Never before have so many people been able to access health information so quickly. Search engines, social networks and, in particular, AI systems can put reliable information within reach at the very moment people are making decisions about their health. For these technological advances to benefit health rather than put it at risk, the reliability of information sources must be transparent, verifiable and recognisable to algorithmic systems. This is where InfoCure comes in. We want to make reliable health information easier to access where many people already look for it: search engines, chatbots and social networks.
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Trusted Health Ecosystems – InfoCure
Good health information helps people make informed decisions about their health. But simply making it available online is not enough: people need to be able to find it. As the volume of information grows, identifying trustworthy sources becomes harder. InfoCure aims to strengthen reliable sources and help digital platforms, including search engines, social networks and AI systems, recognise their quality. We are developing and testing an international certification system for online health information services. Our approach combines independent certification of these services with a machine-readable trust signal: information that digital platforms can read and process automatically. Our goal is to make reliable health information easier for everyone to access.
Dr.
Sebastian
Schmidt-Kaehler
Senior Advisor
Dr.
Inga
Münch
Senior Project Manager
Malte
Etienne
Project Manager
Esther
Grothoff
Project Assistant
Content
Research and development for better health
We are taking a research-led approach to developing and testing a certification system for health information services. Our aim is to make reliable sources easier to identify and access online. In doing so, we want to reduce the health risks associated with inaccurate or misleading information and support consumers in making informed decisions for themselves. Our focus is the public good: a digital information environment that helps people navigate health information and promotes population health.
A trustworthy information environment depends on more than tackling false or harmful content. It also requires reliable, evidence-based information, produced through transparent processes, to be consistently identifiable, verifiable and easy to find. InfoCure shifts the focus from a purely reactive response to problematic content towards actively creating information environments people can trust.
Turning verified quality into a digital trust signal
Certification assesses the quality management behind a clearly defined health information service, such as a website. How is content researched, reviewed for accuracy, published and kept up to date? Who is accountable, and how are conflicts of interest handled? A sample of content is also reviewed to check whether quality management works in practice. The certificate therefore confirms compliance with defined minimum requirements – not the accuracy of every individual statement.
Following successful certification, the verified quality attributes are made available as a machine-readable trust signal. This takes the form of a structured certification record that search engines, social networks and AI systems can automatically read and evaluate. Platform operators decide for themselves whether and how to use it. InfoCure lays the groundwork for greater visibility but does not guarantee any particular placement in search results or AI Outputs.
Piloting regionally, scaling internationally
Germany, Austria and Switzerland are the starting point for joint development and learning. The Bertelsmann Stiftung is developing a prototype in coordination with Gesundheit Österreich GmbH and the Careum Foundation. This covers everything from quality indicators and the certification process to the certificate’s technical specification.
Our long-term ambition is a quality standard that can be used internationally. To achieve this, we seek close cooperation with multilateral organisations. Shared minimum requirements are intended to ensure comparability across countries. National or regional certification bodies could carry out assessments locally, taking account of the relevant linguistic, legal and cultural context.
What is InfoCure?
InfoCure is developing a certification system for digital health information services, designed for international use. Drawing on scientific research, we are establishing verifiable requirements for their quality management. An independent assessment determines whether these requirements are met. The findings are then translated into a machine-readable trust signal that digital platforms can process automatically. This gives providers a way to demonstrate quality and provides digital platforms with additional information to help them select and assess sources. Whether this leads to greater visibility remains up to the platforms: InfoCure does not guarantee any particular placement in search results or AI outputs.
Is InfoCure a quality mark?
Many websites and products display quality marks to show that their quality has been assessed. InfoCure takes a different approach. It is designed as digital trust infrastructure for platforms, not as a visual quality mark for consumers. At its core is a machine-readable trust signal: a structured certification record containing detailed quality information about a clearly defined health information service, verified by independent third parties. Rather than using a website badge to convey a general assurance of quality, InfoCure makes individual quality attributes available for digital systems to use. Search engines, social networks and AI systems can evaluate this information automatically and apply their own criteria when using it to select and assess sources.
The trust signal makes it possible to specify exactly what was assessed, against which criteria, which part of a service is covered and how long the certification is valid. This distinction matters. A visible quality mark could be mistaken for confirmation that an entire information service, including every piece of content, has been checked. InfoCure’s assessment model does not support such a claim.
Which services can be certified?
