Broadening international patient care and interoperability with the GPS Back 30 Sept 2020 Back Since the date of issue, this information is now out of date and has been archived. It has been made available for reference. First launched in September 2019, SNOMED International has issued its second release of the Global Patient Set (GPS) to support health system interoperability. A slice of SNOMED CT, the GPS is a managed collection of existing reference sets, available to any user at no cost. It's positioned to support cross border interoperability and enhanced digital maturity as users move towards decision support and full analytics capabilities in their respective strategies. Met with great success with its inaugural release, the 2019 year saw over 500 downloads of the GPS from a variety of interested parties worldwide. The GPS enables easier specification of EHR requirements, e.g. a patient summary, and results in improved interoperability. While the GPS offers non-Members considering SNOMED CT use a mechanism for greater insight into the product and its value without requiring initial investment, the GPS as a whole is not a clinically curated list; it excludes SNOMED CT’s inherent relationships and hierarchies; fundamental to the nature of an ontology and its ability to enable clinical data analytics, decision support, and power artificial intelligence, etc. September 2020 Release The GPS offers clinical content across dentistry, renal, family & general practice and nursing areas, and includes IHE, DICOM and HL7 International Patient Summary (IPS) domains and activities. Of particular relevance, the IPS is a minimal and non-exhaustive patient summary dataset containing essential healthcare information for use in the unscheduled, cross-border care scenario, as well as for local, regional and other care scenarios. SNOMED CT content supports the HL7 IPS and also the terminology to underpin the CEN European Standard for the Patient Summary. Through the GPS, these SNOMED CT terms are available free for use in HL7 CDA R2 implementations and FHIR IPS Implementations Guides worldwide, supporting the joint goal of cross border sharing and reuse of information. In terms of newly added content, in March 2020, the World Health Organization formally characterized Coronavirus, COVID-19, as a global pandemic and health systems worldwide are continuing their efforts to manage the outbreak. COVID-19 content included in the January 2020 release was subsequently updated in March 2020 with SNOMED International issuing an elective release falling outside of its customary release cycle. January and updated March COVID-19 content has been added to the scope of the September 2020 GPS release to support the recording and sharing of healthcare data during the COVID-19 pandemic. Existing and relevant SNOMED CT content has also been added to the GPS and can be referenced at http://snomed.org/covid-19 . SNOMED International is also committed to supporting the reduction of health inequity through developing and managing social determinants of health content within SNOMED CT’s clinical terminology. To maximize accessibility of this content, SNOMED International has also included a large amount of social determinants of health content within the September 2020 GPS release. Accessing & Consuming the GPS Offered under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License, the GPS is available to any interested party at no cost, simply by visiting SNOMED International’s GPS information page and registering your use. In terms of consuming the GPS, from the 2020 Release onwards, SNOMED International will also be publishing an RF2 formatted package containing the GPS refset content. This Refset will follow normal RF2 conventions, and will therefore retain a full historical audit trail of all changes to the GPS refset from that point onwards. Additional Resources Additional resources including use cases, and implementation guidance are also located on the GPS information page . Subscribe to SNOMED International news Stay up to date on SNOMED news, features, developments and newsletters by subscribing to our news service. Subscribe

Lithuania’s representative to SNOMED International is the Lithuanian Library of Medicine, which is a component of the Ministry of Health. Lithuania Lithuania’s representative to SNOMED International is the Lithuanian Library of Medicine, which is a component of the Ministry of Health. Contact Details Lithuanian Library of Medicine Kastonu st. 7, Vilnius, LT-01107 Website: www.medicinosnk.lt Email: info@medicinosnk.lt Appointed Representatives General Assembly: Martynas Bieliauskas Member Forum: Martynas Bieliauskas and Albert Kuslevic News articles The Lithuanian Library of Medicine is also the National Release Centre responsible for distribution of SNOMED CT® in Lithuania, as well as translation of SNOMED CT® into the Lithuanian language. The development of a Lithuanian eHealth system involves political, organizational, behavioral and psychological efforts to achieve better quality healthcare using information technologies. The main goal