SNOMED-CT? CMT? HL7?
Mentioned on preceding pages, health information exchange (HIE) plays a big role in EHR applications. By allowing this exchange, or sharing or information, steps need to be in place in terms of language used by healthcare providers. For instance, because more technology in involved, more use of the keyboard and mouse is involved versus paper and pen. Although this can be lengthier as far as time goes, this enables providers to be more precise and accurate in terms of problem lists, diagnoses, chart/note taking.
However, how can language be exchanged between institutions with no formal “set language” in place?
This is where Systematized Nomenclature of Medicine of Clinical Terms (SNOMED-CT) and Convergent Medical Terminology (CMT) come to play. SNOMED-CT was developed by past versions from the American College of Pathologists in 1979 and is a bit more technical in the verity that they are “coded” representations of meanings used in health information. To tie in a HIT standpoint of EHR, SNOMED-CT is what appears to be a graphical roadmap, which connects relationships of words to each other. The components of SNOMED-CT are the concept codes which are strings of 8-9 digits which then mean something (ie. 22298006 means Myocardial Infarction MI or heart attack). CMT was actually created by Kaiser Permanente and served as a core part of KP HealthConnect. In Fall 2010, KP donated this system donated to the International Health Terminology Standards Development Organization (IHDSO) to collaborate with the member countries in hopes to come to the common goal of sharing the same collective vocabulary of medical and clinical terms. Containing more than 75,000 clinical terminology and concepts, CMT includes the codes of SNOMED-CT and can link to ICD-9 and ICD-10 (versions of the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems). It is clear that these systems can play a huge role in content organization in EHR applications. SNOMED-CT is dubbed the most all-inclusive, multi-language medical terminology worldwide; and this communication of it in a universal sense is crucial so that EHR data can be understood by ALL healthcare providers.
HL7 stands for Health Level 7, an organization that develops healthcare informatics interoperability standards. In the United States, an EHR application called LAIKA was created by the Certification Commission for Health Information Technology (CCHIT) to demonstrate interoperability. (See HIE and Meaningful Use).
However, how can language be exchanged between institutions with no formal “set language” in place?
This is where Systematized Nomenclature of Medicine of Clinical Terms (SNOMED-CT) and Convergent Medical Terminology (CMT) come to play. SNOMED-CT was developed by past versions from the American College of Pathologists in 1979 and is a bit more technical in the verity that they are “coded” representations of meanings used in health information. To tie in a HIT standpoint of EHR, SNOMED-CT is what appears to be a graphical roadmap, which connects relationships of words to each other. The components of SNOMED-CT are the concept codes which are strings of 8-9 digits which then mean something (ie. 22298006 means Myocardial Infarction MI or heart attack). CMT was actually created by Kaiser Permanente and served as a core part of KP HealthConnect. In Fall 2010, KP donated this system donated to the International Health Terminology Standards Development Organization (IHDSO) to collaborate with the member countries in hopes to come to the common goal of sharing the same collective vocabulary of medical and clinical terms. Containing more than 75,000 clinical terminology and concepts, CMT includes the codes of SNOMED-CT and can link to ICD-9 and ICD-10 (versions of the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems). It is clear that these systems can play a huge role in content organization in EHR applications. SNOMED-CT is dubbed the most all-inclusive, multi-language medical terminology worldwide; and this communication of it in a universal sense is crucial so that EHR data can be understood by ALL healthcare providers.
HL7 stands for Health Level 7, an organization that develops healthcare informatics interoperability standards. In the United States, an EHR application called LAIKA was created by the Certification Commission for Health Information Technology (CCHIT) to demonstrate interoperability. (See HIE and Meaningful Use).