Content Guidelines

healthfinder.gov has resources on a wide range of health topics selected from over 1,600 government and non-profit organizations to bring you the best, most reliable health information on the Internet.

Reliable Sources

The following guidelines are used when reviewing an organization as a potential source of health information for healthfinder.gov:

Type of organization and information and services provided.
Free and easy access to health information.
Standards for quality of health information, such as HON Code of Conduct (HONcode) .
Ability for organization to respond to public inquiries.
Disclosure of information and funding source(s), sponsoring organizations, staff qualifications, and policies on personal privacy, accessibility, and advertising.
Display of current and accurate, science-based information through a medical advisory board or staff expert(s).
Disclaimers concerning medical advice and consultation with health professionals.

Resource Collections

Our database maintains over 6,500 resources plus a growing collection of useful prevention information and tools developed for healthfinder.gov’s Quick Guide to Healthy Living section.

Web resources on a given topic may include:

Prevention information offered in the Quick Guide to Healthy Living section.
Fact sheets, Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ), reports, indexes and bibliographies, etc.
Interactive resources including online quizzes and health risk assessment tools.
Health information news, online journals and newsletters.
Listservs and online discussion, support, and self-help groups.
Resources in multimedia formats, such as audio and video.

To keep our collection fresh and current, Web resources are selected for a period of 24 months. If a resource no longer conveys current and accurate information, it will be deleted.

Selection and Maintenance

All organizations and Web resources in the healthfinder.gov database and Web site are reviewed first by healthfinder.gov staff for compliance with our content selection policy.
Existing resources are checked and updated on a regular schedule.
Resources that require additional content review are referred to ODPHP and members of the healthfinder.gov Steering Committee.

Quick Guide to Healthy Living Guidelines

The goal of the Quick Guide to Healthy Living and myhealthfinder is to provide health information that is easy to understand and actionable. The topics in the Quick Guide focus on everyday wellness and prevention, such as eating a healthy diet, getting active, preventing heart disease, or getting a flu shot. The information is written in simple everyday language. Recommendations in myhealthfinder come from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force.

For each health topic in the Quick Guide to Healthy Living, we provide the source, the name of the person or agency that reviewed the information, and the date the information was last reviewed. Visit Quick Guide Sources or select button on Quick Guide topic pages for more information.

Steering Committee

The healthfinder.gov Steering Committee meets regularly to make sure the healthfinder.gov is accurate and up-to-date. The Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (ODPHP) leads the Steering Committee and manages healthfinder.gov.

Members of the committee include experts from the federal government, consumer health information specialists, librarians, and others committed to offering quality online health information.

Questions or comments? Please e-mail us at healthfinder@nhic.org.

Disclaimer — healthfinder.gov is an information and referral service only, and does not diagnose medical conditions, offer medical advice, or endorse specific products or services. Also, healthfinder.gov does not control the content of the Internet sites or organizations listed.