of the Lithuanian eHealth system is to ensure continuity of care by improved access to patient information and assured information exchange system between institutions. The Lithuanian NRC contributes to the effective e-health services by distributing Lithuanian and International release of SNOMED CT. In 2012 Lithuanian NRC prepared the investment project “The creation of uniform medical terms classifier for the development of quality e-services in health care institutions”. National translation project of 40,000 SNOMED CT concepts was realized in May of 2015, during which: 40,000 SNOMED CT concepts have been translated into Lithuanian; SNOMED CT IS have been developed; SNOMED CT use case has been implemented in one of the largest Lithuanian outpatient clinics with the aim to code vaccination records and certificates of child health examination in order to transfer these records to central e-health information system. Since then the Lithuanian NRC deals with organizing medical terminology translation into the Lithuanian language, transferring it into Lithuanian SNOMED CT IS, sharing information about the SNOMED CT standard, and advising health care institutions on related matters. More information about SNOMED CT in Lithuania can be accessed here: https://www.medicinosnk.lt/narsykle/snomed-ct Back Learn more Global Patient Set Built from the globally recognized SNOMED CT terminology standard at no cost to users Learn more Get SNOMED CT Information about our license and fee structure Learn more Software and tools We develop and operate applications platforms to support our products and services Learn more Document library Access overviews, guides and specifications Subscribe to SNOMED International news Stay up to date on SNOMED news, features, developments and newsletters by subscribing to our news service. Subscribe

Two internationally recognized health standards organizations join the effort to manage an escalating global public health emergency Back 13 Feb 2020 Back London, United Kingdom, Feb. 13, 2020 -- The world is focused on the outbreak of respiratory illness caused by a novel coronavirus. The World Health Organization (WHO) has named the syndrome caused by this coronavirus “COVID-19”, and the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) has named the virus “Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2” or SARS-CoV-2. As part of the global effort to manage and contain this global public health emergency, two global health standards organizations, Regenstrief Institute and SNOMED International, are doing their part to support care teams globally to code and track SARS-CoV-2 testing and COVID-19 cases, and by extension support clinicians and researchers in their efforts to address its containment. Both subject matter experts in coding and structuring clinical information, Regenstrief Institute and SNOMED International have recently introduced new content to their respective products, a laboratory and health observations oriented coding system in the case of LOINC, and a broad spectrum clinical terminology in the case of SNOMED CT. With the high rate of global adoption for both standards, LOINC and SNOMED CT have taken swift action to make this content immediately available to support those on the ground in tackling the virus. “With novel viruses that appear to be easily transmittable, such as the coronavirus, it is vitally important that all identified cases be reported quickly for public health tracking,” said Regenstrief Research Scientist Theresa Cullen, M.D., M.S., global health expert with the Regenstrief Institute. Don Sweete from SNOMED International says “the creation of new COVID-19 and SARS-CoV-2 codes and concepts from LOINC and SNOMED CT introduce the structure in coding needed for health systems internationally to manage the outbreak. Both Cullen and Sweete agree that in possessing superior data, health leaders worldwide can engage in a higher degree of analysis to inform their outbreak management approach. Based on the formal naming of the syndrome and virus by WHO and ICTV, both organizations are presently updating their respective code and concepts to reflect the change. For more information on the specific actions that each organization has taken, visit Regenstrief Institute and SNOMED International respectively. Regenstrief Institute and SNOMED International mutually recognize the importance of interoperability through standardization in the pursuit of timely, safe and efficient health care and continue to work collaboratively to achieve this end. About Regenstrief Institute and LOINC l https://loinc.org/ Founded in 1969 in Indianapolis, the Regenstrief Institute is a local, national and global leader dedicated to a world where better information empowers people to end disease and realize true health. A key research partner to Indiana University, Regenstrief and its researchers are responsible for a growing number of major healthcare innovations and studies. Examples range from the development of global health information technology standards that enable the use and interoperability of