Consumer Health Resources / 'Healthier U': Consumer Health

• Mental Health Challenges for Aging Americans, Georgetown University, Washington, DC, School of Nursing and Health Studies: This resource shares how to understand depression among aging Americans, including the factors that complicate diagnosis, and how to recognize and respond to depression among older adults.

Drugs and Lactation Database (LactMed), Bethesda (MD): National Library of Medicine (US); 2006-present
 
The LactMed® database contains information on drugs and other chemicals to which breastfeeding mothers may be exposed. It includes information on the levels of such substances in breast milk and infant blood, and the possible adverse effects in the nursing infant. Suggested therapeutic alternatives to those drugs are provided, where appropriate. All data are derived from the scientific literature and fully referenced. A peer review panel reviews the data to assure scientific validity and currency.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK501922/

• American Cancer Society: www.cancer.org
• University of Pennsylvania’s Oncolink:  www.oncolink.org

• Clear Health Costs, CBS News, https://clearhealthcosts.com/cbs-news/. From their website: With data from different sources – from our independent reporting, from health-care providers, from participating consumers and from databases  – we are working to shed light on health care pricing.
• Consumer Health Ratings, https://consumerhealthratings.com/. From their website: Consumer Health Ratings provides the most comprehensive listing of organizations that rate or report performance on specific hospitals, health plans, physicians, nursing homes, home health agencies and other health care providers in the United States. The information at ConsumerHealthRatings.com is free.
• FairHealth Consumer (gives costs on specific procedures) https://www.fairhealthconsumer.org/. From their website: FAIR Health's mission is to help you understand your healthcare costs and health coverage and to bring transparency to healthcare costs and insurance. We are an independent, national nonprofit organization known for providing fair and neutral information to all those we serve, including consumers like you. We are able to provide reliable information about healthcare costs because each year health insurers around the country send us over a billion healthcare bills, which are added to FAIR Health's database of more than 29 billion claims. We use information from those claims to estimate what providers charge, and what insurers pay, for providing healthcare to patients all across the country. We make this information available to consumers, researchers, businesses and many other users.
• Healthcare.gov https://www.healthcare.gov/find-provider-information/. How to find health care provider Information
• Doctors and other care providers: Compare the performance of physicians and other health professionals near you.
• Hospitals: Compare hospitals near you based on a large variety of quality-of-care measures. Includes information on some Department of Veterans Affairs medical centers.
• Nursing homes: Compare nursing homes based on quality, staffing, health inspection reports, and more.
• Home health agencies: Compare the quality of care provided by home health agencies.
• Dialysis facilities: Compare the quality of care in dialysis facilities near you.
• Long-Term Care Hospitals: Compare the quality of care in long-term care hospitals.
• Inpatient Rehabilitation Facilities: Compare the quality of care in inpatient rehabilitation facilities.
• Hospice Agencies: Compare the quality of care given by hospices near you.
• HospitalInspections.org--Association of Health Care Journalists (listings by state) http://www.hospitalinspections.org
• Informed Patient Institute (IPI) https://www.informedpatientinstitute.org/index.php. From their website: The Informed Patient Institute (IPI) is an independent nonprofit organization that provides credible online information for consumers about health care quality, patient safety and health care costs. IPI rates the usefulness of online doctor, hospital, and nursing home report cards. We don't rate individual health facilities or practitioners — but we'll tell you who does.
• US News and World Report https://health.usnews.com/best-hospitals. Find the best hospital for you, by zip code

