Blog: SNOMED International concludes community feedback period on proposed description character limit increase and finalizes next steps Back 16 Sept 2025 Back Following over a year of consultation with our Members and stakeholders, SNOMED International has concluded its review of the proposal to increase the maximum potential length of Fully Specified Name (FSN) and Synonym descriptions in SNOMED CT. Purpose The purpose of this update is to inform the SNOMED International Community of Practice, Advisory and Project Groups about the feedback received regarding this proposal, and the agreed next steps. Background In 2024, SNOMED International initiated a consultation process to understand the impact of increasing the maximum character length of FSN and Synonym descriptions from 255 characters to 4096 characters. Over the past year, briefing notes were circulated and input from Members was carefully considered. Results of the Consultation The consultation phase concluded with broad support for the proposed change. No objections have been raised since that time, and Members who responded confirmed their acceptance of the proposed transition date of 1 July 2026. In line with established practice, SNOMED International will: Execute the transition on the agreed date, Issue scheduled communications to provide visibility of the changes and confirm completion once implemented, and Publish a list of International Edition Descriptions that have been increased over the original 255 characters. SNOMED International Member National Release Centres (NRCs) are requested to share these communications with national and regional end users and provide any required support. Next Steps The consultation will be marked as formally closed. SNOMED International will issue reminder communications in January 2026 ahead of the transition. NRCs will engage national and regional stakeholders to ensure readiness. The change will be implemented in the 1 July 2026 International Edition release, with updates applied to the DescriptionType file in the Metadata folder. The change will apply to all SNOMED International products. After the initial International Edition transition, Managed Service extensions and derivative products will gradually adopt the new standard. Post-transition, SNOMED International will: Confirm that the new description length maximum has been applied, and Publish the list of International Edition descriptions that have been increased. NRCs will be engaged to share this information with their end users. We encourage Members and stakeholders to review this information and take any actions necessary to prepare end users for the upcoming changes. Please contact info@snomed.org with any questions. Subscribe to SNOMED International news Stay up to date on SNOMED news, features, developments and newsletters by subscribing to our news service. Subscribe

SNOMED CT implementation experiences: A Spanish language feature on Argentina, Chile, Spain and Uruguay Back 30 Apr 2019 Back Revista Salud Digital, a latin american digital health publication, has recently published their 2nd Edition. This Edition features SNOMED CT Implementation experiences from a sampling of our Spanish SNOMED International Members. This Spanish language feature, provides in-depth interviews with Karina Revirol (Argentina), Alejandra Lozano (Chile), Arturo Romero Gutierrez (Spain), Pablo Orefice (Uruguay). Read the edition: Revista Salud Digital Latinoamérica - Edición Nº 1 - Spanish Subscribe to SNOMED International news Stay up to date on SNOMED news, features, developments and newsletters by subscribing to our news service. Subscribe

