Top Online Pharmacies Rated:
Walgreens.com, RiteAid.com and CVS.com
Sites a Valuable Health Tool, But Shouldn't Be Sole Health Info Resource
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YONKERS, NY, Sept. 12, 2007 -- When it comes to reliable information, shoppers of the Web's top online drugstores have a clear choice.
Experts at HealthRatings.org, a joint project of Consumer Reports and the Health Improvement institute, ranked Walgreens.com as the leader, citing quality of health information and ease of use, giving it a "very good" rating. RiteAid's Web site, RiteAid.com, earned a score of "good," while CVS earned a "fair," with raters noting some information quality concerns.
All sites were rated "excellent" on their privacy policies, an important concern for consumers shopping at online drugstores. Two of the three sites rated only "fair" for ease of use. Walgreens rated "very good." Raters gave all three sites a score of "poor," however, on disclosure of advertising and sponsorship policies, and on policies for correcting wrong, misleading or outdated information.
Even the best-rated site, Walgreens, contained some information on alternative medicine practices that raters deemed questionable at best. Another site displayed similarly questionable information, said the raters, about supplements for sale.
"Consumers should think of online drugstores the same way they think of drugstores you walk into," said Beau Brendler, director of Consumer Reports WebWatch. "You shouldn't be getting all your health information in the store, where product placement, advertising and other persuasions are at work. You might talk to the pharmacist, you've probably done some research, and you've probably had a conversation with your doctor."
Overall, raters did find the three sites to be useful to consumers in enhancing the experience they might have at a walk-in drugstore.
"Because of their market presence, drug stores serve an important community role, not only in fulfilling prescriptions and selling health-related products, but also in serving as a distribution channel for health information," said Dr. Peter Goldschmidt, M.D., president of the Health Improvement Institute. "With better editorial policies and improved content, they could move from being a useful secondary source of health information to a trusted primary source. All the pharmacy sites we evaluated have a way to go to get there, however -- some a longer way than others."
Methodology
Using a tool based on WebWatch's guidelines for Web site credibility and HII criteria for health information, a panel of health and medical experts examined three sites in-depth over a period of more than one month, then rated each using established Consumer Reports-style methods and the familiar trademarked symbols. The list was determined using Nielsen//NetRatings and WebWatch data.
This is the first time HealthRatings.org has looked at online pharmacies. Overall ratings scores were determined from ten different attributes, including identity, advertising and sponsorship disclosure, ease of use, privacy, contents, authorship, references, editorial policies and health information. The raters did not shop at the online drugstores or perform comparison pricing tests.
The ratings do not test the scientific accuracy and validity of the health information. However, a number of the ratings attributes are intended to evaluate information quality. Sites that scored well in contents, authorship, references and transparency of editorial policies scored the highest overall.
See how each site rated at HealthRatings.org.
The 3 sites rated, ordered below by popularity measured by traffic (not by ratings score), are:
1. Walgreens.com
2. CVS.com
3. Rite Aid.com
HealthRatings.org urges consumers to use caution when purchasing medicines online and to shop from reliable pharmacies such as those rated. Ignore pop-up or spam advertisements on the Internet, or unsolicited junk faxes, offering drugs for sale without a prescription. Most such sites are scams at best, and at worst, may sell products of poor quality or that may contain harmful ingredients. Purchasing controlled substances without a prescription and appropriate consultation with a physician is dangerous and illegal.
Web publishers interested in applying the WebWatch guidelines to their own sites can go here. The guidelines are also a useful source for consumers as a way to evaluate the quality of Web sites.
In-depth information about methodology and research methods can be found at HealthRatings.org.
WebWatch invites feedback and commentary on the ratings at its blog, The UnSponsored Link.
About Consumer Reports WebWatch
Consumer Reports WebWatch serves as a daily resource of unbiased and trustworthy information, using the proven methods of Consumer Reports and other independently derived research methods. The WebWatch research agenda includes health, financial services, news and information sites, children's sites and general issues of concern to consumers on the Web, such as privacy, spyware and information security. Consumer Reports WebWatch at Consumers Union, the non-profit publisher of Consumer Reports magazine and ConsumerReports.org, acknowledges support of The Pew Charitable Trusts, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, and the Open Society Institute as instrumental to its founding and first five years of success. WebWatch's investigative reports, articles and news are available to the general public at ConsumerWebWatch.org. WebWatch accepts no advertising or corporate support whatsoever. WebWatch serves as a special unpaid adviser to the StopBadware.org project of The Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School and the Oxford Internet Institute. WebWatch director Beau Brendler is a member of the At-Large Advisory Committee to the Internet Corporation for Assigning Names and Numbers (ICANN). WebWatch is a member of the W3C and the Internet Society.
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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