Using CDC and other government health materials on a practice website

Federal health agencies publish a large library of patient education: fact sheets on vaccines and screenings, plain-language summaries of conditions, illustrations, videos and printable handouts. For an independent practice, it is tempting to copy that material onto the website or into a newsletter, since it is accurate, already written for patients, and paid for by taxpayers. In large part that is allowed. The details decide whether the reuse is clean: which parts of a federal page are in fact free to copy, what the agency asks in return, what you may never do with its name and logo, and what Google makes of a page that repeats text found elsewhere.

This guide covers the federal public domain rule and its exceptions, the reuse terms the CDC and the National Library of Medicine publish, the limits on agency logos and on suggesting endorsement, attribution and disclaimer wording you can use, duplicate content and how to add value of your own, and how to keep copies current when the agency updates its guidance. The wider copyright picture for photos, music and other organizations’ handouts is in our copyright, music and image rights guide, and how to review health content written in your own words is in our medically reviewed health content guide.

The short version

• Federal work is free to copy, but not each item on a federal site is federal work. Images, contractor and grantee material and licensed content can still be under copyright. Check the credit line.
• The CDC attaches conditions. Its reuse page asks for attribution, a prominent no-endorsement disclaimer, no change to the substance, and a note that the material is available free on the agency site.
• Never use an agency logo. The CDC and NLM say their logos need written permission or are not for private sector use, and federal law bars using HHS and CMS names or symbols in a way that suggests endorsement.
• Copying alone adds little for search. Google asks whether content that draws on other sources adds substantial value and originality. Link to the source and write what your patients need around it.
• Copies go stale. The CDC asks sites to link rather than re-post because its pages change. If you re-post, set a review date.

What the public domain rule covers

Section 105(a) of the Copyright Act, 17 U.S.C. 105, says copyright protection is not available for any work of the United States Government. Section 101 defines that term as a work prepared by an officer or employee of the United States Government as part of that person’s official duties. A fact sheet written by CDC staff in the course of their work fits. So does a MedlinePlus health topic summary written by National Library of Medicine staff.

The rule is narrower than the address bar suggests. The CDC’s Use of Agency Materials page says a federal website may have a mix of public domain and copyright-protected materials, and names the exceptions. Resources and images developed by government contractors or grantees, or licensed from a third party, can be restricted. Works of state and local governments are not covered by the federal rule and may be protected by copyright. And U.S. government works may still be protected under the laws of other countries when used there.

MedlinePlus spells out the same split for its own content. Its reuse page lists the public domain parts, including the health topic summaries, medical test information, the genetics pages, illustrations carrying the U.S. National Library of Medicine watermark and credit, healthy recipes, videos and two tutorials. It lists the copyrighted parts too: the medical encyclopedia content and the drug monographs, which are licensed for use on MedlinePlus only, and images other than those named, which may be copyright protected. Unattributed stock images on its health topic and genetics pages are licensed for MedlinePlus and may not be reproduced.

The practical rule: treat the text of a federal fact sheet as reusable, and treat each photo, illustration, chart and embedded video as a separate item to check. If the item carries a credit to a person, a company, a university or a medical society, assume it is under copyright unless the credit says otherwise.

The CDC’s four conditions

Public domain means no copyright permission is needed. The CDC still sets conditions on using its public domain content, and states them as requirements on its Use of Agency Materials page.

• Attribution: say the material was developed by the CDC, ATSDR or HHS. The page gives “Source: CDC” and “Materials developed by CDC” as examples.
• A disclaimer: state that your use of the material, including any links to agency sites, does not imply endorsement by the CDC, ATSDR, HHS or the U.S. Government of you, your company, product, facility, service or enterprise. The page says the disclaimer must be displayed prominently and unambiguously.
• No change to the substantive content of the materials.
• A statement that the material is otherwise available on the agency website for no charge.

The third condition matters for practices. Shortening a fact sheet, adding your own advice inside it, or rewording it to promote a service changes the substance. If you want to say something different, write your own page and link to the CDC page as a source, instead of presenting an edited copy as CDC material.

The National Library of Medicine asks for attribution on its government works too. Its web policies suggest “Courtesy of the National Library of Medicine” or “Source: National Library of Medicine”, and the MedlinePlus reuse page suggests “Courtesy of MedlinePlus from the National Library of Medicine” or “Source: MedlinePlus, National Library of Medicine.” The NLM endorsement disclaimer says the views of authors on NLM sites may not be used for advertising or product endorsement purposes.

