Healthline Announces Availability of the Healthline Reference Library, Clinically Reviewed, Consumer-Friendly Online Content Solution

Sees Rapid Customer Adoption and Improved Engagement Metrics

SAN FRANCISCO – November 29, 2012 – Healthline Networks, one of the leading providers of health information services, today announced the availability of the Healthline Reference Library (HRL), a body of clinically reviewed, consumer-friendly content that can be incorporated into health applications, patient portals or any communication platform as an essential element of an engaging health content strategy.

The company developed the HRL to replace licensed content on its well-regarded consumer health information site, www.healthline.com, with the goal of improving readability and consumer engagement by writing the content at a Grade 8 reading level while optimizing decision support along the patient pathway.  Current solutions are generally written at a Grade Level of 10 or higher, dramatically hampering consumer ability to fully understand the material. (Health content with its clinical language and complexity generally requires a higher reading level as compared to the average best seller, which is written at Grade 4, and to newspapers, written at Grade 6).

According to the US Department of Health and Humans Services National Action Plan to Improve Health Literacy, nearly 9 out of 10 adults have difficulty deciphering every day health information. Health literacy requires knowledge from many topic areas, including the body, healthy behaviors, and the workings of the healthcare system. The HRL addresses all of these areas:

• Over 1,000 condition overviews with deep coverage of the top 100 conditions that consumers search for online
• Written to address specific health questions culled from millions of search queries conducted on the HealthWeb
• Updated frequently to include latest advancements
• Lifestyle Content: Fitness, Healthy Living articles 
• More than 1,000 symptoms and treatments
• Presented at 8^th grade reading level in an easy-to-understand, non-academic voice  

Healthline’s roster of top payer and health information sites are quickly upgrading to HRL including United Healthcare, Yahoo, Ask, and Sharecare. These sites are using the HRL to support consumer health activities as diverse as preparing for doctor appointments, conducting advanced treatment searches, and researching diseases and conditions by evaluating symptom combinations.

“HRL was created to align the most up-to-date and clinically accurate information with each user’s unique search experience across the patient pathway,” said West Shell, III, Healthline’s Chairman and CEO.“ HRL is a key component of our content solution portfolio. We know from experience that some content is best understood in written form while other content is better presented as part of Healthline’s Visual Learning Platform. For example, enumerating the most common treatments for Alzheimer’s based on efficacy is best presented to consumers in an easily digestible list, while illustrating how statins lower cholesterol is better illustrated with a 3D animation.”

All of the new content was created by Healthline’s editorial team of medical writers and was clinically reviewed by licensed physicians. "When patients use the Internet for health research they expect to find resources that demystify the overwhelming amount and complexity of information available,” said Paul S. Auerbach, MD, MS, and Chief Medical Officer at Healthline Networks. “HRL was developed with this goal in mind.  The new library provides clinically accurate, contextually relevant, and most importantly, easy to understand content, that when used properly, can be actionable and promote improved health and health habits."

The Healthline Reference Library was released in September and can be supplemented with Healthline’s visual content and learning tools such as Bodies in Motion™, animated slides shows that depict the pathology of a disease or condition, Video-Enabled Assessments, multi-media platforms that can be used for surveys and health risk assessments, and Healthline BodyMaps, the 3D, interactive anatomy tool that enables consumers to search, navigate, and learn how the body works.

About Healthline Networks

Healthline Networks is the leading provider of intelligent health information services, enabling 100 million consumers a month to make more confident, informed healthcare decisions. The company's proprietary consumer healthcare taxonomy, the largest of its kind, powers a suite of intelligent health search, content and advertising services. Combining advanced search technology with deep medical expertise, Healthline partners with top publishers, portals, search engines, employers, providers, and health plans.Headquartered in San Francisco and named to Deloitte's Technology Fast 500 in 2010 and 2011, Healthline is backed by Aetna, Comcast Ventures, GE, Investor Growth Capital, Kaiser Permanente, Reed Elsevier, U.S. News & World Report, and VantagePoint Capital Partners. For more information, visit http://www.healthlinenetworks.net