Kind of like Babycenter if it were run by doctors.

July 21, 2011 7:54 AM

I'm looking for examples of best-of-breed healthcare/medical websites that combine solid clinical information with community features.

For example: A site for people living with HIV or cancer which has vetted medical info on day-to-day living, along with an active message board. Or a women's health site with information on pregnancy/menopause/other, along with community blogs, ask-an-expert features, etc.

posted by Jairus to Health & Fitness (6 answers total)

CouldIHaveLupus.gov is run by the National Women's Health Information Center, a service of the Office on Women's Health (OWH) in the US Department of Health and Human Services - so I think it meets the vetted/best-of-breed criteria, in the sense that it's clinical info and not pushing a product or service (and, has no advertising as it's a .gov site). It also has an active message board with users sharing their experiences with lupus.

OWH also has a message board on their site (womenshealth.gov) that's for women to share tips and support around breastfeeding issues.
posted by pants at 8:34 AM on July 21, 2011

Response by poster: CouldIHaveLupus.gov is exactly the kind of thing I'm looking for, thanks! The message board looks good too.
posted by Jairus at 9:22 AM on July 21, 2011

Great, I'm glad that will be helpful. The Alzheimer's Association site, which I think sticks pretty closely to clinical recommendations/explanations, also has some really active forums.
posted by pants at 10:13 AM on July 21, 2011

CHADD is a community site run by a non-profit organization that also runs the National Resource Center on ADHD which is more of an evidence-based website with links to talk with professionals. CHADD has some very busy and active communities. I'm not sure of the exact link or if it's what you're looking for, but I've found them helpful in the past.
posted by jessamyn at 10:58 AM on July 21, 2011

Several communities-in-one at PatientsLikeMe. ALS was their first focus, but they've added many more.

Many pharma and biotechs are now also adding patient community portals where they don't directly promote their products, but do sponsor and host the site.
posted by deludingmyself at 11:56 AM on July 21, 2011

For HIV, I always recommend The Body.
posted by VioletU at 6:13 AM on July 22, 2011