electronic health records to improving patient-physician communications, to creating models of care that inform practice and improve the lives of patients around the globe. LOINC was created in 1994 at Regenstrief Institute in an effort to facilitate interoperability in healthcare. There was a growing trend to send clinical data electronically between healthcare entities, a practice that is integral today. The LOINC coding system contains more than 92,000 terms for everything from a serum alpha 1 antitrypsin level to a zygomatic arch x-ray report. For each concept, LOINC covers many other rich details, such as synonyms, units of measure, and carefully crafted descriptions. About SNOMED International and SNOMED CT l www.snomed.org SNOMED International is a not-for-profit organization that owns, administers and develops SNOMED CT, the world's most comprehensive clinical terminology. The safe, accurate and effective exchange of health information is an essential part of the foundation to improve healthcare around the world. We strive to determine the best global standards for health terminology, and to engage with the global healthcare community to improve SNOMED CT and patient safety. We work to ensure that SNOMED CT can be routinely integrated into healthcare information systems. With SNOMED CT, users can record patient data more accurately and comprehensively – and use tools and analytics to provide better patient care and health management. 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 Declared Suitable for Deep Phenotyping in Cardiovascular Genetic Disorders Back 23 Sept 2020 Back SNOMED International , working with CSIRO , Australia’s national science agency and a national partner agency of the Australian Genomics Health Alliance, recently completed an Australian Genomics Cardiovascular Flagship pilot project. The project is aimed at using SNOMED CT to capture detailed patient phenotype information and providing recommendations to improve SNOMED CT. Australian Genomics is a national initiative building evidence and developing a framework to support the implementation of genomics medicine in the Australian healthcare system. Owned and maintained by SNOMED International, SNOMED CT is the world’s largest clinical terminology, representing a collection of more than 350,000+ clinical concepts and built upon ontological principles. SNOMED CT’s primary purpose is to support all healthcare professionals in their recording and sharing of detailed patient information within Electronic Health Records (EHRs) and across healthcare communities globally. Its ontological foundation allows SNOMED CT data to drive detailed data analytics to meet a variety of use cases from local requirements to population-based analytics. As part of its 2020-2025 strategic plan, SNOMED International is committed to leveraging emerging technologies such as genomics to deliver value for stakeholders and drive efficiencies in the provision of patient care across all stakeholder groups. The pilot concluded that SNOMED CT is suitable to do deep phenotyping in cardiovascular genetic disorders, since only a small number of missing concepts and modelling issues were identified, mostly in the congenital heart disease space. Recommendations have been made to include missing synonyms and concepts, and to review some of the current modelling. This pilot follows two smaller pilots that SNOMED International conducted in 2019, looking at integrating genomic medicine into care for those with inherited kidney diseases. Funded by the Australian Genomics Health Alliance Program and SNOMED International, the project had two main goals: to assess the suitability of SNOMED CT to do deep phenotyping in this specific clinical domain, and to provide recommendations on how to improve SNOMED CT where gaps were found. As part of the pilot, CSIRO’s Australian e-Health Research Centre analysed data collected between April 2019 and June 2020. "This pilot was a great opportunity to design the data collection instruments for the Cardiovascular Flagship from the ground up using standardised terminology, to ensure high-quality clinical data is collected alongside the genomic data,” said Dr Alejandro Metke, Senior Research Scientist at CSIRO’s Australian e-Health Research Centre. “Our analysis found the majority of the concepts that clinicians wanted to capture were already in SNOMED CT and therefore it is a suitable choice for this clinical area." Ian Green, SNOMED International’s Customer Relations Lead, Europe, and Clinical Engagement Business Manager, added that the pilot project has supplied a greater understanding and evidence of the use of SNOMED CT in the realm of genomics. “The work has provided insight into the future development of SNOMED CT and the requirement for detailed documentation in the form of guidance and documented exemplar use cases,” he said. “SNOMED International is committed to further developing SNOMED CT to support the important work within genomics globally, and the pilot has provided essential practical understanding to inform future developments.” The pilot project was