Certification applies to a clearly defined digital health information service, such as a specific website operated by a legal entity. It does not certify the provider as a whole or individual pieces of content. A service may include several components. A website, for example, may be linked to a newsletter, database, social media channel, podcast or chatbot. At present, only editorially produced components fall within the scope of the assessment. Additional indicators are planned for services involving machine-generated, database-driven or user-generated health information.
What exactly does certification assess?
InfoCure builds on established quality assessment tools and internationally developed principles. We are translating these into verifiable requirements, specifying the supporting evidence needed and how compliance will be assessed. Scientific expertise and the perspectives of patients and consumers inform this work.
Certification examines the quality management behind a health information service: the structures, processes and production practices that support reliable information. This includes, for example, professional responsibilities, traceable research and approval processes, how scientific evidence, funding and conflicts of interest are handled, and how content is kept up to date. The certificate does not guarantee that every piece of content is error-free. Instead, it confirms that defined quality management requirements are met. Individual pieces of content are reviewed only on a sample basis during certification, to check that these procedures are being applied in practice.
The same core minimum requirements apply to all health information services. Additional requirements depend on the type of service: an editorially run website operates differently from an AI chatbot, a database or an online community. We are therefore developing an adaptive indicator framework that reflects this diversity. For now, assessment is limited to editorially produced information. Work is under way to extend it to machine-generated information.
How does the certification process work?
Providers first describe their information service and submit the required supporting evidence. This is followed by a review of the documentation, sample checks and audit interviews. The certification decision is made independently of the person who carried out the audit. The process is still being developed and tested. Health information providers in Germany, Austria and Switzerland can already contact BSt Gesundheit gGmbH to express their interest.
How can health information providers benefit from certification?
Certification is intended to give providers independent verification of their quality management, support improvements to internal processes and make it easier for their services to connect with digital information systems. Providers also become part of an information ecosystem that supports health. By making information about quality transparent and machine-readable, they help reliable, evidence-based information become easier to identify and use in health decisions. In this way, they make an important contribution to health promotion, consumer protection and stronger trust in reliable health information.
The operators of search engines, social networks and AI systems decide whether and how much weight to give the signal in search, recommendations or AI-generated responses. InfoCure cannot guarantee any particular reach or placement in search results or AI outputs. The certificate does, however, provide a technical foundation for taking verified quality attributes into account when selecting and assessing information.
How can search engines, social networks and AI systems use InfoCure?
The certificate is provided as a machine-readable trust signal: a structured certification record that search engines, social networks and AI systems can read automatically. It distinguishes between mandatory minimum standards and additional quality attributes. These attributes are not combined into a single overall score, allowing platforms to weight them independently according to their own requirements. The certification record follows a prescribed structure and is made available in multiple technical formats. Support is planned for established formats such as Schema.org/JSON-LD and W3C Verifiable Credentials.
How can InfoCure be introduced or piloted in other countries?
Preparations for international piloting and scale-up are still under way. Together with partners, we plan to assess how the approach developed in Germany, Austria and Switzerland can be transferred to other settings and adapted to different contexts. The arrangements for this international expansion are currently being discussed and coordinated. Interested NGOs, public health institutions, research organisations and other stakeholders are welcome to contact our team now to express their interest.
How will the certification system be governed globally?
We envisage a role for multilateral organisations in reviewing the regionally developed quality requirements in an international context and helping translate them into a certification system that can be used worldwide. The proposed governance model distinguishes four functions: setting quality standards, recognising certification bodies, establishing technical standards and carrying out certification. Individual audits and certification decisions would take place at national or regional level. Digital platforms remain responsible for how they use the quality signals. Institutional roles and arrangements for cooperation have not yet been finalised.
How can our organisation become a national certification body?
In the longer term, we envisage a network of qualified national certification bodies working to common rules while taking account of country-specific circumstances. The model for recognition and oversight is still being developed. Organisations interested in this role are welcome to contact the Bertelsmann Stiftung team to express their interest.
How the project has evolved: The project began with the development of a detailed vision for a national health platform. Exploring how to provide reliable guidance in the digital information environment eventually led to an approach based on certifying health information services. Our work now centres on a research-led effort to develop and test an international certification system for digital health information services and create an accompanying machine-readable trust signal for digital platforms. The concepts, findings and publications relating to the platform vision remain available as a foundation for this work and as a record of the project’s development (Trusted Health Ecosystems).
For more detailled information please read the Strategic Dossier.