Other agencies may set different terms. Read the terms page of the agency whose material you use, and keep a copy of it with the date you read it.

Logos, names and suggested endorsement

This is the line to hold firmly. The CDC page says the CDC and ATSDR logos and other related CDC, ATSDR or HHS logos and marks are U.S. government property and may not be used without express written permission. It says they should never be used to promote or suggest endorsement of non-agency companies, products, events, facilities or services.

The NLM logo policy goes further. It says HHS, NIH and institute logos may be used only on official communications products created by or for the principal benefit of the federal government, and that the NLM logo may not be used by the private sector, including grantees, vendors and contractors, commercial or nonprofit.

Federal law backs this up for certain names. 42 U.S.C. 1320b-10(a)(1) prohibits using, in an advertisement or other communication, including an internet communication, words such as Medicare, Medicaid, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Department of Health and Human Services, or the letters CMS or HHS, or a symbol or emblem of those agencies, in a manner that the person knows or should know would convey, or that reasonably could be interpreted as conveying, the false impression that the item is approved, endorsed or authorized by the agency or that the person has a connection with it. The CDC page says misuse of its materials or logo in publications sold for profit will be referred to the HHS Office of Inspector General and may be subject to civil money penalties under that section.

Google Ads has a parallel rule. Its Misrepresentation policy does not allow ads that make it seem a business is supported by another brand, organization or government entity when it is not. A practice ad that reads as a CDC campaign, or a landing page that leads with an agency logo, invites a disapproval as well as legal risk.

Naming the source is fine. “Source: CDC” under a fact sheet is attribution. “CDC-approved screening”, “in partnership with the CDC” or an agency seal next to your practice name is a claim of endorsement or connection that you would have to be able to prove.

Attribution and disclaimer wording you can use

Adapt these to the agency and the material, and keep the disclaimer where a reader will see it, next to the material and not only in the site footer.

• Use: “Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). This material is available free of charge at [link to the original page]. Use of this material does not imply endorsement by the CDC, HHS or the U.S. Government of [Practice name] or its services.” Avoid: “Brought to you by [Practice name] and the CDC.”
• Use: “Source: MedlinePlus, National Library of Medicine.” Avoid: placing the NLM or NIH logo on the page.
• Use: “We follow the screening recommendations published by [agency], linked below.” Avoid: “Our screening program is approved by [agency].”
• Use: “Reviewed for our patients on [date]. The agency updates this guidance, so check the original page for the latest version.” Avoid: presenting an old copy without a date.

Duplicate content and adding original value

Reusing federal text is legal in large part, but it is a weak page for search on its own. Google’s guidance on creating helpful content asks whether content that draws on other sources avoids simply copying or rewriting those sources, and instead provides substantial additional value and originality. Google’s spam policies describe abusive scraping as taking content from other sites with the purpose of manipulating search rankings, and give as examples republishing content from other sites without adding any original content or value, and copying content with only slight changes such as substituted synonyms.

A single re-posted CDC fact sheet with attribution is not a spam scheme. But a page that is the same text as the agency page is unlikely to be the one Google shows, and a blog built from re-posted agency pages, or from agency text run through a rewording tool, moves toward what those policies describe. The better pattern for a practice:

• Write the page in your own words for your patients: who in your practice it applies to, how to book, what the visit involves, what it costs, and what to bring.
• Cite and link the agency page as the source of the medical facts, instead of copying it.
• Copy agency text only where the exact wording matters, such as a short official recommendation, and attribute it.
• Have a clinician review the page, and show the review date.

If you do want the whole fact sheet available, link to it, or offer the agency’s printable version, rather than recreating it on your page. The CDC’s linking page says you may link to CDC.gov at no cost and without specific permission, and that a link does not indicate any form of endorsement or approval from the CDC or HHS. The CDC’s reuse page also asks that links open the CDC page in a new window and that CDC content not be framed inside your site, and MedlinePlus asks that its pages not be framed or made to appear under another domain.

Keeping copies current

The CDC page notes that its online publications are continually updated as the agency learns more, that sites that copy and re-post its material can fail to check for updates and end up offering out-of-date information, and it urges sites to link directly instead of re-posting. If you re-post, it asks you to check back periodically for revisions.