to design in consultation with flagship clinicians a Research Electronic Data Capture (REDCap) form that could capture the detailed clinical data required for deep phenotyping for those capturing that information – typically genetic counselors with limited time for the task. The form that was designed uses a pattern that allows the entry of free text descriptions whenever a SNOMED CT concept is not found. These free text descriptions were used to find gaps in SNOMED CT based on data for 276 patients. The pilot also included the development of value sets to constrain the search space of autocomplete widgets used in the forms. One challenge was that REDCap forms are not integrated with any other systems, making pre-population of any fields impossible. Other issues directly related to SNOMED CT that were identified and corrected as part of the project included missing synonyms, missing concepts and incorrect modelling. Issues identified in the value sets that were defined to bind some of the autocomplete fields in the REDCap form were also corrected The pilot found that SNOMED CT’s comprehensive coverage, particularly its phenotype and procedure-related content, strongly position the terminology for these types of clinical applications. “We are proud to have demonstrated SNOMED CT’s ability to enhance genomics terminology to support improved treatment and better outcomes for patients with genetic heart conditions,” said SNOMED International CEO Don Sweete. “Working with CSIRO, we were able to further improve the product, thus maximizing its value in future deep phenotyping initiatives.” Subscribe to SNOMED International news Stay up to date on SNOMED news, features, developments and newsletters by subscribing to our news service. Subscribe

Costa Rica became a Member on May 7th, 2026, joining a global effort to develop, maintain, and enable the use of SNOMED CT in health systems around the world. Costa Rica Costa Rica became a Member on May 7th, 2026, joining a global effort to develop, maintain, and enable the use of SNOMED CT in health systems around the world. Contact Details Ministerio de Salud de Costa Rica 16th Street, 6th and 8th Avenues San José, Costa Rica Website: https://www.ministeriodesalud.go.cr/ Email: dtsalud.digital@misalud.go.cr Appointed Representatives General Assembly: Pedro Meckbel Guillén Member Forum: Deivert Guiltrichs Cordero News articles Costa Rica Joins SNOMED International, Advancing Digital Health Strategy Costa Rica, through the Ministry of Health, reaffirms its commitment to strengthening the digital transformation of the national health system through the development of a national digital health strategy focused on interoperability, health data governance, continuity of care, and evidence-based decision-making. As part of this national vision, Costa Rica made the strategic decision to implement SNOMED CT as the national clinical terminology standard, recognizing its importance in ensuring semantic interoperability, improving the quality of clinical data, enabling integration among health information systems, and supporting advanced analytics and artificial intelligence initiatives in healthcare. The country is currently promoting the progressive incorporation of SNOMED CT in priority use cases, particularly in areas such as pathology, oncology, laboratory results, and clinical interoperability based on international standards such as HL7 FHIR. In parallel, efforts are underway to develop national guidelines, terminology governance mechanisms, and institutional capacity-building initiatives to support its sustainable adoption across the national health ecosystem. The Ministry of Health, as the governing authority of the National Health System, leads this process through the Directorate of Digital Transformation and Digital Health, in coordination with public and private institutions, academia, and international organizations, promoting an implementation aligned with international best practices and the modernization objectives of the health sector. In this context, Costa Rica will continue strengthening the capabilities of its National Release Center, with the purpose of consolidating the national management of SNOMED CT, supporting implementers, promoting terminology standardization, and facilitating the secure and interoperable exchange of health information nationwide. Back Learn more Global Patient Set Built from the globally recognized SNOMED CT terminology standard at no cost to users Learn more Get SNOMED CT Information about our license and fee structure Learn more Software and tools We develop and operate applications platforms to support our products and services Learn more Document library Access overviews, guides and specifications Subscribe to SNOMED International news Stay up to date on SNOMED news, features, developments and newsletters by subscribing to our news service. Subscribe

