Belgium

A primary goal defined by the National Action Plan remains the adoption of a standardized terminology, primarily consisting of SNOMED CT®, as controlled clinical vocabulary to allow a semantic interoperability aiming for the automatic interpretation of the content transmitted between heterogeneous systems in an accurate way and in different languages. Furthermore, semantic interoperability and meaningful use are also key aspects of the related action point on the national policy on deployment of an electronic patient record (EPR) for which SNOMED CT® terminology services offered by a well-established Belgian National Release Center are fundamental.

To meet Belgian Meaningful Use criteria, the Belgian NRC had its first SNOMED CT release in March 2018. This Belgian extension consists of nearly 30 000 individual concepts with their French and Dutch translation. Every six months, new concepts will be added to the national extension, special attention will be given to concepts that help achieve the BMUC requirements.

More information about SNOMED CT in Belgium can be accessed at: www.health.belgium.be

Affiliated licenses can be obtained at https://mlds.ihtsdotools.org/#/landing/BE