MedlinePlus

What MedlinePlus does

MedlinePlus is a free online consumer health information service operated by the National Library of Medicine (NLM), the world's largest medical library and a component of the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH). Launched in 1998 and headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, the platform serves patients, families, healthcare professionals, educators, and EHR integrators by providing authoritative health information aggregated exclusively from NLM, NIH, and other U.S. federal government agencies. Core content modules include Health Topics, Drugs & Supplements, Genetics, Medical Tests, a Medical Encyclopedia, Healthy Recipes, a Clinical Trials gateway, the NIH MedlinePlus Magazine, and the All of Us Research Program resource, with coverage in English and Spanish plus a Multiple Languages page and Easy-to-Read accessibility features.

Name

MedlinePlus

Legal name

National Library of Medicine (NLM)

Website

https://medlineplus.gov

Company type

Private

Founded year

1998

Operating status

Operating

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Bethesda

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Infrastructure

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

MedlinePlus is a free online consumer health information resource that aggregates authoritative content on health topics, drugs and supplements, genetics, medical tests, a medical encyclopedia, and healthy recipes. It is operated as a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine and is available in English and Spanish, with developer-facing APIs, XML data files, and RSS feeds that enable EHR and third-party system integration.

Product overview

MedlinePlus is a comprehensive online health information resource operated by the National Library of Medicine (NLM), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). It provides a unified portal offering authoritative health information to patients and their families. The core platform consists of Health Topics, Medical Encyclopedia, Drugs & Supplements, Genetics, Medical Tests, and Healthy Recipes. The platform also includes MedlinePlus Connect, an API for EHR integration, plus web services and downloadable XML data files for developers. Content is available in both English and Spanish, with additional accessibility features including easy-to-read materials and video keyboard shortcuts. RSS feeds enable content subscription.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• MedlinePlus Health Topics Comprehensive health and wellness information covering disorders, conditions, and general health topics for patients and their families.
• Medical Encyclopedia Part of the ongoing MedlinePlus content library. Extensive collection of articles and images covering diseases, symptoms, tests, and treatments.
• Drugs & Supplements Part of the ongoing MedlinePlus content library. Information on prescription drugs, over-the-counter medicines, herbs, and dietary supplements including comprehensive drug monographs.
• Medical Tests Part of the ongoing MedlinePlus content library. Educational resources explaining why doctors order medical tests and what results may mean for patient health.
• Genetics Part of the ongoing MedlinePlus content library. Genetic condition information, genes, and how genetic variations affect health, with accompanying data files and API access.
• Healthy Recipes Part of the ongoing MedlinePlus content library. Healthy eating recipes demonstrating how to prepare tasty, quick meals as part of a healthy lifestyle.
• MedlinePlus Connect API service enabling EHR systems and patient portals to connect with relevant MedlinePlus health information. API service enabling EHR systems and patient portals to connect directly with relevant MedlinePlus health information at the point of care.
• MedlinePlus Web Service Web service for developers to programmatically retrieve MedlinePlus health topic data. Search-based health topic data available in XML format for programmatic access by developers.
• XML Data Files Downloadable XML records for all English and Spanish health topics. Downloadable XML records for all English and Spanish health topics for developers and integrators.
• MedlinePlus Genetics Data Files & API Programmatic access to genetic data in XML or JSON formats. Programmatic access to genetic data in XML or JSON formats.
• RSS Feeds General and topic-specific RSS feeds for content subscription. Subscription feeds for general updates and topic-specific health information in RSS format.
• MedlinePlus en Español Spanish-language version of MedlinePlus providing health information. Spanish-language version of MedlinePlus providing health information to Spanish-speaking users.
• NIH MedlinePlus Magazine Publication from the National Institutes of Health featuring health information and research updates. Publication from the National Institutes of Health featuring health information and research updates for the general public.
• Easy-to-Read Health Information Simplified health content written for users with lower health literacy levels. Simplified health content written for users with lower health literacy levels.

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

Yes

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration1 record

Feature7 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Medline (PubMed): PubMed is NLM's biomedical literature citation database serving researchers and clinicians. It is a sister NLM resource to MedlinePlus and overlaps as a federally operated, authoritative health/biomedical information platform, though it targets professional rather than consumer audiences.
• UpToDate: UpToDate is an evidence-based clinical decision support resource used by physicians and healthcare professionals. It overlaps with MedlinePlus's professional-grade content layer (drug monographs, condition overviews) but is positioned for clinician use at the point of care rather than direct patient education.

Direct peers

• Healthline Media: Healthline provides medically reviewed consumer health content across conditions, medications, nutrition, and wellness. It competes directly with MedlinePlus for organic search-driven patient traffic on the same topic categories and serves a near-identical audience of patients and caregivers.
• Drugs.com: Drugs.com provides consumer-facing prescription drug, OTC medication, and supplement information in a format directly comparable to MedlinePlus's Drugs & Supplements module. It serves the same patient education use case around medication safety, interactions, and side effects.
• Mayo Clinic Patient Library: Mayo Clinic publishes authoritative patient education content covering diseases, symptoms, drugs, and healthy living through its public website. It overlaps directly with MedlinePlus on consumer-facing, clinically vetted health topic content and shares MedlinePlus's brand-equity positioning as a trusted, non-commercial information source.
• Cleveland Clinic Health Library: Cleveland Clinic operates a public-facing health library covering conditions, treatments, drugs, and wellness content for patients. It is comparable to MedlinePlus as an institutionally backed, physician-authored patient education resource targeting the same patient and family audience.
• WebMD: WebMD is a leading consumer health information portal offering condition, drug, and wellness content to patients and families. It is the closest commercial analog to MedlinePlus in terms of audience (patients seeking authoritative health information) and content categories (conditions, drugs, tests), though it is ad-supported rather than government-funded.

Emerging players

• Krames (StayWell): Krames delivers patient education content and care instruction tools integrated into EHR and care management platforms. It is comparable to MedlinePlus Connect in targeting EHR-mediated delivery of patient education at the point of care and serves overlapping health system customers.
• Healthwise: Healthwise is a nonprofit patient education and health content vendor that supplies EHR-embedded patient education materials to health systems. It overlaps with MedlinePlus Connect's EHR integration use case and competes for the same point-of-care patient education slot inside clinical workflows.

Regional players

• NHS Health A-Z: NHS.uk's Health A-Z is a government-operated consumer health information service for UK residents, mirroring MedlinePlus's model of publicly funded, clinically vetted condition and treatment content. It is functionally a national-government analog rather than a direct commercial competitor.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks4 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xtwitter.com/NLM_NIH
• YouTubeyoutube.com/user/NLMNIH
• Facebookfacebook.com/NLM.NIH
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/in/nlm-nih

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

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 MedlinePlus