For a practice, a stale copy of agency guidance is a patient safety issue as well as a marketing one. Vaccine schedules, screening ages and outbreak advice change. A simple control works: record the source URL, the agency’s own date on the page and the date you copied it, set a review date, and when the agency page changes, update your copy or replace it with a link. If you cannot keep up with a topic, link to it instead of copying it.

Questions to ask before you reuse agency material

• Was this specific item prepared by federal staff, or does it carry a credit to a contractor, grantee, stock service or other organization?
• Is this a state or local health department item, which the federal public domain rule does not cover?
• What does this agency’s reuse page require, and have we saved a dated copy of it?
• Are we keeping the substance unchanged, or should we write our own page and link to the source instead?
• Is the attribution and no-endorsement wording next to the material, where a reader will see it?
• Is any agency logo, seal or name used in a way that suggests approval, partnership or connection?
• What do we add for our patients that the agency page does not have?
• Who checks the original page for updates, and when?

Use and avoid

• Use: a link to the agency page with a short summary in your own words. Avoid: a full copy of the page with your header on it.
• Use: “Source: CDC” with the no-endorsement disclaimer. Avoid: the CDC, NIH, HHS or CMS logo anywhere on your site, ads or print.
• Use: “Information from MedlinePlus, National Library of Medicine.” Avoid: “Medicare-approved” or “HHS-recommended” claims about your practice.
• Use: agency illustrations that carry a federal credit, with that credit kept. Avoid: copying images from a federal page that are credited to someone else.
• Use: a dated copy with a review date. Avoid: an undated copy of guidance that the agency has since changed.

An illustration

This example is invented. [Practice name], a family practice in [Town], wants a page on flu shots before the season starts. A staff member copies the CDC flu vaccine fact sheet into a blog post, adds the CDC logo at the top and the line “Our flu clinic follows CDC guidelines”, inserts two sentences about the practice’s walk-in hours into the middle of the fact sheet, and reuses a photo from the CDC page of a nurse giving a shot. The photo’s credit names an outside photographer.

Before the post goes live, the practice manager checks it against the CDC reuse page. They remove the logo, remove the photo, and move the practice’s own text out of the fact sheet. The page now opens with the practice’s own section on who should come in, the hours, cost for self-pay patients and what to bring, written by staff and reviewed by a clinician. Below it is a short summary of the CDC recommendation in the practice’s words with a link to the CDC page, the attribution line and the no-endorsement disclaimer. The page shows a review date, and the manager adds the topic to the list they check each season.

Checklist

• Each reused item is checked for credit lines, and only federal-staff work or items with clear reuse terms are copied.
• State and local health department material is treated as possibly copyrighted until its terms are checked.
• Attribution is next to the material, in the wording the agency asks for.
• The no-endorsement disclaimer is prominent and next to the material.
• Copied material is unchanged in substance, and practice content sits outside it.
• The page says the material is available free on the agency site, with a link.
• No agency logo, seal or name is used to suggest approval, partnership or connection, on the site, in ads or in print.
• Agency pages are linked, not framed.
• The page adds original content for your patients, reviewed by a clinician.
• Each copy has a source URL, the agency date, the copy date and a review date.

How we help

We build practice websites, local SEO, Google Ads and lead generation and an AI front desk for independent practices. When a practice wants patient education on its site, we write pages in the practice’s own words around what its patients need, cite and link the agency sources, keep agency logos off the site and ads, and add a review date that a clinician at the practice signs off on. Our tools are built with HIPAA in mind. We confirm in writing what a BAA covers before any patient information flows through a tool, and if it is not covered, we do not route patient information through it. We are not a healthcare provider and we do not give legal or medical advice. For the wider rules, see our healthcare marketing rules guide.

Sources

• 17 U.S.C. 105: Subject matter of copyright: United States Government works
• 17 U.S.C. 101: Definitions (work of the United States Government)
• 42 U.S.C. 1320b-10: Prohibitions relating to references to Social Security or Medicare
• CDC: Use of Agency Materials (last reviewed May 1, 2023)
• CDC: Linking to CDC.gov (last reviewed May 27, 2021)
• National Library of Medicine: NLM Web Policies, copyright and logo policy (last reviewed December 2, 2024)
• MedlinePlus: Linking to and Using Content from MedlinePlus
• Google Search Central: Creating helpful, reliable, people-first content (last updated October 5, 2026)
• Google Search Central: Spam policies for Google web search (last updated August 28, 2026)
• Google Ads policy: Misrepresentation

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