Germany’s BfArM joins SNOMED International for nationwide use of SNOMED CT Back 6 Jan 2021 Back London, United Kingdom, January 6, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Germany’s Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices (BfArM) has announced their membership in SNOMED International for national use of SNOMED CT from the beginning of January 2021. SNOMED CT, the world’s most comprehensive clinical terminology and a recognized critical element for the electronic exchange of health data, is an important building block to achieve Germany’s digitization initiative. Effective January 1, 2021, German users can register to request a free license for use of SNOMED CT by visiting the BfArM’s National Release Center website. BfArM President Prof. Dr. Karl Broich shares, “with SNOMED CT, the digitization of the healthcare system in Germany continues. As an international standardized health terminology, SNOMED CT is an important prerequisite for the reliable use and exchange of medical data from various sources to enable clinical and research activities. This is how we accelerate innovative developments and deliver new types of care options more quickly to patients.” Not all users in Germany will be new to SNOMED CT. In 2020, the Federal Ministry of Education and Research initiated a pilot license with a limited number of sub-licenses for Medical Informatics Initiative research participants and partners, an endeavor led by the TMF . Additionally, SNOMED International and Germany have, over the years, arranged for limited public good licenses allowing German clinicians, researchers and academics to experience the power of SNOMED CT. Now with full membership, all German institutions and specialist groups involved in the health care sector wishing to use SNOMED CT in their applications can apply for a free license from the BfArM. Founded in 2007 by nine charter nations, SNOMED International is a not-for-profit organization that owns and maintains SNOMED CT, the world’s most comprehensive clinical terminology. With over 350,000 concepts, SNOMED CT is not just a coding system of diagnosis. It also covers clinical findings like signs and symptoms and tens of thousands of surgical, therapeutic and diagnostic procedures. Also within the scope of SNOMED CT are observables and those concepts representing body structures, organisms, substances, pharmaceutical products, physical objects, physical forces, specimens, etc. needed to be recorded in or around the health record. With SNOMED CT, users can record patient data more accurately, exchange patient data both within the health care team and with patients, both locally and across borders, to improve patient outcomes. Further, SNOMED CT can be used in health data and analytics platforms for clinical analytics, population analytics, management analytics, clinical research, applied research, and other research activities to improve health care. SNOMED International CEO Don Sweete recognizes the dedication and work Germany has committed to formally begin their SNOMED CT journey. “With our global circumstance, 2021 is a year to showcase the power delivered by digital health,” Don says. “Furthering Germany’s digital health goals, SNOMED International membership will enable German users nationally to take advantage of augmented content areas such as Social Care and Social Determinants of Health, Genomics, Vaccines, and Devices. Due to SNOMED CT’s polyhierarchical structure, Germany will be able to leverage SNOMED CT to engage in leading edge research and data analytics.” SNOMED International is proud to now work with 22 Members across Europe, and 40 Members globally. The addition of Germany to the organization further extends the reach of interoperable patient health information across Europe and broadens mature use of SNOMED CT to support German care delivery and clinical research. For more information, please contact SNOMED International or visit the BfArM SNOMED CT website . Subscribe to SNOMED International news Stay up to date on SNOMED news, features, developments and newsletters by subscribing to our news service. Subscribe

Medicomp Systems Back Medicomp Systems Vendor Overview In 1978, Medicomp Systems' founder and President, Peter Goltra, pioneered the patented MEDCIN® Knowledge Engine, co-designed with physicians, to transform disorganized, complex arrays of medical information into structured, clinically relevant data at the point of care. Leveraging its flagship engine, Medicomp's Quippe suite of solutions uniquely delivers longitudinal patient information within problem-oriented clinical views, mirroring the way physicians think and work to drive optimal patient outcomes. Quippe also includes wizard-based documentation functionality, which integrates into existing clinical workflows and EHRs, enabling health systems to further enhance EHR usability. With Quippe, healthcare organizations of all sizes can satisfy quality measures and regulatory compliance, increasing physician productivity while effectively positioning themselves for future market demands. Today, leading hospitals and health systems and more than 100,000 users/day rely on Medicomp's proven domain expertise and clinician-designed technology to improve the quality and efficiency of care delivery. For more information, please