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SNOMED International

Regenstrief and the SNOMED International are working together to link LOINC and SNOMED CT

Regenstrief Institute and SNOMED International (formerly IHTSDO) have formed a long-term collaborative relationship with the objective of developing coded content to support order entry and result reporting. The two organizations are building closer links between the SNOMED CT and LOINC terminologies, reducing duplication of effort, and making electronic health records more effective at improving health care. By aligning how the two terminologies represent the attributes of laboratory tests and some types of clinical measurements, this collaboration will provide users a common framework within which to use LOINC and SNOMED CT.

In July 2013, Regenstrief and SNOMED International (then known as The International Health Terminology Standards Development Organisation, IHTSDO) signed an agreement to begin the cooperative work.

Read Full Agreement
Read press release announcing the collaboration.
Now, with the agreement in place, the cooperative work is just beginning. In brief, it involves these broad activities:

  1. LOINC Parts that are used in the Cooperative Areas and SNOMED CT Concepts that are used in the “Observables Model” will be mapped to one another to the extent necessary to enable convergence towards a common semantic foundation.
  2. Existing SNOMED CT Concepts that are subtypes of Observable Entity or Evaluation Procedure (and fall with the scope of Cooperative Areas) will be mapped to LOINC Terms.
  3. LOINC Terms that are not already represented by SNOMED CT Concepts will be associated with post-coordinated expressions.
  4. Where appropriate, LOINC Terms that represent observables with ordinal or nominal answer values will be mapped to SNOMED CT Concept names and codes in the LOINC Answer record.

To prioritize the effort, Regenstrief and SNOMED International have agreed to focus the work on these domain areas (which may later be expanded into other areas of mutual interest):

  1. Laboratory, including discrete orders and observations and panel names for orders (excluding panel structure)
  2. Anthropomorphic measurements and evaluations
  3. Vital signs and physiological measurements

The details of how this work will proceed, including a schedule for producing and distributing the end products, are now being worked out by the organizations.

LOINC/SNOMED CT Collaboration Files

This package was produced in collaboration with SNOMED International, from whom it was also available. The package has not been updated since July 2017 and SNOMED International and Regenstrief Institute confirm that there are no current plans to do so. Because of issues around safety and impact on patient care, the two organizations have decided to remove routine access to this package but are prepared to provide it upon request, with the understanding that the user will take all responsibility related to its subsequent use. For further information please contact us.