About Us

What is HealthNewsReview.org?

HealthNewsReview.org is a website dedicated to:

• Improving the accuracy of news stories about medical treatments, tests, products and procedures.
• Helping consumers evaluate the evidence for and against new ideas in health care.

We support and encourage the ABCs of health journalism.

• Accuracy
• Balance
• Completeness

How is HealthNewsReview.org funded?

The funding for HealthNewsReview.org is provided by the Foundation for Informed Medical Decision Making.

The Foundation’s mission is to ensure that people understand their choices and have the information they need to make sound decisions affecting their health and well being. A non-profit organization, its objectives are to:

• Promote understanding and adoption of informed medical decision-making.
• Organize and frame medical evidence in an unbiased manner to help people evaluate their options, particularly in cases where differences in individual preferences and perspectives are likely to affect personal choice.
• Sponsor research to expand knowledge of how to improve decision quality in health care.

In a complex medical environment, where cost savings, commercial interests or professional beliefs and commitments are likely to drive medical decisions, the Foundation provides information that is as objective, complete and unbiased as possible

Where did the idea come from?

This website is modeled, in large part, upon the pioneering effort begun by an Australian team that launched the Media Doctor Australia website in 2004. We are grateful to David Henry and the Media Doctor team for sharing their ideas and perspectives with us. The Australian effort has also been the inspiration for a Media Doctor Canada site, whose publisher, Alan Cassels, has been very helpful in guiding us.  Other sites are now active in Germany, Hong Kong and Japan.