MedlinePlus Connect is a free service of the National Library of Medicine (NLM), National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). This service allows health organizations and health IT providers to link patient portals and electronic health record (EHR) systems to MedlinePlus, an authoritative up-to-date health information resource for patients, families, and health care providers.
MedlinePlus Connect accepts requests for information on diagnoses (problem codes), medications, and lab tests, and returns related MedlinePlus information. It is available as a Web application or a Web service.
Upon receiving a problem code request, MedlinePlus Connect returns relevant MedlinePlus health topics and other related information. MedlinePlus has hundreds of health topic pages that bring together information from NIH, other U.S. government agencies, and reputable health information providers. Health topic pages cover a wide range of conditions and wellness issues, and include key resources to inform patients about their health: overviews, information on symptoms and treatments, recent health news, clinical trials, and much more. You can browse the list of all health topics.
For problem code requests, MedlinePlus Connect supports:
MedlinePlus Connect will support ICD-10-CM when it becomes the U.S. standard.
MedlinePlus Connect can also link your EHR system to drug information written especially for patients. When an EHR system sends MedlinePlus Connect a request that includes a medication code, the service will return link(s) to the most appropriate drug information. MedlinePlus drug information is the AHFS Consumer Medication Information and is licensed for use on MedlinePlus from the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, ASHP, Inc.
For medication requests, MedlinePlus Connect supports:
MedlinePlus Connect also returns information in response to laboratory test codes. This information is from the A.D.A.M. encyclopedia, which MedlinePlus licenses.
For lab test requests, MedlinePlus Connect supports:
MedlinePlus Connect currently supports requests for information on diagnoses and lab tests in English or Spanish, and requests for drug information in English only. MedlinePlus Connect is intended for use within the United States health care system and cannot support coding systems not used in the United States.
To use MedlinePlus Connect, you need to work with the technical representative or staff member who can use the MedlinePlus Connect Web application or Web service as described in the technical documentation. They will use the coding information already in your system (e.g., ICD-9-CM, NDC, etc.) to automatically send requests to MedlinePlus Connect in a standard format and use the reply to provide relevant patient information from MedlinePlus.