Many health companies rely on industry dollars as part of their business model. But those links raise thorny ethical questions, said James Yeh, a physician-researcher based at Brigham and Women's Hospital who has studied the influence of industry funding on medical information. The site's editorial policy says that it upholds the journalistic principles of honesty and independence.
When asked about how the site ensures independence, a WebMD spokesperson said, "The strict editorial practices we have in place ensure that the content we produce is unbiased, and the production of such content done so independent of third party control or influence.
But over the years, others have questioned — and found reason to critique — the site's relationship with drugmakers. In , Sen. Chuck Grassley sent a letter to the site after finding that a WebMD quiz for depression, sponsored by pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly, was rigged to suggest everybody who took the test was at risk for major depression.
Naturally, that would make them a potential candidate for antidepressants, conveniently manufactured by Eli Lilly. In my own perusals of the site, I was bombarded with a dizzying number of ads for pharmaceuticals, hospitals, and sponsored content brought to me by drug companies. On some pages, there were so many ads that actual medical information was difficult to navigate. I also had to click through multiple pages to read anything on a single topic, forcing me to spend more time on the site and see more ads.
All in all, it was user unfriendly, and awash in advertising that might confuse someone looking for a solution to a health problem. Some parts of the site seem to be designed to turn users into patients.
The site's popular symptom checker , which allows users to insert basic information about their age, sex, and symptoms, is a hypochondriac's worst nightmare. A search for bloating in the lower abdomen suggested one could have anything from menstrual cramps to ovarian or colon cancers. A query on back pain spit out this terrifying list of potential possibilities: gas pains, shingles, ovarian cancer, acute kidney failure, and tick bites.
No context — just a list of scary diagnoses. The pages on weight loss were a mixed bag. Information about weight loss supplements suggested green coffee supplements might help. On the other hand, while the site dubiously claims it has "10 easy, painless ways to lose weight," the page actually included some reasonable, if obvious, tips: walk more, hydrate, share restaurant meals. I also found problems with how the site conveys the effectiveness and possible side effects of some prescription drugs.
When I visited the page on weight loss pills , an advertisement on meal replacement shakes popped up, as did an ad for the drug Qsymia — which is among the six drugs featured in the article:. While the site's content is produced by a team of doctors and medical writers, the article failed to mention any basic information about the drug's effectiveness or how many people the drug was likely to help the number needed to treat, in medical parlance.
And some of the information was worryingly incomplete. For example, WebMD didn't note the serious side effects associated with the drug Contrave — it can cause severe, potentially fatal skin reactions and liver failure.
But those were just my observations after spending a few hours on the site. In the absence of better evidence, I decided to get the views of independent doctors. The subscription-based website, used mainly by doctors to access summaries of the latest medical information, accepts no advertising money as part of its editorial policy and pursuit of independence.
Overall, the doctors I spoke to said they didn't find anything exceptionally egregious about WebMD. But they noted the lack of context around some of the site's medical advice, as well as a smattering of misinformation. Ryan Connolly found "a few less-than-evidence-based medications listed Risperdal, Zyprexa.
Vagus nerve stimulation , a medical treatment that involves delivering electrical impulses to the vagus nerve, was also listed — even though it's no longer considered evidence-based and is almost never done, he said. Meanwhile, one recently approved drug for depression, brexpiprazole, was left out. Connolly's conclusion: WebMD's depression treatment information is not totally unreliable but is sloppy and incomplete.
And it could easily give patients a skewed view of their treatment options. University of Michigan's Sandeep Vijan thought WebMD's cholesterol treatments page was "oversimplified" and "often phrased in an overly frightening way. Again, Vijan noted a range in the quality of the site's information. Some of it "may be fine for an initial introduction for patients," he said. Within the group of doctors I surveyed, some spoke highly of the site. Of the page on psoriasis treatments , Robert Dellavalle, the chief of the dermatology service at Denver's VA medical center, said he didn't spot any errors and thinks WedMD "is doing a great job for a free online publication.
All in all, is WebMD trustworthy? It depends on which page you land on and what you're looking for. The site may be an okay starting point for information, like Wikipedia. The company posted an 8 percent increase in revenue for the fourth quarter of as well as improved bio-pharma advertising, and a bump in their health and information services. The number of consumer visitors to the WebMD health network was also up on both desktop and mobile, with 64 million users during the quarter.
And as of March, people who use the Amazon Alexa voice-assistant service can launch the WebMD skill on any Alexa-enabled device -- such as the Echo, Echo Dot and Amazon Fire TV -- and ask a question about a range of health-related topics including conditions, medication, tests and treatments. Alexa will respond with WebMD-sourced answers in easy-to-understand language.
Rumors that WebMD was shopping around for a buyer have sprung up for years. In January the company denied rumors that it was in conversations with Walgreens and UnitedHealthcare. At that time, we dove into the company's history and the ways in which it has navigated the emergence of digital health as a category. Skip to main content. Rumors that WebMD was shopping around for a buyer are finally confirmed.
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