MedlinePlus Connect Links EHRs to Trusted Health Info
Submitted by Biofeedback on Fri, 03/16/2012 - 10:57
The National Library of Medicine (NLM), National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) have recently released MedlinePlus Connect, a service that links patient portals and EHR systems to authoritative, trusted health information for consumers. Check out the exerpt from their fact sheet below, or read the entire document to find out how to make this service accessible to your patients.
How does MedlinePlus Connect work?
MedlinePlus Connect responds to requests based on diagnosis (problem) codes, medication codes, and laboratory test codes. When an EHR or patient portal submits a code request, MedlinePlus Connect returns a response that includes links to relevant MedlinePlus patient information. MedlinePlus Connect currently accepts the following code requests:
Problems/Diagnoses
- ICD-9-CM (International Classification of Disease, 9th edition, Clinical Modification)
- SNOMED CT® (Systematized Nomenclature of Medicine, Clinical Terms) — MedlinePlus Connect coverage of SNOMED CT focuses on CORE (Clinical Observations Recording and Encoding) Problem List Subset codes and their descendants
Medications
- RXCUI (RxNorm Concept Unique Identifier)
- NDC (National Drug Code)
- MedlinePlus Connect also accepts text strings for medication requests
Laboratory Tests
- LOINC® (Logical Observation Identifiers Names and Codes)
MedlinePlus Connect can reply with English or Spanish information for diagnoses and laboratory tests, and English information for medications. In the future, MedlinePlus Connect will support ICD-10-CM.
Who can implement MedlinePlus Connect?
MedlinePlus Connect can be implemented as a quick, one-time change by:
- Health IT, EHR or patient portal vendors who offer MedlinePlus Connect as a feature to their clients.
- Health IT, EHR or patient portal purchasers and coordinators for hospitals, clinics, provider offices, or other facilities.
They may be able to implement MedlinePlus Connect directly depending on their administrative rights in their EHR system. Otherwise, they can speak with their Health IT or EHR vendors.
NLM does not charge for use of MedlinePlus Connect.
Full NLM Fact Sheet (PDF)
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