• CAPHIS, Consumer and Patient Health Information Section, Medical Library Assn., Top 100 Health Websites You Can Trust: https://www.mlanet.org/page/top-health-websites
• Foodsafety.gov:  https://www.foodsafety.gov/index.html
• Genetics Home Reference:  http://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/
• Haz-Map:  https://hazmap.nlm.nih.gov/.  Occupational health database designed for professionals and the public.  Outlines workplace exposures to chemical & biological agents.
• Household Products Database:  http://hpd.nlm.nih.gov/.  If you buy any consumer products from a store, the chemical makeup of that product is in this database.  Want to know what is in WD-40?  Windex?  Clorox?  Sevin dust?  Find out here.
• Lab Tests Online: https://labtestsonline.org/.  Want to know what a CBC test is?  Hint: complete blood count.  Any test your doctor orders can be found in this extensive database of tests frequently done in medical offices.
• Merck Manuals, Consumer Edition: https://www.merckmanuals.com/home
• NIH News in Health:  https://newsinhealth.nih.gov/
• OpenMD.com: https://openmd.com/
• Patient.Info: Patient.info 
• Patient Education Guide to Safe Pain Management, EduMed.org: https://www.edumed.org/resources/safe-and-responsible-pain-management/
• Pillbox:  https://pillbox.nlm.nih.gov/pillimage/search.php.  Want to know how to identify a pill by shape, color, alphanumeric markings, scores on the surface.  Look up any prescribed pill here!
• ToxTown:  http://toxtown.nlm.nih.gov.  Tox Town is designed to give you information on: everyday locations where you might find toxic chemicals, non-technical descriptions of chemicals, authoritative chemical information on the Internet, how the environment can impact human health & Internet resources on environmental health topics.  Kid friendly.  Perfect for middle and high school students!

• American Academy of Family Practitioners:  www.familydoctor.org

• Centers for Disease Control (CDC):  http://www.cdc.gov/
• ClinicalTrials:  https://clinicaltrials.gov/.  What clinical trials are ongoing?  What is the status of a clinical trial in my area?  More information here.
• Food and Drug Administration (FDA):  http://www.fda.gov/
• LiverTox:  http://livertox.nih.gov/aboutus.html.  Want to know about diseases and conditions of the liver?  Find out here.
• HealthFinder:  http://healthfinder.gov/.  Want to find a hospital, doctor or skilled care facility?  Find out here.
• Health Care Costs and Quality.  Local, state & national prices.   Guroo:  http://www.guroo.com/#!.  Find out the average cost of national, state or local procedures.  What does hip replacement surgery cost?  Find out here.
• Medicare Hospital Compare:  https://www.medicare.gov/hospitalcompare/search.html?.  Compare hospitals for quality and ratings.

• MedlinePlus:  https://medlineplus.gov/ Outstanding free resource!
• MedlinePlus Dictionary:  http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/
• MedlinePlus Drug Guide:  http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginformation.html
• MedlinePlus Espanol (Spanish):  www.medlineplus.gov/spanish
• MedlinePlus Health Topics:  http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/healthtopics.html
• MedlinePlus Herbs & Supplements:  http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginformation.html

• Cleveland Clinic, Health Library:  http://my.clevelandclinic.org/health
• Mayo Clinic:  http://www.mayoclinic.org/patient-care-and-health-information

• Health ENC, Eastern NC Health, Demographic information in an easy to read format. From their website: "Initiated in 2015 by the Office of Health Access at the Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University, Health ENC grew out of conversations with health care leaders about improving the community health needs assessment (CHNA) process in eastern North Carolina. Health ENC, now a program of the Foundation for Health Leadership and Innovation (FHLI), coordinates a regional CHNA in 33 counties of eastern North Carolina. In addition, the Health ENC Program Director works to build coalitions and partnerships that will address health issues identified through the regional CHNA process."

• Consumer Safety Guide: https://www.consumersafetyguide.com/  Consumer Safety Guide was created to keep the public informed about consumer dangers and safety issues associated with numerous products that can cause the public harm. 
• ​Patients like me:  https://www.patientslikeme.com/.  If you have a disease or condition, patients with that disease share information on their lives, support groups or online support for families here.

• Leapfrog Hospital Safety Guide: http://www.hospitalsafetygrade.org  This website gives consumers the ability to see how hospitals are graded on a scale of A to D on a host of services. Hospital grades can be found by state, local and zip code.
• Institute for Healthcare Improvement: http://www.ihi.org/resources/Pages/Tools/Ask-Me-3-Good-Questions-for-Your-Good-Health.aspx

• HerbList (free--available in the Apple Store & Google Play Store) from the National Library of Medicine

Learn about herbs and botanicals that are used in complementary and integrative health approaches with the free HerbList app from the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH). For each herb or botanical, the app includes an identifying picture, common names, information on what the science says, potential side effects and cautions, and resources for more information. Additional features include the ability to mark favorite herbs for quick recall and offline accessibility. From the National Institutes of Health’s NCCIH, the HerbList app offers trusted, credible information.  App Store OR Google Store​

• Medical Price Roulette: CBS News investigates the lack of transparency in America's health care system, September 20, 2019