National Capital Poison Center

What National Capital Poison Center does

The National Capital Poison Center (NCPC) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded in 1981 in Washington, D.C. that provides free, expert poisoning emergency guidance to US residents. On March 31, 2025 it became the first fully-automated, all-digital Poison Control in the United States after closing its telephone call center, transitioning from a regional DC-area service to a national one. The organization is funded entirely through donations and grants, with no user fees or subscription revenue.

Its core product is webPOISONCONTROL, a fully-automated online triage tool that delivers case-specific treatment recommendations in under three minutes based on inputs including age, substance, amount ingested, symptoms, and time since exposure. The platform includes barcode scanning for product identification, written recommendations delivered on-screen and via email, and customization across patient factors. Complementary products include native iOS and Android applications, a publicly available Data Analysis Dashboard that provides near real-time national poison exposure data, a Pill ID tool, and The Poison Post quarterly e-newsletter. The underlying triage logic was designed by medical toxicologists and is validated through peer-reviewed publications across multiple clinical journals.

The business model is a freemium, non-revenue-generating model entirely supported by grants and contributions, including corporate sponsorships. Distribution is fully digital and self-serve via web browser, mobile apps, and a public data dashboard, with the national poison center hotline (1-800-222-1222) retained as a referral channel for high-acuity cases including pregnancy, extremes of age, multi-substance exposures, and self-harm situations. The primary customer segment is the general US public seeking poison triage and prevention information, with healthcare facilities as a secondary indirect beneficiary due to reduced unnecessary ER utilization; 71% of cases were safely managed at home in 2024.

Name

National Capital Poison Center

Legal name

National Capital Poison Center

Website

https://poison.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1981

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

The National Capital Poison Center is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that operates webPOISONCONTROL, a free, fully-automated online triage tool providing poison exposure guidance to US residents 24/7, complemented by mobile apps, a public national poison exposure data dashboard, and a pill identification tool.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Poison Control Services

akta.pro primary industry

Pharmacovigilance, Medication Safety & Controlled Substance Diversion Monitoring (HLAFALAN)

akta.pro secondary industry

Vaccine Safety Surveillance & Adverse Event Reporting (AEFI/Pharmacovigilance) (HLAJAHAG)

Keywords

• Poison control services
• Toxicology triage
• Online poison assessment
• Poison prevention education
• Emergency poison guidance

Headquarters

HQ city

Washington

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Donations and Grants: As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, the National Capital Poison Center is funded entirely through generous grants and contributions. webPOISONCONTROL is supported entirely through grants and contributions. Corporate sponsorships are also available.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

The National Capital Poison Center provides a free, fully-automated online poison exposure triage and treatment guidance tool (webPOISONCONTROL) accessible 24/7 via web browser and native iOS/Android apps to any US resident. Users answer simple questions about age, substance, amount ingested, symptoms, and time since exposure, and receive case-specific first-aid recommendations in under 3 minutes, with optional barcode scanning for product identification and email-delivered written recommendations.

Product overview

The National Capital Poison Center operates as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that became the first fully-automated, all-digital Poison Control center in the US on March 31, 2025. The core offering is webPOISONCONTROL, an automated digital triage tool that provides poison exposure guidance. This is complemented by a mobile app for iOS and Android, a data analysis dashboard for public poison exposure statistics, a Pill ID tool for pill identification, and The Poison Post newsletter for poison prevention education. The center previously operated a telephone-based call center for 44 years but transitioned entirely to digital services.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• webPOISONCONTROL: A free online triage and treatment guidance tool for poison exposures, providing quick, accurate, and accessible self-guided assistance 24/7. The tool offers customized recommendations based on age, substance, amount ingested, symptoms, time since exposure, and other factors.

Products and services

• webPOISONCONTROL Online Triage Tool Fully-automated, 24/7 online triage tool that provides case-specific treatment guidance and first-aid recommendations for poison exposures based on age, substance, amount ingested, symptoms, and time since exposure, with results in under 3 minutes. Free for all US residents.
• webPOISONCONTROL Mobile App Native mobile application version of the webPOISONCONTROL triage tool, available on Apple App Store (iOS) and Google Play Store (Android), providing the same poison exposure triage and first-aid guidance on mobile devices.
• webPOISONCONTROL Data Analysis Dashboard Free, publicly available online dashboard providing national (US), near real-time poison exposure data, allowing users to explore data summaries and trends of poisonings from common substances such as personal care products, cleaning substances, medicines, pesticides, plants, and bites and stings.
• Pill ID Tool Online tool for identifying pills and tablets through visual identification to assist with poison emergencies and medication safety.

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 1 million cases managed since 2014
• +5 more outcomes

Named customers4 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature6 records

Scale indicators8 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Buoy Health: A consumer-facing AI symptom triage tool that directs users to the right level of care (self-care, PCP, urgent care, ER). Competes for the same "is this serious?" digital decision moment as webPOISONCONTROL across consumer health including exposure/symptoms.
• K Health: A digital consumer health platform offering AI-guided symptom assessment and virtual urgent care. Overlaps with webPOISONCONTROL on the upstream triage-of-symptoms experience that determines whether a user stays home or seeks in-person care.
• Ada Health: A symptom assessment app using an AI-guided Q&A flow to produce a triage recommendation for consumers. Highly comparable structure to webPOISONCONTROL's simple, case-specific, automated Q&A with personalized next steps.
• America's Poison Centers (formerly AAPCC): The national nonprofit association representing all US poison centers and coordinating the 1-800-222-1222 hotline and National Poison Data System. NCPC operates within this umbrella and publishes into its data system, making it a structural peer by function and audience.
• 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline: The federally funded crisis line for mental health and self-harm/suicide — NCPC itself routes self-harm exposures to it. Same "free, expert, 24/7, public-health-funded" service model as NCPC, with overlapping population of users in crisis.
• Rocky Mountain Poison & Drug Safety: A major US regional poison center operated by Denver Health providing 24/7 phone toxicology triage and a parallel digital tool (webPOISONCONTROL-style experience). Operates the same poison-center function as NCPC from a different region and is the most direct operating peer.

Emerging players

• Infermedica: A B2B AI symptom-assessment and triage engine used by health systems and insurers. Operates in the same automated triage logic space as webPOISONCONTROL but at the enterprise/B2B layer, typically through payer and provider integrations.
• GoodRx (Pill Identifier): A consumer drug-pricing and medication-information platform with a popular pill-identifier tool that competes directly with webPOISONCONTROL's Pill ID feature for users trying to identify an unknown tablet.

Regional players

• Florida Poison Information Center Network: A state-funded network of poison centers providing 24/7 phone triage and toxicology guidance to Florida residents. Same operating model as NCPC, but constrained geographically to Florida and not currently offering a comparable national all-digital tool.

Broad incumbents

• WebMD (Symptom Checker): A dominant consumer health information site with its own symptom-checker tool and extensive drug/pill-identification content. Competes as a general-purpose upstream triage and information resource where webPOISONCONTROL competes on poisoning-specific queries.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/NationalPoison
• Facebookfacebook.com/poisoncontrol
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/poisoncontrol
• Instagraminstagram.com/poison.control

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about National Capital Poison Center