visit http://www.medicomp.com/ 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-enabled solutions Medicomp's Quippe suite of health solutions are all SNOMED-CT enabled, as well as tuned for bidirectional interoperability using SNOMED-CT, as well as quality reporting, data mining, AI, NLP and more using SNOMED-CT. For more information, please visit www.medicomp.com Scope of services Chronic disease, Clinical coding, Clinical documentation, EHR, EMR, Middleware, Order sets, Telehealth Downloadable documents Office Virginia, USA 14500 Avion Parkway Chantilly VA 20151 USA;Virginia www.medicomp.com Contact details James Aita Director, BD and Corporate Strategy +16472070080 jaita@medicomp.com Regions where operational Asia, Europe, Global, Middle East, North America, Oceania, South America

A new collaboration between SNOMED International and ICH promotes seamless data exchange Back 29 Apr 2021 Back London, United Kingdom & Geneva, Switzerland SNOMED International and the International Council for Harmonisation of Technical Requirements for Pharmaceuticals for Human Use (ICH) are announcing the release of important new maps between global medical terminologies SNOMED CT and MedDRA. This collaborative effort is the first deliverable of a new agreement entered into between SNOMED International and ICH. ICH is an international non-profit organisation which brings together regulatory authorities and pharmaceutical industry from across the globe to discuss scientific and technical aspects of pharmaceuticals and to develop ICH guidelines. Owned by ICH, MedDRA , the Medical Dictionary for Regulatory Activities, is a rich and highly specific standardised medical terminology developed by ICH to facilitate sharing of regulatory information internationally for medical products used by humans and is used for registration, documentation and safety monitoring of medical products both before and after a product has been authorised for use. SNOMED International is the not-for-profit organization that owns and maintains SNOMED CT, the world’s most comprehensive clinical terminology with over 350,000 concepts ranging across diagnosis, signs and symptoms and tens of thousands of surgical, therapeutic and diagnostic procedures. This joint effort has produced two independent maps (MedDRA to SNOMED CT and SNOMED CT to MedDRA) which have been derived from frequently used and key pharmacovigilance MedDRA terms identified from the European Medicines Agency and the UK’s Medicines & Healthcare products Regulatory Agency. In addition, a set of COVID-19 related terms are also included in the first production release of the maps to capture important aspects of the pandemic. The maps are intended to facilitate the exchange of data between regulatory databases (which use MedDRA) and healthcare databases/electronic health records (which use SNOMED CT). In one use case, key pharmacovigilance concepts coded in SNOMED CT in an electronic health record (EHR) could be converted to MedDRA for the purpose of adverse event reporting to regulatory authorities or for the purposes of epidemiological research. In the opposite direction, these same key terms coded in MedDRA representing adverse events, warnings, and other regulatory information could be converted into SNOMED CT so that the information is available in the patient’s record to aid in clinical decision-making. The two maps were created as part of a project involving SNOMED International and ICH entitled WEB-RADR 2 . Funded by the Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI), a large-scale public-private partnership between the EU and the pharmaceutical industry association, EFPIA, IMI aims to boost biopharmaceutical innovation in Europe and to speed up the development of better and safer medicines for patients. With the creation of the maps from the WEB-RADR 2 project, both SNOMED International and ICH have committed to their ongoing use and maintenance extending past the conclusion of the project. Mick Foy, Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency UK and Chair of the ICH MedDRA Management Committee said “This is an exciting development and an important milestone. Developing interoperability between SNOMED CT and MedDRA has been a long-standing ambition and will greatly enhance data collection for regulatory purposes and for drug safety research”. SNOMED International CEO, Don Sweete, welcomes the evolution of the organization’s relationship with ICH. “It is exciting to see a long-term alliance borne from a collaborative project created to improve drug safety for patients and citizens. This agreement serves a joint commitment by two organizations dedicated to enabling health systems interoperability across regulatory and clinical continuums.” The Production version of the two maps is being made available to licensed SNOMED CT and MedDRA users on April 30, 2021 and will be based on the January 2021 version of SNOMED CT and the September 2020 version of MedDRA. It is planned that the maps will be released annually in April. To access the maps: Licensed MedDRA users, visit the Downloads page on the MedDRA website Licensed SNOMED CT users visit SNOMED International Visit SNOMED International or MedDRA’s Maintenance and Support Services Organization (MSSO) for map release documents, including: MedDRA-SNOMED CT Mapping Conventions are available here for SNOMED CT users and here for MedDRA users. Criteria for accepting requests for additions or changes to SNOMED CT to MedDRA map and MedDRA to SNOMED CT map is available here for SNOMED CT users and here for MedDRA users Map Change Request Tool (Map CR) and Map CR User Guide For more information on these maps and resources, please contact MedDRA MSSO ( mssohelp@meddra.org ) or SNOMED International ( 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

