WebMD

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

WebMD is a medical and wellness information service, primarily known for its public Internet site, which provides health information, a symptom checklist, pharmacy information, blogs of physicians with specific topics and a place to store personal medical information.^[1] The site is reported to receive over 40 million hits each month^[2] ^[3] and is the leading health portal in the United States.^[4] The site receives information from accredited individuals and is reviewed by a medical review board consisting of four physicians to ensure accuracy. It is a common misconception that WebMD offers medical advice to its users, but is clearly stated under the terms and conditions that the site does not provide medical advice.

WebMD also offers services to physicians and private clients. For example, they publish WebMD the Magazine, a patient-directed publication distributed bimonthly to 85 percent of physician waiting rooms.^[5] Medscape is a professional portal for physicians with 30 medical specialty areas and over 30 physician discussion boards.

The organization is financed by third-party contributions and sponsorships.^[6]

WebMD operates other health-related sites besides WebMD including MedicineNet, Medscape, RxList, eMedicine and eMedicineHealth. These sites provide similar services to those of WebMD. MedicineNet is an online media publishing company.^[7] Medscape offers up-to-date information for physicians and other healthcare professionals.^[8] RxList offers detailed information about pharmaceutical information on generic and name-brand drugs.^[9] eMedicineHealth is a consumer site offering similar information to that of WebMD. It was first based on the site created for physicians and healthcare professionals called eMedicine.com.^[10]