Switzerland

The Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH) represents Switzerland in dealings with SNOMED International. Together with the regional authorities (the Swiss cantons), the FOPH is responsible for the health of the Swiss population and for developing national healthcare policy. The FOPH is also the national authority representing Switzerland in international organizations and vis-à-vis other states in matters related to health.

The FOPH has directed the management of SNOMED CT and the National Release Centre (NRC) in Switzerland to eHealth Suisse, a competence and coordination center for digital health. In its capacity as NRC, eHealth Suisse is responsible for issuing licenses on behalf of SNOMED International, and serves as the central point of contact for questions related to the use of SNOMED CT in Switzerland.

SNOMED CT is used to ensure semantic interoperability within various digital health initiatives in Switzerland, such as the Electronic Patient Record (EPR) and national exchange formats, and will be an important component of the future Swiss Health Data Space and the future Electronic Health Record, due to be introduced in Switzerland from 2030. Additionally, eHealth Suisse collaborates with the NRCs France, Belgium, Canada, Luxembourg, Germany and Austria to translate the SNOMED CT terminology in French and German and translates autonomously in Italian. 

More information about SNOMED CT in Switzerland can be accessed here: https://www.e-health-suisse.ch/standardisierung/nrc-snomed/snomed-ct

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

More information about the future Swiss Health Data Space: https://www.digisante.admin.ch/de/gesundheitsdatenraum