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leading physicians and scientists, who could answer specific questions, in lay terminology, regarding their diagnoses. Based on that vision, they incorporated the company on
February 14, 1994 and launched the MedHelp bulletin board system (BBS) on April 1, 1994 with a 386 computer, two modems, and two phone lines.
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Med-Sig Forum. Both had family members that had struggled with life-threatening illnesses. They discussed the difficulties they encountered in obtaining medical information in lay terminology. Cindy mentioned that one of her dreams was to create a service where patients would be able to contact
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MedHelp offers a series of
Personal Health Applications, including Personal Health Records and Trackers, interactive tools to allow users to manage various conditions and goals such as Weight Management, Exercise, Diabetes, Sleep, Mood, Pain, Ovulation and Pregnancy.
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By August 1995, MedHelp had about 38,000 visitors a month. MedHelp continued to grow and by
January 2009, MedHelp was getting over 6 million unique visitors monthly.
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448:, Finding Someone Who Feels Your Pain: Matching Services Connect Sick Patients, By Tara Parker-Pope; The Wall Street Journal; Eastern edition; Dec 17, 2002; D.1;
442:, Can't Get In to See That Famed M.D.? Top Docs Now Keep Office Hours Online, By Tara Parker-Pope; The Wall Street Journal; Eastern edition; Jan 7, 2003; D.1;
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In 1995, MedHelp updated its BBS so that it could also be accessed by the emerging Web browsers. At that point, only a handful of institutions such as the
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MedHelp states that its business model is advertisement-based, and advertisers can buy ads directly from MedHelp or through partners such as Google.
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corporation that was founded in
February 1994 and pioneered the field of consumer health information and communities on the Internet, before
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MedHelp hosts 3 types of forums - "Ask a Doctor" forums, "Health
Communities" forums and "International Forums" on healthcare topics such as
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The "Ask a Doctor" forum has been shut down since June 2014; MedHelp has not indicated whether or not they plan to reactivate it.
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198:"Ask an Expert" forums, "Medical Communities" support forums, "Health Topics" medical dictionary, "MedTalk" doctor blogs
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In the "Health
Communities" forums, users post questions, comments and get responses and support from other users.
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The founders of MedHelp, Cindy
Thompson and Phil Garfinkel, met in December 1993, while conducting research in
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103:. The reason given is: the site closed to new contributions at the end of May, and is intending to shut down.
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3 month traffic rankings of all sites on the web and gets over 7 million unique visitors each month.
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MedHelp partners with doctors from hospitals and medical research institutions to deliver online
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Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.
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on healthcare topics. The company's slogan is "Finding Cures
Together."
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Consumer
Reports HealthRatings.org Top 20 Health Information Websites
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School of
Medicine delivered health information on the Internet. The
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Med Help International: Where There's a Doctor on the Web
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The Cleveland Clinic Heart & Vascular Institute
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419:Paperless Rx For Better Health; Oct 29, 2007
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368:Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation
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348:Orthopedics
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64:August 2019
56:introducing
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328:Gynecology
318:, Dental,
186:, Chairman
175:Key people
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344:Neurology
336:Hepatitis
304:Addiction
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233:Microsoft
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397:See also
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