Rating systems that excel would be expected to prevail in the information market place. To succeed, a rating system must be simple and straightforward. Collectively, rating systems success will depend on their ability to promote, and to increase, the public s awareness of the value of such systems. Industry standards and accreditation of Internet producers. The work group on industry standards and accreditation of Internet producers discussed the topic from the industry s perspective.
Industries often rely on codes of conduct to provide uniform services to consumers.
Health care encompasses many segments, each of which would require different standards for the presentation of information to the public. Accreditation of health-related Internet sites by an organization that develops criteria to guide Web site producers as well as verifying that accredited sites are consistently following those guidelines would be an enormous and costly task. Large staff constantly monitoring thousands of health-related Internet sites. Financial costs that would inevitably be passed on to producers. False claims of accreditation by legitimate accreditors.