INSERM and SNOMED International release SNOMED CT to Orphanet map supporting representation and use Back 28 Oct 2021 Back OCTOBER 28, 2021 – In February 2020, the Institut national de la santé et de la recherche médicale (Inserm) and SNOMED International renewed their relationship governing the rare disease content included in SNOMED CT. With an objective to improve the visibility of rare diseases in terminologies and promote interoperability among different codification and terminology systems, both organizations are pleased to announce the production release of the SNOMED CT (RF2) to Orphanet (human readable) map. The SNOMED CT to Orphanet Map Release is the product of a joint project carried out under the renewed 2020 Inserm and SNOMED International collaboration agreement. Based on an agreed priority set, new concepts for rare diseases as defined in Orphanet (clinically defined entities occurring in less than 1 in 2,000 inhabitants) have been added to SNOMED CT, and a map created from SNOMED CT to Orphanet. One of the key use cases for this standardised map is to meet European Union (EU) requirements to implement ORPHA codes in health systems for Rare Diseases epidemiology and research, including use in registries, enabling linkage from SNOMED CT enabled Electronic Health Records (EHRs), and supporting cross-border interoperability with International Classification of Disease (ICD)-based coding systems. Inserm is the only public research organization in France entirely dedicated to human health operating under the joint authority of the French Ministry of Health and the National Institute of Health and Medical Research. Inserm’s objective is to promote the health of all by advancing knowledge about life and disease, treatment innovation, and public health research. Orphanet, the Inserm unit dedicated to knowledge on rare diseases, maintains the Orphanet nomenclature of rare diseases (ORPHA codes) and provides a multilingual database of information related to rare diseases and orphan drugs. SNOMED CT is the world’s largest clinical terminology, representing a collection of more than 350,000+ clinical concepts and built upon ontological principles, particularly useful when applied in research and planning capacities. SNOMED CT’s primary purpose is to support all healthcare professionals in their recording and sharing of detailed patient information within EHRs and across healthcare communities globally. The two organizations plan to publish the SNOMED CT to Orphanet map annually in the October timeframe. The map will be extended over the coming years to include further Rare Diseases included in Orphanet. Resources supporting the SNOMED CT to Inserm map include the October 2021 Release Notes . Additionally, editorial guidance for SNOMED CT content is found in the SNOMED CT Editorial Guide and editorial guidance for Orphanet Nomenclature of Rare Diseases can be found in Orphanet. Access to the human readable map is made available from Inserm from http://www.orphadata.org/ , and the RF2 version from SNOMED International for Members and Affiliates from the organization’s Member Licensing and Distribution Service . Visit SNOMED International , Inserm and Orphanet for more information. Subscribe to SNOMED International news Stay up to date on SNOMED news, features, developments and newsletters by subscribing to our news service. Subscribe

The global effort to manage COVID-19 through collaboration and clinical terminology Back 11 May 2020 Back Management of patient information and information standards regarding sharing, analysis and planning have become critical today. SNOMED International offers SNOMED CT, the world’s largest clinical terminology with a collection of 350,000+ clinical concepts for improved management of patient data. The global campaign to address COVID-19 is being advanced on many clinical and administrative fronts; across towns, cities, provinces, states, and nations. The impact of its reach has, and will continue to, extract human, social, and economic consequences globally. If there has been any learning fully absorbed across continents, it is the fragile interdependency of our ecosystems. Read about this global effort at www.healthmanagement.org Subscribe to SNOMED International news Stay up to date on SNOMED news, features, developments and newsletters by subscribing to our news service. Subscribe

