Public review controls
Independent Medical Review System
This system prevents editorial source checking from being mislabeled as medical review. A page earns the reviewed label only after the required reviewer record and sign-off are complete.
0
Medically reviewed
0
Review in progress
43
Editorial review only
Current public status
No article is labeled medically reviewed unless its front matter contains a completed reviewer identity, credentials, review date, scope, and reviewer-profile link. Until that happens, the article visibly states that it has not completed independent medical review.
Open the risk-prioritized review queueRequired review record
Control 1
Identity and credentials
The reviewer’s legal name, relevant active professional credentials, specialty or subject competence, and a public profile or independently verifiable record are documented.
Control 2
Independence and conflicts
Financial, employment, authorship, personal, and ideological conflicts relevant to the page are disclosed. The reviewer cannot be presented as independent when a material relationship compromises that description.
Control 3
Defined scope
The reviewer records whether the review covered clinical safety, factual accuracy, source interpretation, terminology, crisis language, or another defined area. Review does not mean every linked study was independently replicated.
Control 4
Privacy screen
No reviewer receives identifiable patient information unless collection, access, storage, contracts, authorization, and security have been approved for that use. The current article-review workflow is designed for published editorial content, not medical records.
Control 5
Recorded sign-off
The article stores the reviewer, credentials, scope, date, status, and reviewer-profile link. Material later edits require renewed review or removal of the medically reviewed label.
Status definitions
- Editorial review only
- Sources and wording were checked by the editorial team; no independent qualified medical reviewer has signed off.
- In review
- A qualified reviewer is evaluating the page. This is an internal workflow state and is not displayed as completed medical review.
- Medically reviewed
- All required fields and sign-off are complete. The public page names the reviewer, credentials, scope, date, and profile.
What review does not mean
- It does not create a physician-patient relationship.
- It is not diagnosis, treatment, or individual medical advice.
- It does not authenticate book narratives or prove extraordinary causation.
- It does not guarantee that every source or recommendation will remain current indefinitely.
- It does not permit publication of identifiable patient information without an appropriate legal and ethical basis.
Privacy and legal boundary
The article-review workflow should use already published editorial material and public sources. If identifiable patient information, medical records, or unpublished clinical details are ever introduced, the publisher must first determine which privacy, authorization, contract, security, state-law, and institutional requirements apply. De-identification reduces risk but does not make re-identification impossible.
This policy is an operational safeguard, not legal advice or a guarantee of compliance in every jurisdiction. Obtain qualified healthcare/privacy counsel before receiving protected health information, contracting with covered entities, or publishing identifiable clinical material.
Official compliance references
- HHS guidance on HIPAA de-identification, including Safe Harbor and Expert Determination.
- AMA ethics guidance on patient consent, privacy, and media.
- FTC endorsement and affiliate-disclosure guidance.
Corrections and renewed review
Material corrections, new safety guidance, retracted sources, or substantive edits after sign-off trigger renewed review. Minor copy edits may retain the review date only when they do not change meaning. Readers can request a correction through the contact page.
