nutrition.
“More guidelines and criteria for credibility have been set for health Web sites than any other type of site, and while that’s a good thing, it’s confusing for consumers to keep track, and difficult for health publishers to stay ahead,” said Beau Brendler, director, Consumer Reports WebWatch. “These ratings provide consumers with independent evaluations of sites, and help them sort out which Web sites have their best interests at heart.”
Methodology
Following WebWatch criteria for credibility, WebWatch employed professional testers. HII used a different tool and employed raters from the health care community to create overall ratings. Together the two organizations rated the 20 most-trafficked sites according to Nielsen/NetRatings data across nine different attributes including identity, advertising and sponsorship disclosure, ease of use, privacy, coverage, design, accessibility and contents.
These ratings are illustrated on www.healthratings.org by Consumer Reports ratings symbols for each criteria. Testing for specific medical subject matter knowledge is beyond the scope of the study. The top 20 sites are:
| WebMD |
Drugs.com |
Healthology.com |
| National Institutes of Health |
Aetna Intelihealth |
iVillage Health |
| Yahoo! Health |
Pfizer |
MedScape |
| About Health and Fitness |
RealAge |
Heartcenteronline.com |
| Mayo Clinic |
Kidshealth.org |
Healthboards.com |
| Medicinenet.com |
RxList |
HealthSquare |
| EMedicine.com |
QualityHealth |
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Results:
--Of the 20 sites rated, six were given the highest rating, “Excellent;” five received a “Very Good” rating; eight were given a rating of “Good;” and one site was rated “Fair.”
--Two sites are non-profit, accepting no advertising.
--The best sites offered a clear distinction between editorial content and sponsored content.
--Sites rated “excellent” included unbiased, peer-reviewed content written by health professionals.
--“Fair” sites often did not disclose that health content and surveys were sponsored by advertisers, had no policies to correct false, misleading or incorrect information, and seemed to be functioning as marketing sites for health products. “What we found is that the health information industry online can be profitable and credible,” said Brendler.
Sites interested in applying the WebWatch guidelines to their own site can go to http://www.consumerwebwatch.org/consumer-reports-webwatch-guidelines.cfm
About Consumer Reports WebWatch
Consumer Reports WebWatch is the leader in investigative reporting on trust and credibility in the online marketplace. WebWatch uses the proven methods of Consumer Reports to produce comprehensive research, breakthrough conferences and serves as a daily resource of unbiased and trustworthy information. Its research agenda includes entire online marketplaces, such as travel, search, health, financial services and more. WebWatch is a project of Consumers Union and is funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts, The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, and the Open Society Institute. WebWatch's investigative reports, articles and news are available to the general public at http://www.consumerwebwatch.org/
About Consumers Union
Consumers Union, the nonprofit publisher of Consumer Reports, is an expert, independent nonprofit organization whose mission is to work for a fair, just, and safe marketplace for all consumers and to empower consumers to protect themselves. To achieve this mission, we test, inform, and protect. To maintain our independence and impartiality, CU accepts no outside advertising, no free test samples, and has no agenda other than the interests of consumers. CU supports itself through the sale of its information products and services, individual contributions, and a few noncommercial grants. Consumer Reports content can be found online at ConsumerReports.org. Consumers Union's public policy work can be found online at ConsumersUnion.org.
About Health Improvement Institute
Health Improvement Institute is a non-profit, tax exempt, 501(c)3, charitable organization dedicated to improving the quality and productivity of America's health care. The Institute's principal program objective it to provide information to enable people to make informed health care choices. The Institute has established expertise in evaluating the quality of health information on the Internet, conducts forms and workshops, and sponsors national awards programs to recognize excellence, including the Aesculapius Award for excellence in health communication. For more information, visit www.hii.org.
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