Blog: Supporting a growing and increasingly engaged community of Spanish speaking users Back 8 Jul 2021 Back By: Suzy Roy Customer Relations Lead, Americas & Collaborations Specialist In this interview, Suzy Roy, SNOMED International's Customer Relations Lead, Americas, and Collaboration Specialist, discusses the resources available to Spanish-speaking SNOMED CT users and the organization’s most recent efforts to facilitate knowledge-sharing among those users. SNOMED International publishes a Spanish version of the SNOMED CT International Edition every April and October. Why? SR : In 2007, SNOMED International (which was then called the International Health Terminology Standards Development Organization, or IHTSDO) acquired the rights for SNOMED CT from the U.S. College of American Pathologists (CAP) with the goal of making the development of a global clinical language for healthcare an international, collaborative effort. Those rights included the Spanish language version, which CAP had been producing since the mid-1990s. We continued to produce it because of that historical legacy, and our community of Spanish-speaking users continues to grow and flourish. How is the Spanish version of SNOMED CT different from a Spanish-language community extension? SR : The (English-only) International Edition is published every July and January; the Spanish version of the clinical terminology is an exact translation of that International Edition. At the same time, SNOMED CT is designed to allow the International Edition to be enhanced by adding extensions to meet national or local requirements without compromising the main body of SNOMED CT. This is intended to meet the needs of different languages, specialties, countries, regions, vendors and healthcare institutions. Are there any themes, content areas or issues that are currently (or becoming) particularly important to Spanish-speaking users as relate to SNOMED CT? Is there much of a difference between Spanish-speaking users in Latin America and Europe in those issues? SR : The Spanish Edition is purely a translation so there are no content variations at that level, but many Members do have regional needs. Over the past year, for example, Members from Uruguay and Argentina shared the pressing need for COVID-19 concepts – initially for the disease and more recently for the vaccines. But because we are not including brand-specific vaccine information in the International Edition, they won’t get that in the Spanish Edition. To bridge that delta, they focused on including that information in their community extensions. Why is the Spanish Edition published on a different schedule from the International Edition? SR : It’s done that way so we have enough time to produce the translation. Once the International Edition is finalized, we need a couple of months to translate all the new concepts, descriptions and relationships. Who contributes to and completes the translation? SR : A couple of our Members from Spain provide the translation, but we have an online community discussion area where questions related to topics such as the translation of particular concepts can be discussed with other Spanish-speakers. A number of participants from Uruguay, as well as from termMed IT, a company that provides terminology services to organizations aiming to implement and / or support regional implementations of SNOMED CT, support the translation effort. In the past, Members from Argentina have participated as well. Many languages have regional dialects that use different formal and informal terminologies. That’s true for English and for Spanish as well. How does the Spanish Edition deal with this regional variety? SR : We try to use the most standardized, neutral terminology possible, but the translation is probably geared slightly more to the dialect of those working on the translation. We also allow Members to use those community extensions to better tailor the terminology to their linguistic needs. We provide the introductory course on SNOMED CT in Spanish as well as in English. Can you speak to how popular that course is with Spanish-speaking users and whether there are any other educational offerings in Spanish (or plans to do so)? SR: Since its inception, 215 Spanish-speakers have completed the Curso de Fundamentos . It has been very popular since Sociedad Italiana de Beneficencia en Buenos Aires, commonly referred to as Hospital Italiano , announced plans to deliver SNOMED CT education in Spanish within select Latin American countries. What other resources (non-educational) and/or tools do we make available in Spanish? SR : We are really trying to get some momentum going for our Spanish users! We just created a Spanish-speaking users community area on Confluence, which was created to facilitate communication, share lessons learned, foster connections between colleagues of different nationalities and enable participants to ask each other questions and provide answers. So far, Members from Spain, Uruguay and Argentina are participating, along with a number of non-Members in Mexico and Ecuador. The landing page is completely translated into Spanish and provides a number of links that can direct visitors to the appropriate resource depending on the information they are seeking. For example, if they are a Member, it will direct them to their National Release Center; if they are a non-Member, they may be seeking information on licensing SNOMED CT. This page also provides links to educational resources that have been translated, so it’s more like a toolkit. The conversations in this community area have already been very valuable. Someone provided feedback about an issue they spotted on the SNOMED CT browser in the Spanish editions. We had a great conversation with both Members and non-Members participating, and, in the end, the SNOMED International tech team fixed the problem. That’s what we’re hoping this discussion forum can be – a place where people can feel comfortable seeking and sharing information in Spanish. Many Spanish-speaking SNOMED CT users are highly engaged with both the product and with SNOMED International, which is reflected in the many Spanish-language events that various users host or participate in and in our regular webinars and our yearly Expos. Can you discuss that engagement and how that ultimately benefits the patients of the countries those users represent? SR : We do have a number of highly engaged Spanish-speaking Member country users who participate in webinars and present at our yearly Expo. We also have a number of power users from non-Member countries such as Ecuador, Colombia and Mexico who act as champions for SNOMED CT in their countries. This engagement helps everyone by eliminating some of the isolation non-Member country users in particular might feel by ensuring they remain connected with a responsive and helpful community, and it enables them to take advantage of the lessons each has learned in their SNOMED CT implementation journey and best practices. Do you have any advice for any Spanish-speaking countries that might be considering becoming a Member but haven’t yet? SR : Yes! Contact me ( sro@snomed.org ) if you have any questions. We know there is so much to learn about, including licensing and Member fees, where to start, how to include SNOMED CT in your e-health roadmap or even what an NRC is. We can just have a conversation – it doesn’t mean you have to join; it just means we’re starting to talk. It also means that whenever I have Spanish-language events, I can let you know and keep you in the loop of what’s going on in the community. Visit us for more information on becoming a SNOMED International Member. Look for regular updates from SNOMED International on our products, services and many resources as we continue to expand and improve SNOMED CT and enable its use worldwide. Have a comment about this post? We’d love to hear from you. Subscribe to SNOMED International news Stay up to date on SNOMED news, features, developments and newsletters by subscribing to our news service. Subscribe