Cancer staging content from the American Joint Committee on Cancer will appear in SNOMED CT Back 6 Jul 2022 Back London, United Kingdom and Chicago, Illinois The American College of Surgeons (ACS) and SNOMED International have entered into a licensing agreement to include agreed upon American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) references in SNOMED CT. The AJCC is administered by the Chicago-based American College of Surgeons. The focus of the agreement enables SNOMED International to include updated AJCC staging concepts critical to understanding cancer and treating patients, while eliminating outdated AJCC content no longer relevant to clinical care within SNOMED CT. The ACS is dedicated to improving the quality of care of surgical patients, including cancer patients requiring surgery, safeguarding standards of care in an optimal and ethical practice environment, and setting the standard for surgical care in the United States. Evidence-based anatomic staging is the critical factor to understanding cancer and treating patients and new breakthroughs are opening up ever-more promising possibilities for precisely defining a prognosis and recommending a treatment based on a patient's individual data. The AJCC has developed and compiled cancer staging references for quickly finding important information about different types of cancers. These references and tools are excellent resources for those treating patients with cancer. SNOMED International is an international not-for-profit organization that develops and promotes the use of SNOMED CT, a comprehensive, multilingual healthcare terminology created for use by healthcare professionals to capture the care of individuals in an electronic health record and facilitate sharing, decision support and analytics, to support safe and effective health information exchange. The purpose of SNOMED International is to develop, maintain, promote, and enable the uptake and correct use of its terminology products in health systems, services and products around the world. Up to date AJCC content contributes to the comprehensive and quality assured nature of SNOMED CT for its Members, affiliates and stakeholders in the United States and globally. “Evidence-based anatomic staging is the critical factor to understanding cancer and treating patients. New breakthroughs in oncologic, radiologic, pathologic, and molecular science are opening up that need to be considered for keeping cancer staging information current and relevant to patients. The AJCC endeavors to consider all of these factors in keeping its staging content current. Moreover, as we continue to find ourselves on the other side of the COVID pandemic and move toward trying to get more patients screened and staged for cancer if needed, having the most current staging information available to more clinicians is essential. With this agreement, current AJCC cancer staging content will reach a much wider audience for these important purposes,” said Heidi Nelson, MD, FACS, Medical Director of ACS Cancer Programs. As of April 2022, the ACS and AJCC have enabled the inclusion of the Categories and all Allowable Values (i.e. cT1, cN0, cM0) from the AJCC cancer staging system into the International Edition release of SNOMED CT. Further, the agreement requires historical AJCC and related content, derived from the 5th and 6th editions of the staging manual, to be inactivated as outdated. The agreement with the ACS for AJCC content does not include the Criteria for these Categories and Allowable Values and any SNOMED CT user who requires definitions for AJCC Allowable Values will be directed by SNOMED International to the American College of Surgeons for the appropriate license. Within the scope of the agreement, both parties have committed to review and renew where appropriate its content annually. “Cancer’s many challenges can’t be solved without good collaboration. This agreement between the AJCC and SNOMED International will bring the latest evidence-based information on cancer staging to a wider clinical audience who can immediately apply it in their clinical practices. Ultimately, cancer patients beyond the U.S. will benefit from it too and more lives will be saved,” said Patricia L. Turner, MD, FACS, ACS Executive Director. SNOMED International CEO Don Sweete describes the recently signed licensing agreement with the American College