GENEVA, Switzerland, July 14, 2007 -- The www.USAEyes.org
website of the Council for Refractive Surgery Quality Assurance
has been accredited by the Health On the Net Foundation (HON). HON
is the leading organization promoting and guiding the deployment
of useful and reliable online medical and health information, and
its appropriate and efficient use. Created in 1995, HON is a non-profit,
non-governmental organization based in Geneva and accredited to
the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations.
"The process to attain accreditation required nearly a year of
analysis and review to verify that the USAEyes website operates
within the HON’s eight primary requirements," says Glenn Hagele,
Executive Director and founder of the Council for Refractive
Surgery Quality Assurance that operates the USAEyes.org
website.
All HON accredited websites must meet the following
requirements:
1. Authoritative
Any medical or health advice provided and hosted on this site will
only be given by medically trained and qualified professionals unless
a clear statement is made that a piece of advice offered is from
a non-medically qualified individual or organization.
2. Complementarity
The information provided on this site is designed to support, not
replace, the relationship that exists between a patient/site visitor
and his/her existing physician.
3. Privacy
Confidentiality of data relating to individual patients and visitors
to a medical/health Web site, including their identity, is respected
by this Web site. The Web site owners undertake to honor or exceed
the legal requirements of medical/health information privacy that
apply in the country and state where the Web site and mirror sites
are located.
4. Attribution
Where appropriate, information contained on this site will be supported
by clear references to source data and, where possible, and have
specific links to that data. The date when a clinical page was last
modified will be clearly displayed.
5. Justifiability
Any claims relating to the benefits/performance of a specific treatment,
commercial product or service will be supported by appropriate,
balanced evidence in the manner outlined above in Principle 4.
6. Transparency
The designers of this Web site will seek to provide information
in the clearest possible manner and provide contact addresses for
visitors that seek further information or support. The Webmaster
will display his/her E-mail address clearly throughout the Web site.
7. Financial disclosure
Support for this Web site will be clearly identified, including
the identities of commercial and non-commercial organizations that
have contributed funding, services or material for the site.
8. Advertising policy
Clearly distinguish advertising from editorial content
