2009 Update

National Activities

NLM promotes use of SNOMED CT as part of a suite of vocabulary and messaging standards needed for interoperable infrastructure for health information technology. NLM is building upon the IHTSDO’s new Workbench to develop an open and transparent process, accessible to all stakeholders, for coordinating U.S. input to SNOMED CT content development.

In 2009 NLM coordinated ongoing negotiations between the IHTSDO and the owners of LOINC and NPU to reduce duplication of effort and ensure that SNOMED CT works effectively in combination with either LOINC or NPU. An operational trial of prospective divisions of labor for laboratory test terminology was defined and carried out. After reviewing lessons learned from the trial, the IHTSDO and the Regenstrief Institute (owner of LOINC) began development of a permanent alliance agreement which is expected to be signed in the first half of 2010. A parallel agreement between SNOMED CT and NPU will follow.

Implementation Plans and Other Activities

In 2009 the U.S. Congress passed legislation that included provisions to enhance adoption, interoperability, functionality, utility, and security of health IT in the U.S.. The law includes incentives to encourage use of electronic health records and related standards (including SNOMED CT) beginning in 2011. SNOMED CT has been a designated standard (along with RxNorm and LOINC) for U.S. Federal Government systems exchanging clinical information since 2004. This new mandate is likely to expand its use in physician practices and private hospitals.

NLM released the CORE Problem List Subset of SNOMED CT, based on problem frequency data from multiple healthcare providers. This subset should facilitate implementation of SNOMED CT for coding of problem list data in electronic health records. It can also serve as a model for other frequency based subsets that will facilitate implementation of SNOMED CT and related terminology standards.

Number of Affiliate Licensees

UMLS licensees: 3585 (as of 2/5/2010)

U.S. Licenses: 2495

International Licenses: 1090

Affiliate activities

NLM distributes SNOMED CT as part of the Unified Medical Language System (UMLS) Metathesaurus. Licensees of the UMLS Metathesaurus have access to SNOMED CT (both English and Spanish versions) in multiple formats as part of the UMLS Metathesaurus, where it is linked to many other biomedical terminologies and natural language processing tools. UMLS licensees also have access to SNOMED CT in its native file formats from the UMLS Knowledge Sources Server.

Translation Plans/Activities (if relevant)

None currently planned. More



2009 Update National Activities NLM promotes use of SNOMED CT as part of a suite of vocabulary and messaging standards needed for interoperable infrastructure for health information technology. NLM is building upon the IHTSDO’s new Workbench to develop an open and transparent process, accessible to all stakeholders, for coordinating U.S. input to SNOMED CT content development. In 2009 NLM coordinated ongoing negotiations between the IHTSDO and the owners of LOINC and NPU to reduce duplication of effort and ensure that SNOMED CT works effectively in combination with either LOINC or NPU. An operational trial of prospective divisions of labor for laboratory test terminology was defined and carried out. After reviewing lessons learned from the trial, the IHTSDO and the Regenstrief Institute (owner of LOINC) began development of a permanent alliance agreement which is expected to be signed in the first half of 2010. A parallel agreement between SNOMED CT and NPU will follow. Implementation Plans and Other Activities In 2009 the U.S. Congress passed legislation that included provisions to enhance adoption, interoperability, functionality, utility, and security of health IT in the U.S.. The law includes incentives to encourage use of electronic health records and related standards (including SNOMED CT) beginning in 2011. SNOMED CT has been a designated standard (along with RxNorm and LOINC) for U.S. Federal Government systems exchanging clinical information since 2004. This new mandate is likely to expand its use in physician practices and private hospitals. NLM released the CORE Problem List Subset of SNOMED CT, based on problem frequency data from multiple healthcare providers. This subset should facilitate implementation of SNOMED CT for coding of problem list data in electronic health records. It can also serve as a model for other frequency based subsets that will facilitate implementation of SNOMED CT and related terminology standards. Number of Affiliate Licensees UMLS licensees: 3585 (as of 2/5/2010) U.S. Licenses: 2495 International Licenses: 1090 Affiliate activities NLM distributes SNOMED CT as part of the Unified Medical Language System (UMLS) Metathesaurus. Licensees of the UMLS Metathesaurus have access to SNOMED CT (both English and Spanish versions) in multiple formats as part of the UMLS Metathesaurus, where it is linked to many other biomedical terminologies and natural language processing tools. UMLS licensees also have access to SNOMED CT in its native file formats from the UMLS Knowledge Sources Server. Translation Plans/Activities (if relevant) None currently planned. More