UMLS Licensing FAQs

NLM (National Library of Medicine) provides clinical vocabulary standards and tools that support implementation of Meaningful Use, C-CDA, and other programs. These standards and tools are provided via a set of files and software called the UMLS (Unified Medical Language System).

A license is required to browse and download files. UMLS licenses are

• free
• issued only to individuals and not to groups or organizations
• each person in your organization should request their own license here.

Requesting a UMLS License and creating a UTS account is a two-step process

1. Submit your license request.
2. Authenticate the request after receipt of e-mail from NLM.

License Requests are processed on weekdays between 9am – 5pm US Eastern Time. It may take up to 3 business days from the time you authenticate your request to approve your request depending on the volume of requests in the system. 

Read more about Requesting a UMLS License here.

• Using Your UMLS License
• Terminology Mapping
• RxNorm
• SNOMED CT® 
• Value Set Authority Center (VSAC) – Value set are lists of codes and corresponding terms from standard clinical vocabularies such as SNOMED®, RxNORM, LOINC®, and others. Use this site to look up SNOMED, RxNORM, codes for reporting on CMS Quality Measures. 
• USHIK The United States Health Information Knowledgebase is an on-line, publicly accessible registry and repository of healthcare-related metadata, specifications, and standards. Use this site to research CMS Quality Measures.

Please contact regulatory@azaleahealth.com for questions.