TECHNOLOGY Snomed
The global language of healthcare SNOMED International CEO, Don Sweete talks to Healthcare World about SNOMED CT, SNOMED International and its global, thriving community
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NOMED international is an organisation committed to maintaining and growing our global expertise in healthcare terminology, ensuring that SNOMED CT is the common language for clinical terms globally and contributed to by clinical, standards and industry partners worldwide. SNOMED CT is the most comprehensive, multilingual, clinical healthcare terminology in the world and is a resource with scientifically validated clinical content. It allows for the consistent representation of clinical content in electronic health records, such as clinical information systems, health data and analytics platforms, and interoperability solutions. It is developed collaboratively to ensure it meets the diverse needs and expectations of clinicians and other stakeholders worldwide. Adopting a “hub” approach, SNOMED CT is also mapped to many other international
standards and adaptable to each country’s requirements. In fact, once a country or designated authority becomes a Member, anyone within those borders can access and use SNOMED CT and its related products and services, both for non-commercial and commercial purposes, without prejudice. Q: Who is responsible for SNOMED CT? A: SNOMED International is the organisation that drives the maintenance and the evolution of SNOMED CT. A non-profit, Member-driven organisation, SNOMED International plays an essential role in improving the health of humankind by determining standards for a codified language representing groups of clinical terms. SNOMED CT enables healthcare information to be exchanged globally for the benefit of patients/citizens, care providers and other stakeholders.
For the past 20 years now, SNOMED International, or IHTSDO as it was previously named, has produced the SNOMED CT International Edition. Striving to determine the best global standards for health terminologies, the organisation engages with the global healthcare community on many fronts, and from many angles to improve SNOMED CT so that it best serves the clinical information needs of a diverse range of stakeholders. Originally developed by the US College of American Pathologists, the organisation we know today exists due to a global coalition of 9 charter Members, 5 from Europe, that identified the significant need of clinical terminology in the world’s electronic health records, creating a mechanism to assure equal access to it from its participating Members. Q: So, who uses SNOMED CT? A: Broadly speaking, there is more than just one health stakeholder invested in the use of SNOMED CT. Across policymakers to Members, care providers, collaboration partners, researchers and knowledge producers, vendors, and even patients and citizens -- each part of this stakeholder ecosystem plays a role in the use and 53
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