ANYONE can put information on the Internet. As a health care provider, you must carefully select and evaluate health information before using it to treat patients or letting it influence how you perform your duties. Use the evaluating sources section to help you determine the credibility of Web sites. A great test is to ask yourself, "Would I want myself or someone that I care deeply about to be treated based on this information?" If the answer is "no," don't include the information in your academic projects either!
Associations & Organizations
American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA)
Commission on Accreditation for Health Informatics and Information Management (CAHIIM)
Greater Chicago Chapter of HIMSS
Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS)
Illinois Health Information Management Association (ILHIMA)
Doctor and Hospital Information
America's Best Hospitals
U.S. News and World Report ranks the top medical centers
American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS)
The American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) is an organization of 24 approved medical specialty boards. The intent of the certification of physicians is to provide assurance to the public that those certified by an ABMS Member Board have successfully completed an approved training program and an evaluation process assessing their ability to provide quality patient care in the specialty
AMA Physician Select: Online Doctor Finder
The American Medical Association Physician Select database provides basic professional information on virtually every licensed physician in the United States and its possessions, including more than 690,000 doctors of medicine (MD) and doctors of osteopathy or osteopathic medicine (DO)
Hospital Compare: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Find out how well hospitals across the U.S. compare in the care of adult patients with certain medical conditions. It includes a hospital checklist for consumers.
Locate a Hospice
From the Hospice Foundation of America
Illinois Hospital Association
The IHA's consumer information section includes links to: find a hospital (alphabetically or by city), advance directives, the Illinois Poison Center, Illinois KidCare, and organ donation updates and links
Illinois Hospital Report Card
Access information about the volume, cost and quality of health care provided in Illinois medical facilities
MEDLINEplus National Library of Medicine Directories
Arranges directory links into categories including physicians, specialists, hospitals, services, and facilities
Metropolitan Chicago Healthcare Council
MCHC is a membership and service association composed of more than 140 hospitals and health care organizations working together to improve the delivery of health care services in the Chicago area. Links to resources for health professionals and the public. Includes extensive health care career information as well as hospital locator resources
Physician Profile Search: Illinois Department of Financial & Professional Regulation
Search by Physician name to access information profiles on all physicians currently licensed in the State of Illinois. Includes license information, disciplinary and legal actions, primary office locations, hospital affiliations, board certifications, medical school and post graduate education and more
WebMD Physician Directory
Search for a physician by name, medical specialty, distance from your home, HMO plan, hospital affiliation, or other criteria
Atlases, Dictionaries and Handbooks
Merriam-Webster Online
Includes medical dictionary, thesaurus, Spanish-English, unabridged, visual, and ESL
Merck Manual Professional Edition
Electronic Drug & Pharmacy Resources
MICROMEDEX Healthcare Series provides full-text information supporting clinical care decisions including: drug monographs and evaluations, drug dosages and interactions, drug product identification, reproductive risks, toxicity management, alternative medicine/herbal preparations information, acute/emergency care guidelines, drug, disease and condition information for patients, laboratory test information, dosage calculators, nomograms, and references
CenterWatch Clinical Trials Listing Service
Includes information on new drug therapies in research and those recently approved by the FDA
DailyMed
Maintained by the National Library of Medicine, this site provides high quality drug information including FDA approved labels (package inserts). It is designed to supply health information providers and the public with a standard, comprehensive, up-to-date, look-up and download resource of medication content and labeling as found in medication package inserts
Drugs.com
A drug information database for consumers and medical professionals, providing information about prescription and over-the-counter medications, treatment notes for specific diseases and conditions, and topical articles and news related to pharmaceuticals
MEDLINEplus National Library of Medicine
Information on thousands of prescription and over-the-counter medications provided through two drug resources -- MedMaster, a product of the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP), and the USP DI Advice for the Patient, a product of the United States Pharmacopeia (USP)
RxList - The Internet Drug Index
Contains a database of approximately 5,000 product names that is updated regularly including professional monographs derived from FDA approved labeling and patient-oriented monographs
SafeMedication.com
Easy-to-read information on more than 800 drugs sponsored by the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP)
General Medical Information Websites
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
CDC.gov provides users with credible, reliable health information on topics such as: data and statistics; diseases and conditions; emergencies and disasters; environmental health; healthy living; injury, violence and safety; life stages and populations; travelers' health; workplace safety and health; and much more. This site contains information appropriate for adults, teens and kids
MEDLINEplus
Provides access to 900+ health topics, medical encyclopedias and dictionaries, and links to self-help groups, clinical trials, preformulated PubMed searches, lists of hospitals and physicians, health and information in Spanish and other languages. Includes listings of diseases & conditions by body system.
