Seattle Health Web Site Features AHRQ Consumer Advice Column

A Seattle-based Web site regularly features AHRQ Director Carolyn Clancy's consumer advice columns and other AHRQ research among its site content. LocalHealthGuideonline.com is an independent health news and information service that provides unbiased health news and information affecting Seattle and the Puget Sound region.

Michael McCarthy, MD, created the Local Health Guide, which he launched in the summer of 2008. With a background in both internal medicine and journalism, McCarthy seeks to provide reliable information that is unaffiliated with any hospital, insurance plan, or service provider.

As a former editor for the British medical journal, The Lancet, as well as a writer for Reuters and the Washington Post health section, McCarthy was familiar with AHRQ's work. He was pleased to discover Navigating the Health Care System, Dr. Clancy's series of consumer advice columns, shortly after launching his Web site. He believes the columns provide a great deal of information from credible sources for consumers and patients.

"Because I know the field, I know that what she writes is solid. The columns are a nice distillation of a lot of information in a very readable format with links to good resources," he says.

McCarthy notes, "While a lot of doctors bridle at 'checklist medicine,' the truth is that checklists work. Every complex team or industry uses checklists."

The site's number of visitors is growing, and McCarthy plans to continue using AHRQ resources. "AHRQ offers an excellent opportunity to gather a lot of good information in one place," he says.

For more information, visit www.localhealthguideonline.com.