Abstract
The efficient use of documents from heterogeneous computer systems is hampered by differences in documentnaming practices across organizations. Using an openconsensus method, the Document Ontology Task Force’, with support from the Veterans Health Administration, addressed this pervasive problem by developing a clinical document ontology. Based on the analysis of over 2000 clinical document names, the ontology was used to formulate a terminology model which is currently being used to guide the creation of fully-specified document names in LOINC (Logical Observations, Identifiers, Names & Codes). Incorporation into LOINC will enable homogenous management of documents in a widely distributed environment and will also give rise to a rich polyhierarchy of document names.
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