A healthy selection of top health sites

Adam (www.adam.com)

This popular consumer health site grew out of a series of CD-ROMs for the medical education market. It includes sections on men's women's and children's health, as well as diet and nutrition, first aid and mental health. One of the highlights is a "Health Illustrated" section featuring full-color medical artwork

AMA Health Insight
(www.ama-assn.org/consumer.htm)

Launched in 1997 by the American Medical Association, this site provides easily understood information for consumers and includes the capability to search online for physicians, hospitals, and medical subjects. All information provided (including links) is approved by an editorial board consisting of physicians, pharmacists and scientists.

America's Doctor (www.americasdoctor.com)

Launched on America Online in September 1998, America's Doctor expanded to the Web in March. It has news, bulletin boards and shopping, but the coolest thing about this site is that it lets you have a private, real-time, one-on-one chat with a physician, therapist or other health-care specialist 24 hours a day.

Better Health (betterhealth.com)

Now run by the megawomen's site iVillage, the site is an outgrowth of one of the first online health communities, the Better Health and Medical network, launched on America Online in 1993. It's now one of the Web's top traffic health sites, featuring magazine-type coverage, as well as special-interest communities, support groups and databases of articles by experts on a wide range of conditions.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (www.cdc.gov)

The federal agency offers statistics, news, consumer fact sheets and other resources on diseases, as well as recommendations for overseas travelers.

Drug Infonet (www.druginfonet.com)

This independent, unsponsored site was created two years ago by Kelly Little, a pharmaceutical market researcher in New Jersey who simply says she "saw a need." She provides a range of valuable and clearly organized information, including details from package inserts and consumer pamphlets for many drugs, links to manufacturers' sites, an "Ask the Expert" section and other resources.

Hardin Meta Directory (www.lib.uiowa.edu/hardin/md/index.html)

This University of Iowa site groups medical links by category and removes them when their connection rate drops. (Researchers say a good connection rate shows that the sponsors are maintaining it - key as information changes rapidly.)

HealthAnswers.com (healthanswers.com)

This is an all-purpose site run by Healthway Online Inc. of Austin, Texas. Features include news from Reuters, articles from Physician's Weekly, a drug database and "health centers" gathering resources on dozens of topics, from alternative medicine to weight control.

Health Central (healthcentral.com)

A general-interest health site with all the standard resources, as well as special reports by poular TV and radio doctor Dean Edell. The site also has customized health-risk assessment and personal record-keeping tools. Other columnists include a medical humorist and a medical librarian.

Healthfinder (www.healthfinder.gov)

This is the government's directory of authoritative health information, featuring a variety of menu lists with links to on-line journals, medical dictionaries, minority health and prevention and self-care. Information is obtained from U.S. government agencies; national voluntary, nonprofit and professional organizations; and academic institutions and libraries.

HealthAtoZ.com (www.healthatoz.com)

This is a family-oriented site with personalization features including "My HealthAtoZ," which lets users customize the home page with news and features targeted to their interests. The site also just added "E-Mate," an interactive calendar and organizer that lets families store and manage personalized information on line.

InteliHealth (www.intelihealth.com)

A joint venture of Aetna U.S. Healthcare and the respected Johns Hopkins University Hospital and Health Care system, this award-winning news site also rounds up the latest tools and references (dictionaries, database indexes, hospital locators), has experts check them out and puts them in a reader-friendly package. The 1999 Webby Awards said InteliHealth is "like an EKG with attitude."

Mayo Clinic Health Oasis (www.mayohealth.org)

Mayo is one of the oldest and best-known consumer sources of health information. Editors are physicians at the Mayo Clinic, and an emphasis is placed on providing timely information, with revision dates noted. Look in the library section for an extensive list of reference articles written by Mayo Clinic staff.

MediConsult.com (www.mediconsult.com)

This site, run by an independent consumer-health marketing company, provides peer-reviewed educational materials, support groups and an innovative "MediXperts" service, which provides users with tailored, confidential information from top specialists in North America. You submit your questions, and an expert sends a response in two to five days.

MedHelp International (www.medhelp.org)

An independent, nonprofit organization founded by two people who met in an on-line medical support group in 1993, this site focuses on resources for patients and their families.

MedicineNet.com (www.medicinenet.com)

This site provides health news and resources that are "100% doctor-produced." The team has put together a database with information on 400 diseases and treatments.

MedScape (www.medscape.com)

The popular information site, organized by medical specialties, is geared to physicians, who can receive customized home pages on medical topics in their areas of interest. A consumer version is promised soon; look for heavy cross-promotion on the TV and radio properties of CBS, which last week announced that it will buy a 35% stake in MedScape.

National Institutes of Health (www.nih.gov/health)

The umbrella site of the government's health research institutes includes information about consumer publications, toll-free numbers for medical information and Medline Plus, the National Library of Medicine's new consumer-oriented site. It contains a selected list of quality resources on common diseases and conditions, as well as citations with abstracts to 9 million research articles published in 3,900 biomedical journals.

OnHealth (www.onhealth.com)

This independent, ad-supported site provides practical, consumer-friendly information from respected sources, such as major medical journals and hospitals. Resources include information on 250 health conditions, 1,000 in-depth articles, a drug database and an herbal index.

ThriveOnline (www.thriveonline.com)

It was founded in 1996 as a joint venture between America Online and (italic)Time(/italic); it's now a subsidiary of Oxygen Media, a cutting-edge women's Web and cable TV company. ThriveOnline takes a magazine-style approach, with linked subsites on areas of particular interest to women: medicine, fitness, sexuality, nutrition, weight and "serenity" (stress reduction and personal exploration).

WebMD (www.webmd.com)

This site, with sections geared to both doctors and consumers, offers medical news, personalized health information and support communities. The company, with major investments including $250 million from Microsoft, announced a merger with health-care industry site Healtheon in May, making it one of the top players in the field.

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