Source hierarchy
Lab Intel is built as a source-aware consumer education project. The site is designed to explain lab-test questions clearly while keeping medical claims bounded.
- Official US public health and regulatory sources: CDC, FDA, NIH, MedlinePlus, USPSTF, and professional guidelines when relevant.
- Peer-reviewed research for emerging topics, labeled by evidence strength and study type.
- Commercial lab and test-company pages only for describing product claims, never as the main evidence source for medical interpretation.
See the source standards page for the full source hierarchy and commercial-claim boundary.
Evidence labels
Lab Intel separates official guidance, clinical practice guidance, peer-reviewed research, and commercial claims. Emerging topics such as microbiome testing, biological age testing, and wearable-derived biomarkers should name uncertainty directly instead of smoothing it away.
Review status
Current pages are internally reviewed for source use, medical-boundary language, and publishing quality. Lab Intel does not currently claim independent clinician review. See the review status page for the full boundary.
Medical boundaries
Lab Intel explains tests, preparation, limitations, and questions to ask. It does not diagnose, replace clinical care, or tell readers to start, stop, or change treatment based on a webpage. See the medical disclaimer for the full safety boundary.
Update cadence
High-change topics such as STI recommendations, FDA test authorization, and screening guidelines should be reviewed at least every six months. Evergreen lab-test explainers should be reviewed annually or sooner when source guidance changes.
Corrections
Corrections should be made directly on the affected page, with the updated date changed when the correction affects meaning, medical context, source interpretation, or reader action. Minor spelling and formatting fixes do not require a date change. See the corrections and updates policy for the full standard.
Monetization stance
Lab Intel is being built traffic-first. Future monetization must be clearly labeled and separated from medical interpretation. Affiliate relationships, sponsored pages, product comparisons, analytics, or lead-generation tools should never decide whether a claim is presented as medically valid. See the monetization disclosure, and make any privacy changes in the privacy notice before launch.
AI citation strategy
Pages use concise answer blocks, explicit caveats, source lists, structured metadata, and stable URLs. The goal is to make the site easy to quote accurately and hard to misuse. See the AI citation guidance for citation boundaries.