Publishing standards

Healthdirect Australia works with a select group of Information Partners who provide trusted content that can be accessed through our range of online services.

These publishing standards underpin the criteria Healthdirect Australia uses when assessing organisations for information partnership.

Please note, Healthdirect Australia does not assess the content of each shared resource but rather the governance structures and content policies of the Information Partners who publish them.

Scope

These standards apply to online resources that are linked to through Healthdirect Australia’s digital services and helpline. In this document, the term ‘resource’ is used to describe a discrete item of content published on an Information Partner website or published by an Information Partner and accessible via the App Store or Google Play. Partner resources can include:

• fact sheets and articles
• videos
• apps, tools and widgets
• online programs
• social media channels
• information about offline services provided by Information Partners such as support groups (where the Information Partner has online health information that meets the eligibility criteria)

Resources must be presented as an HTML-based web page or have an HTML cover page with acceptable metadata (see below).

Standards for clinical quality

Formal documentation of policies and procedures is in place that covers the attributes described below.

Governance for producing online resources

Partner organisation, websites and digital services should, as a whole, reflect the following qualities:

Authoritative

• Medical or health information is provided by appropriately trained and qualified professionals.
• There is a clear qualifying statement if advice offered is from a non-medically qualified person or organisation.
• Details of any appropriate overseeing editorial committee or board (including member qualifications) are provided.

Purpose and complementarity

• Resources include a statement that the information provided is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between a patient/site visitor and his/her existing healthcare professional(s).
• Resources include a mission statement.
• The intended audience for the resource is clearly described.

Privacy and confidentiality

• A privacy policy is present that describes how privacy and confidentiality is maintained for information such as email addresses, personal details and medical information.
• The privacy policy complies with the legal requirements of medical/health information privacy applicable in relevant jurisdictions, including the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) as set out in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth).

Information documentation, referencing and dating

• Each content item includes a specific last-reviewed date where review dates on resources are associated with changes in content rather than formatting changes only.
• Information is supported by references to source data and, where possible, has specific HTML links to those data.

Justifiability

• There is appropriate and balanced evidence to support any claims relating to the benefits/performance of a specific treatment, commercial product or service.
• Resources favour the use of generic treatment or product names and identify brand names where used instead of generic names.
• When discussing available treatments or products a range of options is presented.

Transparency

• Easily accessible contact details are provided for further information requests and feedback.
• There is a mechanism to address queries promptly.

Financial disclosure

• Sources of funding or other support are clearly identified.

Advertising policy

• A brief description of the advertising policy is provided.
• There is clear differentiation between advertising or promotional material and original material.
• Conflicts of interest are identified, managed and disclosed.
• Advertising or sponsorship must not block or interfere with accessibility or readability of content.

Processes for producing interactive tools and apps

Authoritative

• During the development process, any output (e.g. calculation or measurement) provided from interactive tools and/or apps is tested and validated to ensure it is accurate and appropriate.

Purpose and complementarity

• A description of any limitations of the interactive tools and/or apps is provided.
• A description of how to interpret and use any output (e.g. calculation or measurement) from interactive tools and/or apps is provided with guidance as to appropriate next steps, such as when to seek medical advice.

Privacy and confidentiality

• There is an up-to-date privacy policy which details how any personal information or medical data collected through the use of interactive tools and/or apps is collected, disclosed, stored, protected and made available to any individual who asks for it.
• The privacy policy complies with the requirements of the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth).
• There is a policy describing how any medical data collected by interactive tools and/or apps are used for secondary purposes.

Information documentation, referencing and dating

• All sources of information used to inform the design of any algorithm (or other mechanism underpinning the working of interactive tools and/or apps) are, where applicable, referenced in an accessible place.

Standards for technical quality

Authority, currency and disclosure

• Organisations’ branding is clearly visible on every page.
• Where applicable, the author of the resource has been attributed and/or information sources have been referenced.
• The page titles of resources are clear.

Technical issues and usability

• PDF documents have an HTML cover page which has acceptable metadata (see below).
• Multimedia content and interactive tools (such as calculators, apps and videos) have an HTML cover page which contains acceptable metadata (see below).
• A search facility is available that retrieves appropriate resources based on the search entered.
• All websites, interactive tools and apps have versions that adapt them for use on mobile devices, including aspects like navigation, user interface and features.
• Instructions for using all interactive tools and apps are co-located with the tools or app.

Accessibility

• Resources meet the minimum accessibility requirements of The World Wide Web Consortium’s Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) Level AA.
• Resources also meet the accessibility requirements of The Australian Human Rights Commission: World Wide Web: Disability Discrimination Act Advisory Notes.

Metadata

• Source code contains metadata fields with an accurate and unique title and description for each resource with either Dublin Core (DC) metadata or HTML meta tags.