Who is using SNOMED CT?

SNOMED is used in more than 50 countries around the world. We also work with a number of standards setting organizations to promote consistent use of the terminology. Examples include (in alphabetic order):

International:

DICOM – Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine – In June 2000, SNOMED International and NEMA entered into an agreement whereby all terms required for basic interoperability will be represented in SNOMED and available on a pre-paid royalty basis. By agreement, terms continue to be added. Since 1996, the CAP has served as secretariat of DICOM Working Group 8: Structured Reporting and actively participates in DICOM Working Group 13: Visible Light Images. SNOMED is an integral component to full content integration of digital images and text using DICOM’s Structured Reporting standard.

HL7 - Health Level 7 – SNOMED developers actively contribute to the coordination of HL7 messaging standards and SNOMED content. SNOMED is a registered standard with the HL7 Vocabulary Technical Committee for use in HL7 messages.

ISO – International Organization for Standardization – SNOMED developers participate in the ISO Technical Advisory Working Group on Health Concept Representation ISO TC 215 WG3.

X12 – Accredited Standards Committee – In 1997, SNOMED was balloted as an approved code source in ASC X 12 version 4010 for the purpose of reporting more precise terms of medical test results primarily for statistical purposes in the public health system. In October 1999, a name change to “Systematized Nomenclature of Medicine” and the addition of an abstract that describes the use of the code source for indexing the entire medical record was approved and published in X12 sub-release version 4031 in February 2000.

National:

American Academy of Ophthalmology has adopted SNOMED CT as its Official Clinical Terminology. H. Dunbar Hoskins, Jr, P. Lloyd Hildebrand & Flora Lum have written an article about the American Academy of Ophthalmology adopting SNOMED CT as its Official Clinical Terminology. The article describes the value of SNOMED CT in the contemporary international system and is called “The American Academy of Ophthalmology Adopts SNOMED CT as Its Official Clinical Terminology”. Access the article here.

ANSI – American National Standards Institute (United States) - On December 7, 1999, the College of American Pathologists (CAP) was approved as an ANSI accredited Standards Developer Organization (SDO). The CAP activity relating to clinical terminology, through SNOMED International, focuses on standardizing terminology across clinical specialties and sites of care. These standards are developed in response to the increasing need to document care in a computer-readable format, to reliably and reproducibly retrieve and aggregate patient level and population-based data as well as to transmit data in electronic format. On September 30, 2003, the CAP received ANSI Approval for the Healthcare Terminology Structure standard. This standard specifies a standard file structure for use in distributing healthcare terminology.

The Australian General Practice Vocabulary project has recommended SNOMED as suitable for the Australian health sector. The final report is available here, and a series of related documents are published here.

CHI- Consolidated Health Informatics Initiative (United States) - This US government initiative is charged with defining health information interoperability standards in federal healthcare to enable the sharing of health information in a secure environment. On January 29, 2004, the CHI Initiative recommended and endorsed SNOMED CT as the terminology of choice for the domains of anatomy, nursing, diagnosis and problems, and non-lab interventions and procedures. CHI NCVHS recommendation.

IOM – Institute of Medicine (United States) – the IOM Committee on Patient Safety Data Standards is charged with producing a detailed plan to facilitate the development of data standards applicable to the collection, coding and classification of patient safety information, both adverse events data and errors data. Funded by the Agency of Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), the report compilation is expected in 24 months.

NCVHS – National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics (United States). As a continuation of its HIPAA mandate, NCVHS has assessed clinical terminology standards for the Patient Medical Record Initiative (PMRI). In 2003, the NCVHS Subcommittee on Standards and Security completed a detailed evaluation of 38 care terminologies and classification systems to support the electronic medical record. Ten terminologies met all of the essential criteria defined according to sound medical informatics practices. SNOMED CT was rated highest among all terminologies evaluated.

On November 12, 2003, an advisory panel of the US Department of Health and Human Services has recommended SNOMED CT as part of a core set of patient medical record information (PMRI) terminology. In the letter regarding PMRI terminology, the NCVHS said “The breadth of content, sound terminology model and widely recognized value of SNOMED CT qualify it as a general-purpose terminology for the exchange, aggregation and analysis of patient medical information. The broad scope of SNOMED CT itself and the inclusion within it of concepts from other important healthcare terminologies (including the following terminologies developed to support nursing practice: HHCC, NANDA, NOC, NIC, Omaha System and PNS) allow SNOMED CT to encompass much of the patient medical record information domain”. NCVHS recommendation.

SNOMED has also received endorsement, acceptance and recognition by professional associations (e.g. American Nurses Association – ANA, World Association of Societies of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine – WASPaLM), interoperability initiatives (e.g. eHealth Initiative, National Alliance for Healthcare IT – NAHIT), and industry analysts (e.g. the Gartner Group).



