TauMed's mission is to be the most advanced and most reliable source of health information on the World Wide Web. As such it is our goal to continually offer the most relevant, most trustworthy, and most useful health-related information to the TauMed community. TauMed's information covers a broad range of health topics and is continually updated to reflect scientific and medical progress, as well as consumer preferences.

TauMed's service is intended to be used for informational purposes only. It is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Never disregard or delay obtaining professional medical advice because of anything you have read on the Service!


(I) TauMed Original Content Editorial Policy

Taumed original content creation is guided by clinical significance, relevance to the general public, and current trends. These criteria are described below:

•	Clinical Significance is determined based on the latest information published in peer-reviewed medical and scientific journals. (ftp://nlmpubs.nlm.nih.gov/online/journals/ljiweb.pdf)
•	Relevance to the public is achieved by carefully selecting topics that could influence how people view and manage their health. These include:
	- Pharmaceutical breakthroughs and drug approvals - Status of key clinical trials - Approval of novel treatment approaches - New recommendations by any of the various medical associations, societies, and boards - Health alerts, consumer warnings, and product recalls - Expert commentary
•	Timeliness of a medical topic (i.e. current trends) is assessed based on:
	- Emerging healthcare trends (e.g. bio-identical vs. synthetic hormone replacement in women's health, anti-aging medicine) - Seasonal health concerns (e.g. seasonal allergies) - Specialty topics (e.g. breast cancer awareness month) - Situational health issues (e.g. fireworks-related injuries and corresponding safety tips around the holidays) - Recently emphasized diseases (e.g. Anthrax, Avian influenza) - Novel therapies or recently validated healthcare strategies (e.g. targeted cancer therapies, pancreas transplant in diabetes, complementary and alternative therapies)

(II) TauMed Third Party Content Editorial Policy

TauMed makes every effort to post only the most credible and authoritative third party health information available. The sources of Taumed's third party content and news releases include United States government agencies, LCMA accredited Medical Schools and their clinical affiliates, as well as any number of additional entities meeting the strict standards of the AMA, various specialty medical boards, the FDA, and other credentialing bodies. Among these, only the most relevant items are chosen for display by TauMed's Content Advisory Board. Displayed items may frequently be commented on by the original authors and/or unbiased experts in the respective field. Not only will this approach help to assure the validity of the featured content, but it will also put the information into context and provide the lay public with a better understanding of potentially complex topics.

TauMed makes a clear distinction between this type of information and paid promotional content. All paid promotional content or advertising will be so labeled.

Whether reporting original news on its web site or posting information from other sources, Taumed is committed to responsible, independent reporting by upholding the principles of fairness, accuracy, and objectivity.

By seeking truth and providing information in a balanced, comprehensive, and accessible manner, TauMed strives to serve the public with thoroughness and honesty. Professional integrity is the cornerstone of TauMed's credibility. To this end, TauMed closely follows the ethics code of the Society of Professional Journalists in all of its reporting.


(III) TauMed Licensed Content Policy

TauMed content licensed from third parties is subjected to a stringent evaluation process by TauMed's Content Advisory Board prior to posting on the TauMed web site. The third party's editorial policies undergo careful review to assess compatibility with TauMed's own editorial policies and procedures, with a special focus on TauMed's conflict of interest policy. Page by page review will be undertaken whenever possible, although for reasons of practicality, TauMed's editorial staff may at times choose to review representative samples of the content in order to ensure (I) content accuracy, validity, and relevance, and (II) proper implementation of the editorial policy and procedures reviewed by TauMed.

In addition, TauMed requires third parties to undergo annual content review by a credible reviewer other than TauMed. On occasion, more frequent review may be necessary in a rapidly changing field such as healthcare. If TauMed's agreement with a third party content provider precludes TauMed from making any changes, and the third party content provider is unable to update information when warranted, then TauMed will make an effort to temporarily remove such content from its site until the third part is able to provide an updated version of the information in question.


(IV) TauMed Policy regarding Sponsored Content and Advertising

To the extent that advertisers may sponsor content on the TauMed Service, such sponsorship will be disclosed and clearly marked "Sponsored" or "Advertisement". This content has not undergone review by TauMed's Content Advisory Board and is not subject to TauMed's Editorial Policy.