SNOMED International publishes its 2018 Annual Report Back 2 Jul 2019 Back Since the date of issue, this information is now out of date and has been archived. It has been made available for reference. The Annual Report outlines the organization’s activities and achievements in 2018. It includes the accomplishments of the organization through the lens of the organization’s strategic directions, as well as a message from the organization’s leadership and governance representatives. The Report includes the contributions of each line of business towards the fulfillment of the organization’s 2015-2020 corporate strategy, including business functions and financial statements. SNOMED International has published its Annual Report 2018, accessible here . Please direct all inquiries to info@snomed.org . Subscribe to SNOMED International news Stay up to date on SNOMED news, features, developments and newsletters by subscribing to our news service. Subscribe

Latvia advances digital health strategy by joining SNOMED International Back 10 Mar 2026 Back RIGA, LATVIA AND LONDON, UK – March 10, 2026 – SNOMED International welcomes the Republic of Latvia as its latest Member. Latvia, one of three Baltic states in northern Europe, has a population of 1.8 million. With an advanced economy, the country is a member of the European Union (EU) and a number of other European trade and security organizations. In 2023, the country launched a seven-year digital health strategy that defines the directions and tasks of the digital transformation of the health sector. With full Cabinet of Ministers’ approval in August 2023, the strategy targets a sweeping transformation of Latvia’s health ecosystem, leveraging EU Structural Funds and national investment to drive change. Additionally, Latvia established a separate digital health data authority – SIA “Latvijas Digitālās veselības centrs”– to ensure an open and integrated digital health ecosystem. Key goals of the strategy include digital transformation of the healthcare sector, focusing on interoperability, data availability for patients and professionals, and increased use of digital services such as telehealth and AI-powered tools. Other goals include enhancing health data management, boosting digital literacy among healthcare workers, and employing EU structural funds for implementation. Minister of Health of Latvia Mr. Hosam Abu Meri sees SNOMED CT implementation in Latvia as an essential step for building a resilient and sustainable digital health ecosystem. “When clinicians document care using standardized clinical terminology, we reduce ambiguity, improve continuity of care, and enhance patient safety,” he said. “A shared language ensures that what is recorded in one hospital is understood in another, internationally as well. It also ensures that patients receive consistent and safe care wherever they are, as their medical information can be accurately understood and used across institutions and borders. Therefore, I am looking forward to the practical SNOMED CT implementation that is on the way for Latvia.” Adopting and implementing the clinical terminology SNOMED CT will help the country achieve those goals. SNOMED CT, the most comprehensive, multilingual clinical healthcare terminology in the world, is a resource with comprehensive, scientifically validated clinical content that enables consistent representation of clinical content in electronic health records and is mapped to other international standards. It is used in more than 80 countries. When integrated into an electronic health record system, SNOMED CT, which incorporates more than 370,000 concepts, presents clinical information in ways that enable meaning-based retrieval, facilitating consistent reporting and analysis. SNOMED International CEO Don Sweete hails Latvia’s decision to join SNOMED International as a pivotal step toward attaining the country’s digital health strategy goals and to continuing to improve key health indices such as lifespan, disease prevalence and health system performance, to name a few. It also opens the door to the experience and successes other European countries have enabled via the adoption of SNOMED CT, he notes. “European SNOMED International Members are enthusiastic about sharing their knowledge and experience related to the adoption of SNOMED CT, and I know that Latvia can benefit from – and contribute to – that knowledge bank,” he says. Learn more about SNOMED CT Learn more about SNOMED International Learn more about the Digital Health Centre of Latvia (Sākumlapa - SIA "Latvijas Digitālās veselības centrs) Subscribe to SNOMED International news Stay up to date on SNOMED news, features, developments and newsletters by subscribing to our news service. Subscribe

Entrevista a Don Sweete: SNOMED CT Back 3 Jul 2019 Back Revista Salud Digital Latinoamérica - Edición Nº 1 features an in-depth, Spanish-language interview with SNOMED International CEO, Don Sweete. Sweete shares his thoughts on the growth of the organization, stakeholder benefits, and the next chapter for SNOMED International. Revista Salud Digital Latinoamérica - Edición Nº 1 - Spanish Interview with Don Sweete - Inaugual Edition - English El Director Ejecutivo, Don Sweete, de la organización habla sobre el proceso de crecimiento de este estándar global para la representación de información de salud, que ya se utiliza en más de 90 países, analiza los beneficios que ofrece a las diferentes partes interesadas y explica su últimas noticias. Subscribe to SNOMED International news Stay up to date on SNOMED news, features, developments and newsletters by subscribing to our news service. Subscribe

