HealthyWomen requires our writers, editors and medical experts to reveal potential conflicts of interest with regard to medical review of content and/or speaking engagements on behalf of HealthyWomen prior to working with our organization by completing a Disclosure and Conflict of Interest form. Conflicts of interest may be financial relationships, affiliations with groups or organizations or personal actions. Disclosure forms are reviewed by HealthyWomen's Executive Director and Editorial Director to ensure relationships are bias- and conflict-free. Relationships with medical reviewers, writers and editors are continued or terminated at the discretion of HealthyWomen's Executive Director and Editorial Director.
The goal of our policy is to provide consumers with health information that is balanced and free of bias wherever HealthyWomen chooses to publish or broadcast it: at www.HealthyWomen.org; in print; or via television, radio or other broadcast medium.
HealthyWomen requires a completed disclosure form from the following:
- Medical experts who are asked to review health information content funded by a third party;
- Medical or other experts who are asked to speak on HealthyWomen's behalf or represent HealthyWomen to the media;
- Medical or other experts who develop content for HealthyWomen's health education campaigns.
HealthyWomen requests disclosure of the following relationships from those being asked to participate in content development, review and/or content/campaign promotion on HealthyWomen's behalf:
- Any financial relationship with a health care-related commercial entity, including, but not limited to: status as a paid employee; contractual recipient of royalty; recipient of an honorarium (exclusive of reimbursable travel costs); support for extraordinary travel; providing compensated or noncompensated services as a consultant, speaker, member of speaker's bureau, member of review panel, or editor; and receipt of research grant funding, including contract services. Exempt from this requirement are honoraria, travel stipends and fees received from a nonprofit organization that takes such funds from grants received from commercial entities.
- Ownership. Personal holdings of $10,000 or more in stock or stock options or more than 5% of ownership in any commercial entity in the health care field, or more than 5% of ownership in a health care-related business. Exempt from this requirement are personal holdings of diversified mutual funds or other institutional investment fund or pension fund over which the individual does not exercise control.
- Compensation. Receipt of (or the right or expectation to receive) any amount of personal compensation within the past 12 months from a single commercial entity in any form, including, but not limited to salary, royalty, dividend, intellectual property right, rent, fee, consulting fee, speaking engagement stipend, honorarium (exclusive of reimbursable travel costs), support for extraordinary travel on behalf of the entity, research funding, or in-kind payments from health care-related commercial entities. Note must be made when this amount is in excess of $10,000 per calendar year from one commercial entity. Exempt from this requirement are honoraria, travel stipends and fees received from a nonprofit organization that takes such funds from grants received from commercial entities.
- Disclosure Extending to Spouse/Partner. The relationships of the spouse/partner must also be disclosed, following the same guidelines.