NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A Washington, DC-based organization better known for accrediting managed care organizations is preparing to put its stamp of approval on purveyors of e-health.

URAC, formerly called the American Accreditation HealthCare Commission, announced on Thursday that it has appointed an advisory committee to begin developing standards for accrediting health websites. Draft standards will be tested and released for public comment in the coming months. Final standards are expected to be completed by Spring 2001 for implementation later that year.

With the proliferation of Internet-based health and medical portals, advisory committee members see a need for some mechanism for gaining consumers' trust. The 27-member committee will consider standards in a variety of areas ranging from privacy and professionalism to candor and accountability.

``Health and medical information on the web has huge potential to benefit patients and the public, but inaccurate and biased information and potential breaches of patient privacy may cause more harm than good,'' stated Dr. Margaret Winkle, deputy editor of the Journal of the American Medical Association (news - web sites) and a committee member. ``We need to find ways to improve the quality of medical information on the wed and give users the information about websites they need to make an informed choice,'' she said.

The committee includes representatives of organizations that have already developed ethical or quality guidelines for health websites, such as the Internet Healthcare Coalition, Hi-Ethics and the American Medical Association.

(From Yahoo)