General Health Resources

See also: Librarian's Picks for Finding Rehabilitation Services

Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)

With the recent outbreak of COVID-19 here are several reliable Federal and State informational and guidance resources:

• Federal Guidance on COVID-19 (multiple federal agency resources)
• Materials on COVID-19 by State
• COVID-19/Other Public Health Emergencies and the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) - FAQ
• Information and Guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on COVID-19
• Information and Guidelines from the World Health Organization on COVID-19
• Information from the National Institutes of Health on COVID-19
• Information from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease on COVID-19
• COVID-19 Guidance from Administration for Community Living
• Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Guidance for Infection Control and Prevention of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Nursing Homes
• COVID-19 Information for Travel from the CDC
   

Find a physician, specialist, or support group

DoctorFinder through the American Medical Association (AMA)

DoctorFinder provides you with basic professional information on virtually every licensed physician in the United States. This database includes more than 814,000 doctors.  Website requires Captcha authentication.
apps.ama-assn.org/doctorfinder.
 

Driver Rehabilitation from the American Occupational Therapy Association

Find A Driving Specialist:  myaota.aota.org/driver_search/index.aspx.
 

Find a federally-funded Health Center through the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA)

Federally-funded health centers care for you, even if you have no health insurance. You pay what you can afford, based on your income.
findahealthcenter.hrsa.gov.
 

Find a Physical Therapist through the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA)

www.apta.org/apta/findapt/index.aspx?navID=10737422525.
 

Find a Social Worker through HelpStartsHere.org

www.helpstartshere.org.
 

Find a Surgeon through the American College of Surgeons (ACS)

www.facs.org/search/find-a-surgeon.

 

Guide to Health Care Quality through the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality

www.ahrq.gov/consumer/guidetoq.
 

Hospital Compare:  CMS Hospital Quality Initiative

Hospital Compare is part of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Hospital Quality Initiative. The Hospital Quality Initiative uses a variety of tools to help stimulate and support improvements in the quality of care delivered by hospitals.
www.medicare.gov/hospitalcompare/search.html.

 

U.S. Hospital Finder™

www.ushospitalfinder.com.
 

What is a Physiatrist?

Includes a searchable database of physicians specializing in rehabilitation medicine from the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation.
www.aapmr.org/patients/aboutpmr/pages/physiatrist.aspx.

Medicare, Medicaid, and Long-term Care Information

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)

Listing of acronyms and glossary of terms
Acronyms: www.cms.hhs.gov/apps/acronyms.
Glossary: www.cms.hhs.gov/apps/glossary.
 

"Medicare and Medicaid: A Health Care Safety Net for People with Serious Disabilities and Chronic Conditions"

floridaliteracy.org/Financial/Health%20Insurance/Medicare%20and%20Medicaid.pdf.
 

National Long-Term Care Ombudsman Resource Center

An advocate for residents of nursing homes, board and care homes, and assisted living. Ombudsmen provides information about how to find a facility and what to do to get quality care.
State Ombudsman Listing: theconsumervoice.org/get_help.
ltcombudsman.org.

 

Special Focus Facility (SFF) Initiative

Through the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) this listing contains information on poorly rated nursing homes.
www.cms.hhs.gov/CertificationandComplianc/Downloads/SFFList.pdf.

General Health Information

Healthfinder.gov

A service of the National Health Information Center, Healthfinder.gov provides key resource for finding the best government and nonprofit health and human services information on the Internet.
Email: healthfinder@hhs.gov.
www.healthfinder.gov.
 

MedlinePlus.gov - Health Information from the National Library of Medicine

Fact sheets, guides, research, and Internet resources gathered by the librarians of the National Library of Medicine.
MedlinePlus: Evaluating Internet Health Information - A Tutorial From the National Library of Medicine: 
www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/webeval/webeval.html.

 

Merck Manual (online)

Merck Manual Consumer Edition: www.merckmanuals.com/home/index.html.
Merck Manual Professional Edition: www.merckmanuals.com/professional/index.html.

 

National Center on Health, Physical Activity, and Disability (NCHPAD)

An information center concerned with physical activity and disability.
Toll Free: 800/900-8086 (V/TTY)
NCPAD Program Database: www.nchpad.org/Directories/Programs.
NCPAD Parks Database: www.nchpad.org/Directories/Parks.
NCPAD Personal Trainers Database: www.nchpad.org/Directories/19/Personal~Trainers.
NCPAD Factsheets on Exercise and Fitness: www.nchpad.org/Articles.
www.nchpad.org.

NCHPAD Exercise Program for Stroke Survivors (video): www.nchpad.org/461/2336/Exercise~Program~for~Stroke~Survivors~-~An~Exercise~Video.

National Health Information Center (NHIC)

NHIC is a health information referral service. NHIC puts health professionals and consumers who have health questions in touch with those organizations that are best able to provide answers.
Referral specialists are available toll free: 800/336-4797, Phone: 301/565-4167
www.health.gov/nhic.

 

Office of Minority Health Resource Center (OMHRC)

OMH’s mission is to improve and protect the health of racial and ethnic minority populations through the development of health policies and programs that will eliminate health disparities.  The OMHRC serves as an information and referral service on minority health issues for professionals, community groups, consumers and students.
Toll Free:  800/444-6472
https://www.minorityhealth.hhs.gov/omh/browse.aspx?lvl=1&lvlid=3.

 

Office of Women’s Health through U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

Offers free women’s health information on more than 800 topics through their call center and website.
Toll Free:  800/994-9662, Information Specialists are available Monday through Friday 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. EST
www.womenshealth.gov.

 

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)

Toll Free: 877/696-6775
Contacting HHS Resources:  www.hhs.gov/contactus.html.
www.hhs.gov.

 

WebMD

WebMD provides valuable health information, tools for managing your health, and support to those who seek information.
www.webmd.com.

Statistics, Guidelines, and Healthcare Research