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About SNOMED CT Release of SNOMED CT Licensing History of SNOMED CT Who is Using SNOMED CT? Request Submission	Who is using SNOMED CT? SNOMED is used in more than 50 countries around the world. We also work with a number of standards setting organizations to promote consistent use of the terminology. Examples include (in alphabetic order): International: DICOM – Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine – In June 2000, SNOMED International and NEMA entered into an agreement whereby all terms required for basic interoperability will be represented in SNOMED and available on a pre-paid royalty basis. By agreement, terms continue to be added. Since 1996, the CAP has served as secretariat of DICOM Working Group 8: Structured Reporting and actively participates in DICOM Working Group 13: Visible Light Images. SNOMED is an integral component to full content integration of digital images and text using DICOM’s Structured Reporting standard. HL7 - Health Level 7 – SNOMED developers actively contribute to the coordination of HL7 messaging standards and SNOMED content. SNOMED is a registered standard with the HL7 Vocabulary Technical Committee for use in HL7 messages. ISO – International Organization for Standardization – SNOMED developers participate in the ISO Technical Advisory Working Group on Health Concept Representation ISO TC 215 WG3. X12 – Accredited Standards Committee – In 1997, SNOMED was balloted as an approved code source in ASC X 12 version 4010 for the purpose of reporting more precise terms of medical test results primarily for statistical purposes in the public health system. In October 1999, a name change to “Systematized Nomenclature of Medicine” and the addition of an abstract that describes the use of the code source for indexing the entire medical record was approved and published in X12 sub-release version 4031 in February 2000. National: American Academy of Ophthalmology has adopted SNOMED CT as its Official Clinical Terminology. H. Dunbar Hoskins, Jr, P. Lloyd Hildebrand & Flora Lum have written an article about the American Academy of Ophthalmology adopting SNOMED CT as its Official Clinical Terminology. The article describes the value of SNOMED CT in the contemporary international system and is called “The American Academy of Ophthalmology Adopts SNOMED CT as Its Official Clinical Terminology”. Access the article here. ANSI – American National Standards Institute (United States) - On December 7, 1999, the College of American Pathologists (CAP) was approved as an ANSI accredited Standards Developer Organization (SDO). The CAP activity relating to clinical terminology, through SNOMED International, focuses on standardizing terminology across clinical specialties and sites of care. These standards are developed in response to the increasing need to document care in a computer-readable format, to reliably and reproducibly retrieve and aggregate patient level and population-based data as well as to transmit data in electronic format. On September 30, 2003, the CAP received ANSI Approval for the Healthcare Terminology Structure standard. This standard specifies a standard file structure for use in distributing healthcare terminology. The Australian General Practice Vocabulary project has recommended SNOMED as suitable for the Australian health sector. The final report is available here, and a series of related documents are published here. CHI- Consolidated Health Informatics Initiative (United States) - This US government initiative is charged with defining health information interoperability standards in federal healthcare to enable the sharing of health information in a secure environment. On January 29, 2004, the CHI Initiative recommended and endorsed SNOMED CT as the terminology of choice for the domains of anatomy, nursing, diagnosis and problems, and non-lab interventions and procedures. CHI NCVHS recommendation. IOM – Institute of Medicine (United States) – the IOM Committee on Patient Safety Data Standards is charged with producing a detailed plan to facilitate the development of data standards applicable to the collection, coding and classification of patient safety information, both adverse events data and errors data. Funded by the Agency of Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), the report compilation is expected in 24 months. NCVHS – National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics (United States). As a continuation of its HIPAA mandate, NCVHS has assessed clinical terminology standards for the Patient Medical Record Initiative (PMRI). In 2003, the NCVHS Subcommittee on Standards and Security completed a detailed evaluation of 38 care terminologies and classification systems to support the electronic medical record. Ten terminologies met all of the essential criteria defined according to sound medical informatics practices. SNOMED CT was rated highest among all terminologies evaluated. On November 12, 2003, an advisory panel of the US Department of Health and Human Services has recommended SNOMED CT as part of a core set of patient medical record information (PMRI) terminology. In the letter regarding PMRI terminology, the NCVHS said “The breadth of content, sound terminology model and widely recognized value of SNOMED CT qualify it as a general-purpose terminology for the exchange, aggregation and analysis of patient medical information. The broad scope of SNOMED CT itself and the inclusion within it of concepts from other important healthcare terminologies (including the following terminologies developed to support nursing practice: HHCC, NANDA, NOC, NIC, Omaha System and PNS) allow SNOMED CT to encompass much of the patient medical record information domain”. NCVHS recommendation. SNOMED has also received endorsement, acceptance and recognition by professional associations (e.g. American Nurses Association – ANA, World Association of Societies of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine – WASPaLM), interoperability initiatives (e.g. eHealth Initiative, National Alliance for Healthcare IT – NAHIT), and industry analysts (e.g. the Gartner Group).