Dr. Koop Spins a Web
What’s in a name? Well, if you’re C. Everett Koop, MD, a lot. He’s an Ivy League professor, prominent pediatric surgeon and leading proponent of anti-smoking, AIDS awareness, fitness and other public education campaigns. And of course, he’s probably the only former U.S. surgeon general most of us remember by name.
Enter Drkoop.com. The Web site, https://www.drkoop.com, recently began selling stock to the public, and on Tuesday--the first day of trading--Koop’s personal 11% ownership stake in the site became worth about $56 million. Drkoop.com also has formed a partnership with the Go Network to provide health content for other Web sites, including https://www.go.com, https://www.abcnews.com, https://www.espn.com and https://www.family.com.
Why a commercial venture for the nation’s best-known public health doctor? Koop has said in interviews with other publications that he started the site because he was unable to get the patient empowerment messages to consumers through any of the nonprofit ventures he has tried. So he decided to go for-profit, accepting advertising revenue from drug companies, home health firms and other organizations in order to keep the service free to consumers.
Let’s take a look at Drkoop.com, which the site’s publicists refer to as “the leading Internet consumer health network.”
On the home page and throughout, the look is clean, crisp and professional. I checked the “About Us” feature and noticed that the former government official has a lot of credentialed health experts on his side. From the management team to the affiliates to the board of directors, the list is impressive. People like ABC medical correspondent Dr. Nancy Snyderman, and Dr. Bruce Hensel, medical and science reporter for KNBC-TV in Los Angeles, are recognizable names in health care news. The site’s medical advisory board meets quarterly to review and update the site’s content. And Koop is personally involved with the site, overseeing its content and reviewing the weekly newsletter.
This content-rich, consumer-friendly site updates its home page four times daily. Its Health News department is as current as any similar feature I’ve seen on the Web. The section includes special reports on current news, providing a more in-depth look at a particular study, education campaign or health topic.
Snyderman writes a daily column for the site’s Family Health section. You can submit health questions to Snyderman at https://www.drkoop.com/nancy, and look to see if she chooses to answer your question on the site. Snyderman receives about 80 e-mail messages a day, according to the site’s director, Barbara Hansen. She chooses a select few of general interest to answer on the Web site.
Health Resources is another useful feature. It includes three medical encyclopedias, a physician locater, insurance information, clinical trial data and a “personal drugstore” feature that lets you hook up with your pharmacy online or check on possible drug interactions.
Drkoop.com also offers reviews of other (sometimes competing) health care Web sites. While Hansen says these reviews are handled objectively, you may want to consider the fact that Koop’s site is now a profit-oriented venture.
The Health & Wellness section is superb. It includes a feature called the “Preventionnaire,” an 87-question survey designed to help you better manage your own health. The survey suggests that you share the information with your physician.
Another feature, “Interactive Communities,” lets you select a group that you’d like to join, such as addiction and recovery or women’s health. You can participate in some of the 120 chat rooms, post questions or listen to special audio programs. An area called Conditions and Concerns holds specific information on diseases. Choose Disease Center, Mental Health Center, Minor Medical Center (for everyday concerns) or Master Directory. For example, by investigating arthritis through the Disease Center, I learned that a new drug is showing promise in the treatment of this ailment, and that long-term smoking is linked to rheumatoid arthritis.
Hansen says the Web site’s staff reviews all of the content on its site and the information on other sites to which it provides links. And that diligence shows in the quality of the information.
On my report card, Drkoop.com gets an A+. The frequently updated content is backed by experts, it highlights top-of-mind concerns and it is deliberate, graphically entertaining and thorough in its presentation. The site can serve as everyone’s personal health handbook, right at your fingertips and easy to navigate.
You might be wondering if there’s anything about the site that I didn’t like. As a health purist, I’m not wild about sites that accept advertising while also claiming to provide objective consumer information. But site officials note that they have strict criteria for accepting advertising; you won’t find any tobacco company ads here, for example.
And perhaps my only other criticism, if you could call it that, is that the site is a bit overwhelming. My friend’s 73-year-old mom, for example, had difficulty finding the prescription drug information she was looking for, but was finally able to locate it with the help of her daughter.
But overall, it seems that Koop hasn’t lost his knack for reaching out to the public, helping us to understand our bodies and gently but firmly urging us to take responsibility for own health.
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Marla Bolotsky is managing editor and director of online information for the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. She can be reached by e-mail at marla.bolotsky@latimes.com.
* Your Health Online runs every other Monday in Health.
