Special Use terms are developed in response to an urgent or emergent situation. These codes are based on the most up-to-date information available at the time of their creation. They have undergone the normal QA terminology process. Regenstrief supports their use in the unique situation that resulted in their rapid creation.
However, be aware that downstream users may not be ready to handle Special Use codes until they are published in an official release. Note that these terms are subject to change prior to inclusion in a future release.
Historical examples
This Special Use mechanism has been used previously in the following cases.
- SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19)
- Monkeypox
- Newer strains of Ebolavirus
- Hantavirus
Publication process
In coordination with the appropriate public health agencies, Regenstrief will rapidly develop new, discrete codes to address the specific situation. All customary quality-assurance steps will be performed to confirm validity of the code or codes. The codes will be published to the LOINC website at loinc.org/special and linked from the home page and other strategic locations to ensure their visibility.
Special use label
During this pre-release process, the codes will be given the “Special Use” name to convey their unique nature. This label will be removed once the code or codes are made available as part of an official release (with a version number) as it no longer applies.
Deprecation implications
Changing information can cause errors with codes established in a Special Use context. This was the case prior to version 2.83 when several Ebolavirus codes were created, published as Special Use, and subsequently changed to a Deprecated status.
These codes were erroneously not included in version 2.83. This prompted us to establish a policy which states that codes released with the Special Use mechanism are considered “releases,” therefore codes should never be removed from the database. See the Version 2.83 Release Notes for a list of the specific codes and their alternatives.