MedlinePlus Connect
Sarena Burgess
National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health
Department of Health and Human Services
December 1, 2010
MedlinePlus.gov
 Consumer & patient health
 English & Spanish
 Coverage:
Diseases and conditions
Health and wellness
Drugs, herbs, and supplements
Latest health news
Videos, interactive tutorials, and other multimedia
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172 tutorials
78 anatomy videos
112 surgery videos
5 Sp surgery videos
875 English
844 Spanish
~1,000 drugs
100 supplements
15-20 stories
added daily
1,445 links to
ClinicalTrials.gov
15 English issues
2 bilingual issues
Over 100
directories of
doctors, hospitals,
clinics & libraries
>40 languages
>250 topics
>3,000 links
>40 languages
>250 topics
3,045 links
2 RSS feeds
11 daily & weekly listservs
~ 3,500 articles
> 2,000 images
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MedlinePlus Connect Overview
 What:
 A free Web application that allows electronic health
record (EHR) systems to use existing code sets to link
to relevant information from MedlinePlus.gov.
 Who:
 EHR companies and developers
 EHR customers (hospital systems, doctors’ offices, etc)
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MedlinePlus Connect Process
EHR, EMR,
PHR, etc.
Problem code
or medication
code
MedlinePlus
Connect
Code to topic
or medication
mapping
MedlinePlus
MedlinePlus
topic or
medication
results
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Flexibility
 Coding systems:
 Problem Codes (Diagnoses)
 ICD-9-CM:
12,000 codes
 SNOMED CT® CORE Problem List Subset:
5,000 codes
 Medication Codes
 RXCUI (RxNorm Concept Unique Identifier)
 NDC (National Drug Code)
 Supports HL7 Infobutton standard
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Patient View from EHR - Diagnoses
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Infobutton Page for Diagnoses
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Spanish Infobutton Page for Diagnoses
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Mapping to MedlinePlus
Many problem codes can map to the same MedlinePlus topic
Example: Asthma
ICD-9-CM
493 Asthma
493.00 Extrinsic Asthma Unspecified
493.01 Ext Asthma W Status
Asthmaticus
493.02 Extrinsic Asthma with Exac
493.10 Intrinsic Asthma Unspecified
493.12 Extrinsic asthma with
exacerbation
493.20 Chron Obst Asthma
Unspecified
493.21 Chron Obst Asthma
Unspecified W Status Asth
493.22 Chronic obst asthma with
exacerbation
SNOMED CT CORE Problem List Subset
31387002 Exercise-induced asthma
(disorder)
55570000 Asthma without status
asthmaticus (disorder)
57546000 Asthma with status
asthmaticus (disorder)
195967001 Asthma (disorder)
266361008 Non-allergic asthma
(disorder)
281239006 Exacerbation of asthma
(disorder)
304527002 Acute asthma (disorder)
371088008 Reactive airways dysfunction
syndrome (disorder)
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Mapping to MedlinePlus
One problem code can map to up to 3 MedlinePlus topics
ICD-9-CM
 003.0: Salmonella enteritis
 Foodborne Illness
 Salmonella Infections
 Gastroenteritis
 824: Fracture of ankle
 Fractures
 Ankle Injuries and Disorders
SNOMED CT
 15574005: Fracture of foot (disorder)
 Fractures
 Foot Injuries and Disorders
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Patient View from EHR - Medications
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Infobutton Page for Medications
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Drug Information Retrieval Process
RXCUI
RxNORM
API
NDC
RxNORM
API
Brand
Names
Internal
search on
MedlinePlus
drug
information
Present user
with
appropriate
drug
information
RXCUI
Text
String
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Future Enhancements
XML Web Services
Lab tests
English (possibly Spanish)
LOINC
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Advantages
 Provides relevant, authoritative patient
information at the point of care or from home
 May play a role in “meaningful use”
 Utilizes coding systems already in place
 One-time change
 Supports the HL7 Infobutton standard
 Free to use, no licensing fees
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For More Information
http://medlineplus.gov/connect
 Overview (non-technical)
 Technical documentation for developers
 Demo page
 Email discussion list
 Email us via the “Contact us” link
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