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HealthTap+ Announces RateRx, the World's First Large-Scale Resource for Medication Ratings by Doctors
[March 11, 2015]

HealthTap+ Announces RateRx, the World's First Large-Scale Resource for Medication Ratings by Doctors


HealthTap+, the company reinventing healthcare by connecting patients with doctors immediately, anytime, anywhere via mobile devices and personal computers, is proud to announce the release of RateRx, the world's first large-scale resource created by doctors to help consumers understand the effectiveness of medications and treatments.

RateRx is the only service available today that compares and contrasts drug treatment options for a broad range of ailments, illnesses, and medical conditions based on the clinical experience of thousands of top U.S. doctors.

With more than 67,000 doctors in the HealthTap Medical Expert Network boasting an average of more than 21 years in practice, our doctors have the collective experience of more than 1.5 millions years in practice, and billions of patient visits. With them, HealthTap has created the world's most independent and reliable panel on drug efficacy, and in the aggregate these top doctors are uniquely suited to enlighten us on what medications work best for what indications.

"We're delighted to introduce RateRx and offer real transparency in what works best for treating the most common ailments," says HealthTap Founder and CEO Ron Gutman. "According to the CDC, almost half of the U.S. population used at least one prescription drug in the last 30 days. Parsing large amounts of data based on more than 2.7 billion doctors answers we've served to consumers on HealthTap, our data scientists discovered that many people are uncertain about the efficacy of medications they are taking. To address this, we brainstormed on how we can harness data to help people get oriented about their medications in a quantitative rather than a qualitative way. The important role ratings and reviews have in how we determine the quality of products and services on frequently used services like Amazon, Yelp (News - Alert), and AirBnb made us think that it's high time that we have a similar paradigm in healthcare as well. We asked ourselves: Why can't we have consumerism in healthcare too? The answer was - with the unprecedented engagement of tens of thousands of doctors in our Medical Expert Network, we actually can!

"After surveying our users and network of doctors, it became evident that doctors were in a better position to share their educated and experienced views and recommendations on the efficacy and quality of medications, based on years of experience prescribing medications and seeing their efficacy with a huge number of patients. We invited more than 500,000 doctors (including all 67,000+ doctors in HealthTap's Medical Expert Network plus U.S. licensed doctors in HealthTap's extended doctor network) to rate the effectiveness and clinical usefulness of thousands of medications for medical conditions and other indications, leveraging their expertise to help consumers make more informed choices about their health and well-being."



The result is RateRx, the first neutral, independent resource that enables any U.S. doctor to weigh in on a large-scale evaluation of medications for treatments across all common conditions, free from external influence. To date, ratings on thousands of medications have been compiled, with new ratings and reviews being added every minute. Doctors review medication treatments for popular conditions including acne, arthritis, anxiety, diabetes, headaches, and hypertension.

Geoffrey Rutledge, MD, PhD, and HealthTap's Chief Medical Officer, adds, "We've created a movement of doctors that care about quality and, most importantly, about patients. With RateRx, we've given them the power to share the knowledge they've acquired from their many years of clinical experience about what works best to treat common conditions. Participating doctors are able to see which medications their colleagues rate as most effective for each indication, and patients can learn which medications doctors find most effective, empowering them to have informed discussions about treatments with their doctors. We invite all U.S. doctors to join in this movement and voice their opinion."


Find out today what the physician community thinks about the drugs and medications that matter to you. View this free resource now at healthtap.com/raterx

Methodology

Doctors are asked to rate the clinical effectiveness of medications for treating various conditions, and instructed to rate only medications that they had used to treat these conditions. Doctors do not see existing ratings until after they have entered their own ratings, which cannot be changed once submitted. Doctors can add comments after rating medications. Combined ratings for each treatment are summarized into an overall rating, reflecting the collective experiences of the rating doctors. The profiles of all doctors who provided ratings are visible to everyone, and the profiles include details of the doctors' training and experience, specialties, and board certifications. Participation in this study is open to all U.S.-licensed doctors in good standing. More than 500,000 doctors were initially invited to participate (including all 67,000+ doctors in HealthTap's Medical Expert Network as well as doctors in HealthTap's extended doctor network).

RateRx results are ordered based on average ratings, from the highest to the lowest rated common treatments for each condition. This study does not differentiate ratings between different brand names for the same medication. The most common medication treatments for each condition are listed, but doctors are encouraged to add treatments for any indication if they've had experience successfully using the medication to treat the condition at issue. Learn more about our methodology here.

About HealthTap+

HealthTap+ has reinvented the way people all over the world take care of their health and well-being, connecting millions everywhere with the most trusted health information and doctors. The company is backed by leading investors including Khosla Ventures, Eric Schmidt's (News - Alert) Innovation Endeavors, Mayfield Fund, and Mohr Davidow Ventures. With top-rated web and mobile apps, HealthTap+ offers immediate and free access to relevant, reliable, and trusted health answers from a network of more than 67,000 U.S.-licensed doctors. Sign up today and download HealthTap's free apps for iPhone (News - Alert), iPad, or Android at HealthTap.com.


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