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  Distinguished Achievement Award:
gomez.com

Gomez.com provides consumer ratings of e-brokers, e-banks, and e-commerce sites (e.g., autos, books, furniture, toys, etc.). Gomez staffers have now turned their attention to online health. They now rate three categories of online health resources: Health Portal Sites ("Health Content"), Virtual Pharmacies ("Prescriptions"), and health-related e-commerce ("Health and Wellness"). The current Top Ten Gomez rankings in each of these categories is as follows:

Health Portal Sites (Gomez Score)

1. onhealth (6.19)
2. WebMD (5.44)
3. drKoop.com (5.42)
4. HealthCentral.com (5.29)
5. PlanetRx.com (5.09)
6. adam.com (5.08)
7. mediconsult.com (5.05)
8. healthAtoZ.com (5.03)
9. discoveryhealth.com (4.93)
10. mylifepath.com (4.91)

Virtual Pharmacy Sites

1. PlanetRx.com 7.44
2. DrugEmporium.com 7.34
3. drugstore.com 6.94
4. more.com (6.43
5. CVS.com (r6.17
6. Rx.com (5.85
7. Costco (5.46
8. FamilyMeds.com (5.41
9. Walgreens (5.39
10. eMD.com (5.33

Health-Related e-Commerce Sites

1. MotherNature.com (7.91)
2. PlanetRX.com (7.68)
3. more.com (7.59)
4. drugstore.com (7.51)
5. DrugEmporium.com (7.27)
6. SelfCare.com (7.03)
7. Vitamins.com (6.33)
8. NetGrocer.com (6.21)
9. CVS.com (5.90)
10. VitalRx.com (5.90)

(For complete ratings and reviews, see www.gomez.com.)

Health analyst David Steele, MD (dsteele@gomez.com) and other Gomez staffers evaluate each site using a proprietary algorithm which reflects such factors as customer confidence, ease of use, onsite resources, and relationship services. In addition to the overall rankings, sites are ranked by how well they serve several specific types of visitors. Thus in addition to the overall healtth portal rankings, there are also special site ratings for novice health seekers, for those seeking emotional support, for the highly-motivated patient, and for the the health conscious consumer. Gomez staffers provide new updated ratings of health portals every three months. Dr. Steele and colleagues also provide useful news summaries and comments for online health developers at GomezWire-Health, which can be found at www.gomezpro.com.

The Gomez ratings have already become an important influence on many health sites. By developing end-user-centered quality standards for health sites, gomez.com (and other similar companies) are creating a valuable new quality resource that can help consumers evaluate online health resources.



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