The Monarch Initiative has signed a five-year collaboration agreement with SNOMED International. SNOMED and the Monarch Initiative collaborate to develop two-way maps for HPO The Monarch Initiative has signed a five-year collaboration agreement with SNOMED International. Back 2 Feb 2023 Back London, United Kingdom and Colorado, United States – The Monarch Initiative has signed a five-year collaboration agreement with SNOMED International to develop maps from the clinical terminology SNOMED CT to Human Phenotype Ontology (HPO - a standardized vocabulary of phenotypic abnormalities encountered in human disease) and to HPO from SNOMED CT. HPO is a flagship product of the Monarch Initiative , a U.S. National Institutes of Health -supported international consortium dedicated to semantic integration of biomedical and model organism data with the ultimate goal of improving biomedical research, and an integrative data and analytic platform connecting phenotypes to genotypes across species, bridging basic and applied research with semantics-based analysis. It is also a central component of one of the 13 driver projects in the Global Alliance for Genomics and Health strategic roadmap. SNOMED CT is a comprehensive, multilingual healthcare terminology created for use by healthcare professionals to capture the care of individuals in an electronic health record (EHR) and facilitate sharing, decision support and analytics, to support safe and effective health information exchange. As part of the agreement, the organizations will work together to develop mapping conventions by which both maps will be created, along with use cases. Both organizations will also collaborate on quality assurance, promoting the maps to their respective stakeholders and defining and agreeing upon an ongoing maintenance and updating process and policy for the developed maps. SNOMED International CEO Don Sweete explains that the collaboration is a natural next step for the two organizations, both of which have recognized and discussed the steadily increasing interest in genomics over the past few years. “The development of maps to and from both ontologies will be extremely beneficial for both clinical interoperability and research in a domain that holds so much promise for the way we understand and treat hereditary and genetic conditions,” he said. “And as the largest global clinical terminology, SNOMED CT is well-positioned to enable advances in this domain.” Melissa Haendel, PhD, is Chief Research Informatics Officer at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, one of the research institutions that’s spearheading the work of the Monarch Initiative. “Through the Monarch Initiative, our team is categorizing our collective knowledge and standardizing rare disease diagnoses worldwide,” said Dr. Haendel. “This work is also allowing researchers to globally compare disease phenotypes, as well as species, which can tell us a lot about how genetic defects affect humans.” Media Inquiries: Kelly KuruSNOMED International Email: comms@snomed.org Subscribe to SNOMED International news Stay up to date on SNOMED news, features, developments and newsletters by subscribing to our news service. Subscribe

This is placeholder text. To change this content, double-click on the element and click Change Content. Back Rory Davidson Chief Digital Information Officer Rory joined SNOMED International in January 2013 with a background in technology, having worked in a wide range of countries, industries, technologies and roles. As Chief Digital Information Officer, Rory is responsible for the effective integration of SNOMED International’s content development and technology teams, to ensure that the delivery of SNOMED CT and relevant technology services continue to meet the high standard and expected outcomes of the organization’s members, the wider community and internal stakeholders. Previously, Rory led the SNOMED International Technology Services group ensuring that the technology platform was put in place to secure the quality, maintenance and delivery of SNOMED CT as well as the day to day operations of SNOMED International. Before joining the organization, Rory worked as part of the end to end solutions architecture team responsible for the roll-out of smart energy meters in the UK, and prior to that he worked for the Department of Health in the UK as the Lead Technical Architect for the National Pandemic Flu Service and the Lead Technical Architect for Primary Care within NHS Connecting for Health. Rory has also held the role of Head of User Solutions at Atos KPMG Consulting, covering the design and implementation of user experience practices across multiple technologies and industries. Subscribe to SNOMED International news Stay up to date on SNOMED news, features, developments and newsletters by subscribing to our news service. Subscribe

