Technical Proposal

      

Problem:  Under “Terms of Use,” HealthLine states “The content is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any question you may have regarding a medical condition.  Healthline does not recommend or endorse any specific tests, physician, products, procedures, opinions, or other information that may be mentioned on the Site.  Reliance on any information provided by Healthline, Healthline employees, others appearing on the Site at the invitation of Healthline, or other visitors to the Site is solely at your own risk.”  However, in order to access this disclaimer, the reader must click on “Terms of Use.”  

The placement of Symptom, Treatment, and Doctor Searches on HealthLine’s Home Page directs the reader to those areas, and the reader is prompted to look up medical information immediately.  Most readers aren’t likely to click on “Terms of Use,” where the disclaimer statement is hidden.

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Solution:   Place “Terms of Use” section in the upper right or left side of the Home Page  and list that section first under Customer Info.  Enlarge lettering size of “Terms of Use” so that it stands out from the other listings.

Problem:    Articles concerning medical conditions do not prominently identify the author of  the article.  For instance, the name and credentials of the physician and authors of the articles are not clearly posted.  The doctors’ names and “MD, MPH” designations are displayed in small, pale gray print, are barely noticeable, and can be easily overlooked by the reader.

Solution:  Enlarge and darken the print of the author’s name and credentials, which would prominently indicate the proper licensing and credentials of the medical doctors referred to as the authors of the website’s articles.

Problem:  The HealthLine site does not specifically list the names of its medical reference publisher contributors. It states “Healthline Networks offers its original health content, the HealthExpert Health Forums, as well as physician-reviewed content, health tools and videos from more than 20 leading medical reference publishers.”

Solution:   Identify the names of the “leading medical reference publishers.”

Problem:  The Healthline site claims to be “backed” by Aetna and Kaiser Permanente, both reputable healthcare organizations, and also lists non-healthcare organizations as “backers,” such as GE/NBCU, Investor Growth Capital, Reed Elsevier, US News & World Report, and VantagePoint Venture Partners.  The term “backing” is ambiguous, but undoubtedly refers to financial backing, not sponsorship provided by a reputable or nationally-recognized healthcare organization or medical college.

Solution:  If HealthLine is not sponsored by reputable healthcare organizations or medical colleges, it should provide a specific statement regarding its status in relation to the healthcare organizations referred to.