Editorial Policy

HealthCentral: Where Chronic Meets Life

At HealthCentral, our mission is to help people with chronic disease and other serious illnesses (as well as those who love them) to not simply live with their condition, but to thrive in ways they may have never thought possible. We’re here to help you create your best life, whatever that means for you. Your job is to decide what success looks like. Ours is to help you get there, and we do it in all sorts of ways:

1. We provide information that’s accurate, up-to-date, and evidence-based so you can make the most informed decisions about your care.

Our journalists tap the top experts in each condition area they write about—whenever possible, our sources are affiliated with a medical school, research institution, hospital, advocacy organization, or government agency—and they rely on current peer-reviewed research to identify trends, discover the latest thinking, and present the best advice.

You’ll also notice that all of our latest content includes a dedicated “Sources” section so you can see exactly where we found our information.

Similarly, we update our stories regularly, and especially when there’s a relevant change in the standard of care, new guidelines, drug approvals or recalls, or reader feedback. In fact, if a reader discovers an error, outdated info, or even confusing explanations, we review the content and update the article accordingly.

2. We work with seasoned health journalists who understand the research—and ways to make it accessible to you.

HealthCentral’s editors tap a network of highly experienced health journalists who often have decades of experience writing for a consumer audience. They bring accuracy and knowledge to the topics they cover, while presenting scientific findings in a way that is easy to understand. Translating the medical jargon into clear, relatable content is what we do here, in order to give you the context that’s so often missing in health information. To that end, we also invite patient advocates to share their stories, insight, and advice in their own words.

3. Our articles are reviewed by an extensive team of medical experts.

The HealthCentral Medical Review Board includes more than 40 (and growing) physicians, nurses, psychologists, physical therapists, registered dietitians, and other healthcare professionals who each specialize in treating patients living with one or more of the dozens of conditions we cover. We ensure that the person reviewing each story is an actual expert in that particular condition. In other words, you won’t find an ophthalmologist giving the OK on a lung cancer story.

4. HealthCentral patient advocates also review our content.

One of our top priorities is to make sure our content is sensitive to and accurately reflects the truth of what it means to live with a chronic illness. We share our content with our roster of patient advocates to ensure our coverage of conditions core to who we are as a brand, including rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn’s disease, and breast cancer, accurately reflects the patient experience.

5. We celebrate diversity.

While our content is designed to be relevant to a wide audience, we take care to be conscious and inclusive of all the amazing differences that make each of our readers unique. Wherever it’s appropriate, we aim to address issues that apply to people of different ages, ethnicities, gender identities, and sexual orientations.

6. We’re transparent about our advertising and affiliations.

HealthCentral maintains a strict separation between editorial content creation and the advertisements that support our business overall. Our editors and writers create the best stories for our readers—period. Any editorial content that is directly sponsored by one of our clients is clearly labeled “sponsored.” You can check out our full advertising policy here and terms of use here.

We hope this information gives you insight into how we approach content creation at HealthCentral. If you have any questions, thoughts, or even great story ideas, we want to hear about them! You can contact our Editorial Team here.

7. Our content is meant to educate and inform you, not diagnose you.

We are an educational health website, not a substitution for your doctor. Our content is meant to educate you, but you should always discuss any medical issues or concerns directly with your health care provider.