MedScape Reference
An online clinical reference providing in-depth drug & disease information and tools to support clinical decision making. Content is designed for practicing medical professionals and includes diagnostic medical images. Free Registration to MedScape is required. To avoid registering and go straight to an entry in this resource, try Googling the word emedicine and your disease/condition (i.e. emedicine pertussis).
Legal Sites
Westlaw Next is a comprehensive collection of law-related information resources along with news and business information. It contains information on primary law, analytical materials, litigation insights, case law, core legal reference materials, and much more. Westlaw Next also includes news and business articles of interest to legal professionals.
Findlaw
Research lawyers and locate free legal information
Findlaw: Health Care Law
A collection of policy and regulatory materials related to health care
Health Law Materials
From Cornell Law School
Illinois Courts
Illinois Courts contains Supreme, Appellate and Circuit Court information, including judges and opinions
Medical and Public Health Law Site
Resources from Louisiana State University's Law School. Information on biotechnology, public health, and related topics
U.S. Supreme Court
Official web site for the Supreme Court of the United States
Useful HIT Websites
The following websites have been recommended by faculty and the health science librarian as useful for student assignments and professional practice.
AHIMA HIM Body of Knowledge
AHIMA's HIM Body of Knowledge is designed to enable HIM professionals to quickly and easily access the information needed to be successful professionals. Anchored by AHIMA-owned content and complemented by links to public material, the Body of Knowledge encompasses the theory and practice of health information management.
Centers for Medicaid & Medicare Services (CMS)
Contains coding guidelines as well as information on electronic health record (EHR) incentive programs, and a definition for the meaningful use of certified EHR technology CMS is responsible for drafting standards for the certification of EHR technology and the updating of health information privacy and security regulations under HIPAA.
C.R.I.S. Community Resource Information System [DuPage County]
A fast and easy way to obtain basic information on social service programs throughout DuPage County [Mozilla Firefox browser is recommended, Internet Explorer may not display correctly]
DNV GL [Det Norske Veritas]: Healthcare
DNV GL is an international certification body and classification society specializing in technical assessment, advisory, and risk management. It was created in 2013 as a result of a merger between two companies: Det Norske Veritas (Norway) and Germanischer Lloyd (Germany). Det Norske Veritas in English means "The Norwegian Truth." The Healthcare branch of DNV GL provides a hospital accreditation program that integrates the CMS (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services) Conditions of Participation with the ISO 9001 Quality Management Program. Since 2008, they have accredited approximately 500 hospitals across the United States.
DuPage County Health Department
Promotes physical and emotional health; prevents illness and disability; protects health from environmental risk factors; and strives to assure the provision of accessible, quality services. Web site topics include: asthma, depression, bioterrorism, consumer services, dental services, DuPage safe food site, environmental health services, mental health services and men's and women's health sites
HealthIT.gov
ONC, and its federal partners, created HealthIT.gov to provide critical, reliable information on health IT and electronic health records (EHRs) to wider audiences. This new website offers resources to patients and providers who may have little experience with health IT. This resource answers IT questions in simple, direct language that makes sense to patients and practitioners.
Illinois Hospital Association
Represents more than 200 hospitals and health systems and the patients and communities they serve, with offices in Naperville, Springfield, and Carbondale
Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO)
An independent, not-for-profit organization, The Joint Commission accredits and certifies more than 20,000 health care organizations and programs in the United States. Joint Commission accreditation and certification is recognized nationwide as a symbol of quality that reflects an organization’s commitment to meeting certain performance standards.
KEPRO-QIO
The Medicare Quality Improvement Organization (QIO) for Illinois providing assistance to Medicare consumers as well as health care providers who participate in the Medicare program.
Metropolitan Chicago Healthcare Council (MCHC)
MCHC is a membership and service association comprising more than 170 hospitals and health care organizations working together, since 1935, to improve the delivery of health care services in the Chicago area.
Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA)
OSHA creates and enforces workplace safety standards.
United States Department of Health & Human Services
The United States government's principal agency for protecting the health of all Americans and providing essential human services.