New process launches for proposing changes to the International Patient Summary Back 29 Sept 2025 Back A new process is now available for clinicians, standards experts, and implementers to propose changes to the International Patient Summary “suite” of standards. The International Patient Summary (IPS) is a standardized set of basic clinical data, supported by a “suite” of standards artefacts, that includes the most important health and care related facts required to ensure safe and efficient exchange of a patient’s health data across geographic borders, organizations, and health systems, independent of the country, clinical specialty, or medical condition. The publication of IPS artefacts began in 2018, with regular subsequent updates. At the 2021 UK G7 Summit, health leaders embraced the IPS, underscoring the vital importance of digital health interoperability in delivering safer, more effective care for patients around the world. In the years since, this vision has been entrusted to the Global Digital Health Partnership (GDHP), a collaboration of governments and organizations working to align digital health efforts globally. This collaboration has boosted the uptake of the IPS across the globe. The IPS has been adopted by a growing number of countries and organizations, including countries in the Middle East and South East Asia, (most notably the annual Hajj pilgrimage); Latin America and the Caribbean; Brazil; New Zealand; the European Union, and Canada. With heightened uptake of the IPS globally, it's critical for implementers to have a mechanism to propose changes to the IPS to ensure the standards remain relevant, accurate and globally applicable. A committee of the Joint Initiative Council for Global Health Informatics Standardization (JIC), the IPS Coordination Committee (IPSCC), provides a dedicated open forum for collaborating standards development organizations. Through the IPSCC they coordinate their advancement of the IPS suite of standards. IPSCC membership includes, but is not limited to, representation from: CEN/TC 251, HL7 International, IHE International, ISO/TC 215 and SNOMED International. All stakeholders are encouraged to propose changes based on their real world experience with the IPS. Such proposed changes can include, improvements and corrections to existing IPS standards, enhancements to the scope of standards, or the addition of new standards to support the implementation and use of the IPS. Current JIC Chair, Dan Vreeman (HL7), notes that as the IPS continues to gain traction globally and as it becomes more broadly deployed, it is easier to identify aspects of the IPS that require improvements, tweaks and enhancements. “We thank the pioneers who were among the first to adopt and deploy the IPS as they are well-positioned to provide feedback and suggest ways as we continue to evolve the process.” IPSCC Chair, Robert Stegwee (CEN), offers, “The IPS Coordination Committee is committed to provide transparent guidance and alignment for the ongoing development of the IPS. Real-world experience is invaluable in helping maintain the standards’ relevance, accuracy and usability, and it is through this new “Change Proposal” process that we strengthen our ties to users around the world.” Visit the International Patient Summary website to propose a change and contribute to the ongoing development of the IPS. ABOUT THE JIC The Joint Initiative Council on Global Health Informatics Standardization (JIC) is a collaboration of SDOs that seeks to enable common, timely digital health standards by addressing and resolving issues, gaps, overlaps, and redundant standardisation efforts. ABOUT THE IPSCC The IPS Coordination Committee brings together global standards development organizations to guide and align the standards artefacts that constitute the International Patient Summary (IPS). By coordinating across standards bodies, the IPSCC ensures the IPS remains a trusted, consistent, and globally applicable standard for the safe exchange of essential health information. Subscribe to SNOMED International news Stay up to date on SNOMED news, features, developments and newsletters by subscribing to our news service. Subscribe

Decision Support with SNOMED CT - Guide Now Available Back 31 Mar 2017 Back SNOMED International is pleased to announce the release of the Decision Support with SNOMED CT guide. Clinical Decision Support (CDS) systems support healthcare providers to make well informed decisions at relevant points in the patient journey, such as diagnosis, treatment and follow-up. SNOMED CT enables these CDS systems to select the most relevant clinical guidelines, knowledge and alerts for an individual patient, by leveraging its comprehensive clinical hierarchies and defining relationships. The Decision Support with SNOMED CT guide introduces the key components of CDS systems, and explores ways in which SNOMED CT can be used to enhance the capabilities within each of these components. This guide has been written to assist Members, vendors and users of SNOMED CT develop a greater understanding of how SNOMED CT can be used to enhance CDS implementations. The Decision Support with SNOMED CT guide can be found at http://snomed.org/cds Subscribe to SNOMED International news Stay up to date on SNOMED news, features, developments and newsletters by subscribing to our news service. Subscribe