NQF, YouTube Partner to Make Accurate, Useful, Easy-to-Understand Health Information More Accessible to Social Media Users 

Washington, DC – The National Quality Forum (NQF) has launched a project funded by YouTube Health to help healthcare stakeholders in their efforts to provide high quality online health information to patients and consumers and advance quality standards for health information on social media. As part of this project, NQF will develop an issue brief that expands existing definitions of high quality health information, highlighting the importance of accessibility to consumers of all levels of health literacy as an essential component. The document is intended to guide health information content creators.

“Searches related to health and healthcare consistently represent a vast share of consumers’ use of online search tools. As a result, the quality of online health information has a direct impact on people’s health and healthcare decisions, and ultimately on their health outcomes,” said Dana Gelb Safran, ScD, President & CEO, NQF. “NQF is proud to partner with YouTube Health in their efforts to define and establish standards that will enable consumers to have confidence in the quality of online information they access and use. It seems especially fitting to launch this work now, as October is Health Literacy Month.”

NQF will convene experts at the intersection of social media, health communication, and healthcare quality. They will explore the quality of health information content in terms of accessibility, considering how consumers find, understand, and use the information. This initiative seeks to complement work by the National Academy of Medicine (NAM), World Health Organization (WHO), and Council of Medical Specialty Societies (CMSS) focused on criteria for determining the credibility of health information sources.

“YouTube Health is committed to making high quality health information available and accessible to everyone, everywhere. We want to make sure that people find information from evidence-based authoritative sources, and that the information is easy to understand and connects with them in a personal and engaging way. This project with NQF will help to guide content creators on our platform and others to develop content that not only educates but also resonates with people,” said Dr. Garth Graham, Global Head of YouTube Health.

A virtual forum to be convened by NQF will include health professionals, consumers, researchers, representatives from social media, and other stakeholders with relevant digital communications experience. The panel will review and finalize the expanded definition of high quality online health information and identify up to seven key fundamentals to be incorporated into the issue brief, which is slated to be released in January 2023.

About National Quality Forum The National Quality Forum (NQF) works with members of the healthcare community to drive measurable health improvements together. NQF is a not-for-profit, membership-based organization that gives all healthcare stakeholders a voice in advancing quality measures and improvement strategies that lead to better outcomes and greater value. Learn more at www.qualityforum.org.