Where do I start to locate medical services and information?
“Medical service and information” is a broad category. There are directories for each medical specialty, type of medical facility, type of health plan, nursing homes, home care providers, pharmacies and pharmaceuticals, state health departments, and many more. A good place to start is usa.gov. USA.gov helps find resources across all federal agencies. It is an easily navigable website. One of the major segments is ‘health’. It covers:
MedlinePlus is a comprehensive resource from a medical perspective. It is a service of the NIH National Library of Medicine. It provides a comprehensive list of medical and wellness topics, a drugs and supplement reference, genetics information, medical tests reference, a medical encyclopedia, and healthy recipes.
When you look for any type of medical facility, hospital, rehabilitation center, nursing or retirement home, doctor’s office, or urgent care center – put safety first. Whenever a group of sick people are in one place the risk of cross- contamination increases. Cleanliness and disinfection protocols are critical, and readily observable.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) provides a booklet on how to choose a hospital, and comparison tool for doctors, hospitals, nursing homes, home health services, hospice, rehabilitation, long-term care hospitals, and dialysis facilities. The tool primarily measures outcomes and patient satisfaction. Leapfrog is a non-profit organization that focuses on rating safety in hospitals.