Healthline Media, Inc. is an American website and provider of health information headquartered in San Francisco, California. It was founded in 1999, relaunched in 2006, and established as a standalone entity in January 2016.
Accuracy
There are questions about the quality and neutrality of their articles. One critic noted that a ''Healthline'' article about a new drug used promotional language, copied from the drug-maker's press release, neglected to cite side effects, and framed the drug's claimed benefits in misleading language not correctly representing the evidence reported in a peer-reviewed medical journal.
Other critics have noted:
* headlines that exaggerate the substance of the article;
* inadequate journalistic and scientific skepticism when reporting "news";
* failure to balance quotes from vested interests with quotes from interviews of independent sources;
* reported medical "news" that had not yet been validated by publication in a peer-reviewed journal;
* implied clinical applicability for developments not yet so scientifically validated;
* failure to balance reports of claimed theoretical benefits of a new treatment, with a corresponding report of the associated cost or required frequency of treatment;
* failure to cite sources;
* failure to link to source of studies cited in the article.
In a 2019 interview with AdExchanger.com, Healthline Media CEO David Kopp claimed that his site had received, out of 40,000 comments, "a few hundred" critiques from consumerstriggering changes to "several hundred articles" on ''Healthline''.
He further noted that ''Healthline'' provided advertisers with ads matched to "content... relevant to the product."
History
Healthline Media was founded in 1999 as YourDoctor.com, by
endocrine
The endocrine system is a messenger system comprising feedback loops of the hormones released by internal glands of an organism directly into the circulatory system, regulating distant target organs. In vertebrates, the hypothalamus is the neur ...
specialist James Norman.
In 2006, the company was re-launched as Healthline Networks.
In 2011, ''Healthline'' was losing money as it was licensing its content from others. In response, the company invested $1 million in development of its own content.
[Sluis, Sarah]
"How A Focus On Quality And Discipline Revived Healthline Media,"
April 17, 2019, ''AdExchanger.com,'' retrieved November 15, 2020.
By 2013, it had over $21 million in revenue and 105 employees, with offices in New York City and San Francisco.
Deloitte
Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited (), commonly referred to as Deloitte, is an international professional services network headquartered in London, England. Deloitte is the largest professional services network by revenue and number of professio ...
ranked Healthline Media as one of the top 500 fastest-growing technology companies in
North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and th ...
from 2010 to 2013.
In January 2016, Healthline raised $95 million in growth equity financing through
Summit Partners
Summit Partners is an American private equity firm based in Boston, Massachusetts. The firm focuses on investing in technology, healthcare, life sciences and other growth industries.
Background
Summit Partners was founded in 1984 by Roe St ...
.
Under the terms of the agreement, Healthline's media business was established as a standalone entity with David Kopp as CEO. The firm acquired the health news website
Medical News Today
''Medical News Today'' is a web-based outlet for medical information and news, targeted at both the general public and physicians. All posted content is available online (>250,000 articles as of January 2014), and the earliest available article ...
and reference website MediLexicon in May 2016.
In July 2019, Healthline was acquired by
Red Ventures
Red Ventures is an American media company, which owns and operates brands such as Lonely Planet, CNET, ZDNet, The Points Guy, Healthline and Bankrate. Red Ventures focuses on sites that dispense news, advice, and reviews. The company's corpora ...
. In August 2020, Healthline acquired
Psych Central.
Healthline.com
Healthline Media's website publishes health and wellness information. In 2010, Healthline Media signed an agreement to provide medical and health-related content to
Yahoo! Health.
Other partners have included
AARP.com,
The Dr. Oz Show web site,
and Aetna.
References
External links
*
{{Red Ventures
American medical websites
Health care companies established in 1999
Internet properties established in 1999
Companies based in San Francisco
1999 establishments in California
Red Ventures
2019 mergers and acquisitions