The growth of the Web has made health information more accessible than ever. Take a tour through our virtual doctor's office to find some places to start your hunt for information online. (Note: This is only a sampling of sites, and NEWS.COM does not necessarily endorse any of them.)
An apple a day
Sites that offer general health information and reference material
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American Medical Association's selected links to reference sites. |
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Medical Matrix's great library of clinical and health information, plus lots of links. |
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Center for Disease Control's Disease Information Page provides information on specific illnesses. |
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Iowa Heath Book has a searchable database of medical information. |
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Multimedia Medical Reference Library lists links to online health journals and hospitals, has a searchable database of symptoms and diseases, and allows online chat. |
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MedAccess Page provides databases of healthcare providers, health and insurance information, as well as interactive quizzes and a newsletter that covers health and fitness issues. |
Take two and call in the morning
Sites about specific drugs and pharmaceutical companies
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Baxter International |
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Bristol-Myers Squibb |
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Medical Matrix's Prescription Assistance Resources links to sites that discuss the pros and cons of certain medicine, searchable databases, and lists of the top 200 prescriptions. |
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MedicineNet explains a list of common prescription drugs. |
Just what the doctor ordered
Links that provide advice and answers to users' medical questions
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Go Ask Alice, the Columbia University Health Question & Answer Service. Past answers are archived by subject; only selected questions will be answered. |
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Dr. Greene's House Calls, a user-friendly site that answers questions about pediatric medicine as well as providing a searchable database of previous questions and answers. |
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American Heart Association's interactive quiz determines your risk of heart disease, and shows graphically how you compare to the average and ideal. |
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Physician Consultations allows you to email doctors who will give opinions and answer questions. |
Someone to watch over me
Sites that help consumers make insurance choices and provide rate and
purchasing options
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The U.S. Health Care Delivery System is a nice outline of the way the American health system works. It includes history and definitions of many acronyms including HMO and PPO. |
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InsWeb calls itself the gateway to the insurance industry. It provides consumer rate and purchasing information. |
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Healthscope, a California site that helps consumers understand health plan options. |