News release: “AARP announced today that it has added four new health tools to its Web site, to help consumers get trusted, reliable online health information. These tools will enable people to do everything from choose an excellent doctor or hospital, to better understand and evaluate their own health symptoms, conditions and medicines.”
The tools, which can be found here, include the following:

• Symptom Search provided by Healthline Networks: This highly regarded clinical application from Healthline Networks leverages Medically Guided™ search technology to analyze user symptoms and produce a ranked list of likely causes. Healthline Symptom Search features ten times more coverage than other online symptom checkers, with a relational database of more than one million diseases, symptoms and their synonyms, and easy-to-use personalization options so users can narrow or refine their searches for greater accuracy.
• Health Illustrated Encyclopedia provided by A.D.A.M. (NASDAQ: ADAM): Viewed by many as one of the best in the industry, this knowledgebase is continually updated, very comprehensive, and includes over 3,600 articles and 2,000 images spanning categories such as diseases & conditions; injuries; symptoms; nutrition; surgeries; tests; poisoning; and special topics. Readable and easy-to-use, the encyclopedia will clarify many aspects of health care for countless 50+ Americans.
• Doctor and Hospital Finder provided by HealthGrades: This tool, from a leading healthcare ratings organization, has been specially customized to AARP’s demographic, enabling individuals to easily research doctors and compare the quality ratings of hospitals by specific location and medical condition or specialty. It includes a “map it” feature powered by MapQuest, which shows how many miles the doctor’s office or hospital is from the patient, and a “patient experience” feature, allowing users to view patient ratings on doctors and provide their own.
• Drug Database & Interaction Checker provided by Gold Standard: This high quality, user-friendly database offers people continuously fresh information about prescription drugs, over-the-counter products, and alternative medicines. It also includes the MedCounselor Drug Interaction Alert, which reveals and ranks interactions between prescription medications, over-the-counter, herbal, and nutritional products, as well as lifestyle factors like caffeine, tobacco and grapefruit juice. Gold Standard’s Drug Database has been ranked #1 in the nation by two independent school of pharmacy studies.”