SNOMED International and the Ministerio de Salud are pleased to announce that Argentina has joined the organization as its thirty-first Member.

As the newest SNOMED International Member, Argentina will leverage SNOMED CT’s structured clinical vocabulary to realize improvements in how clinical data is analyzed and reported on for the benefit of patient care. Argentina’s commitment to SNOMED CT sets the foundation for clinical data to be exchanged accurately and consistently across care settings, further extending the reach of structured clinical terminology throughout the Latin America region.

SNOMED CT is the world’s most comprehensive health terminology. Founded in 2007 by nine charter nations, SNOMED International is a not-for-profit, member-owned and driven international organization. The addition of Argentina has grown the organization’s Membership to thirty-one countries and territories across five continents, and enables Argentina to manage and use SNOMED CT and other related products, as well as participate on the organization’s General Assembly.

“We are pleased to be welcoming Argentina as an official partner on this journey, formalizing a promising relationship that has existed for a number of years” said Don Sweete, SNOMED International CEO. “In Buenos Aires, private hospital entity, Hospital Italiano has been a long-term adopter of SNOMED CT. With Argentina’s Membership to SNOMED International, the Ministerio de Salud has crossed the threshold enabling Argentina to leverage SNOMED CT for the benefit of their healthcare system, affecting patients and providers alike.”

Argentina has embarked on a national program to promote the development of a national health information infrastructure, supporting and guiding provincial governments projects for the adoption of a national interoperability framework.

“The Ministerio de Salud and the Ministerio de Modernización of Argentina worked together to make this membership a reality; this will facilitate the adoption of SNOMED CT in health information implementations around the country. The Health Minister, Dr. Adolfo Rubinstein, defined that the National Health Information infrastructure is the foundation for the implementation of the Universal Health Coverage initiatives”, said Dr. Alejandro Lopez Osornio, responsible for the adoption of SNOMED CT in the Ministerio de salud. “Everything is already in place for provinces and providers to start requesting free licenses for the use of SNOMED CT, and we are planning a sequence of implementation support activities for the rest of the year.”

Argentina becomes the third country in the Latin America region to join SNOMED International, positioning the region for increased interoperability as well as the promise of leveraging learnings amongst its regional and international counterparts. Through the next phase of their ehealth journey, Argentina has demonstrated their recognition of the value to the health system through investment in the world’s most comprehensive healthcare terminology product.

Read the full press release.