This site has been developed by a multi-specialty group of medical professionals. It will be continually enhanced with new features, and we will base its direction and future developments primarily on your feedback (please see contact us) to send in your suggestions.
What is unique about Spine-health.com?
While there are many e-health sites, Spine-health.com is the only spine medicine portal that supports the education of patients through a combination of:
100% original, peer-reviewed content.
Developed by a multi-specialty group of medical professionals,
the content is original, written specifically for Spine-health.com
users and reviewed by at least one member of the Medical
Advisory Board before being added to the site. The peer-reviewed
process helps ensure that the articles are accurate, complete,
balanced and free from commercial influence.
Comprehensive information and services.
Provides in-depth coverage of the most common issues
that patients ask about and is frequently updated with
new and useful information, clear animations of spine
anatomy, conditions and procedures, a directory of board
certified/board eligible spine specialists, clinical trial
information and more.
Independence.
Educates patients in a straightforward, informative
manner without bias. Unlike other spine portals, Spine-health.com
is not owned or directed by companies that sell spine
products or medication. None of the articles are written
or influenced by companies trying to sell something. All
advertisements and sponsorships are clearly identified
and labeled.
Who are the people behind spine-health.com?
Spine-health.com was started in August 1999 by Peter
F. Ullrich, Jr., MD and Stephanie
Ullrich Burke, with a shared goal of providing intelligent,
unbiased and highly relevant medical information and education
for adults with back and neck pain.
The company is led by Peter Ullrich, Jr., MD, Medical Director, who provides medical leadership and Stephanie Ullrich Burke, President, who provides business leadership. This brother-sister team has been joined by an experienced support team of web design professionals, operations/administrative staff, and—most importantly—leaders in spine medicine who comprise our Medical Advisory Board and Contributing Authors.
What is the purpose of the site?
Our business model is simple: we believe that high quality
and reliable content and services will attract users seeking
information about back pain, and that a high number of users
will, in turn, attract sponsorships from corporations, advertisements,
and subscriptions from spine specialists.
Importantly, we believe that providing the highest quality patient education on the Internet helps spine specialists serve their patients; we believe that a well-educated patient will heal faster and have fewer recurrences of back pain, and we believe that all of this can be achieved without commercial bias.
What is the quality of the content?
The medical content on this site has been reviewed by health
professionals. Our approach requires the authors to base their
writing on verifiable facts and to clearly note when stating
an opinion or topic that is controversial. (See also Editorial
Process). At least one member of our Medical
Advisory Board reviews every article prior to publication
on the site, and many areas of the site as reviewed by 5 or
6 Medical Advisors.
What is the business model?
Spine-health.com is built around the foundation
of providing clear, non-commercial patient education. We
don't charge patients to use this site. Doctors support
this site by subscribing (for an annual fee) to provide
patient education to their patients and for a web page in
our directory; commercial companies advertise and/or list
their clinical trials on our site for a fee; and we have
teamed up with Google.com to participate in Google's AdSense
program (whereby Google's advertisers can advertise on some
pages of our site).
E-mail us to learn more about highly targeted and cost effective advertising on Spine-health.com.
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