of Surgeons as representative of the spirit of partnership and commitment to clinical quality growing globally. “The ability to produce comprehensive and clinically informed and assured standards across the breadth of healthcare domains is critical to the safe use of health information technology. The American Joint Committee on Cancer’s evidence-based work on anatomic staging is the critical factor to understanding cancer and treating patients and a significant addition to the SNOMED CT knowledge base.” With the finalization of the agreement, Dr. James Case, SNOMED International’s Chief Terminologist, speaks about the importance of the license. “The agreement brings us up to date on the current status of cancer staging, supports the needs of pathologists and oncologists as well as cancer registries, and enables us to maintain that currency.” A leading organization responsible for setting the standard of surgical care, the ACS and AJCC formalize this agreement with SNOMED International to broaden global awareness and adoption of cancer staging information. Evolving to become the international hub for all manner of health information standards, for SNOMED International, this agreement contributes to the organization’s support of growing pathology content in SNOMED CT. Visit the American College of Surgeons , the American Joint Committee on Cancer , and SNOMED International 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

Frequent releases of SNOMED CT International Edition support greater interoperability Back 11 Aug 2022 Back Last year, SNOMED International announced it would transition to more frequent releases of the SNOMED CT International Edition rather than just twice a year. Since January 2022, the organization has released the clinical terminology at the end of each month. Consuming the release on a monthly basis is not required, however, as Members can continue on a biannual schedule if they so choose – there are numerous benefits to being able to access SNOMED CT more frequently. Frequent releases support better interoperability, as organizations and entities can now consume release content that is more aligned with other organizations, for example. As well, it makes it easier to complete smaller projects. January to July 2022 frequent release highlights Some of the highlights of the types of new content included in the monthly release packages over the past six months are: Contributions from a number of our collaboration partners, such as the inclusion of new Social Determinants of Health clinical findings for the Gravity Project the addition of American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) allowable values for tumor staging following a new licensing agreement between the AJCC and SNOMED International and inactivations of outdated findings; additional new nursing procedure concepts; additional content for the ICD-11 update; completion of a map from the SNOMED CT International release to ICD-10 (2016 version) continued implementation of SNOMED International’s Quality Initiative, designed to improve internal structural consistency and ensure compliance with editorial policy related to the stated modeling of content; inactivation of concepts in the international release referring to "legal" and "illegal" termination of pregnancy (abortion) due to non-conformance to editorial policy. Those concepts have been replaced by concepts agnostic as to the legality of the procedure; and the revision and addition of new concepts related to Monkeypox. SNOMED International Release Manager Andrew Atkinson says he expects the uptake of the monthly releases to continue to grow as more users become more aware of the benefits. “The availability of frequent releases has proven to be increasingly popular with our Managed Service users in particular, as it offers them the ability to upgrade their national extensions more regularly,” he reports. “As these users and others (non Managed Service users) learn more about how frequent delivery enables them to better manage their workloads, we expect to see a steadily increasing embrace of SNOMED CT on a more regular basis.” Eventually, he adds, SNOMED International will extend the scope of the current automated functionality to allow Managed Service products to be released more frequently as well. “Once the work has been completed to enable this to happen, they’ll then have even more scope to deploy deliverables such as their drug extensions on a more frequent schedule,” he says. Monthly releases of SNOMED CT will continue to be made available from the Member Licensing and Distribution Service (MLDS.) MLDS contains SNOMED International releases, both Production and Alpha (technology previews), available for Members to download. Do you have more questions? Contact us at releases@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

SNOMED International Joins COVID-19 Interoperability Alliance Back 22 May 2020 Back London, United Kingdom, May 22, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- SNOMED International, the leader in global clinical terminology, announces today the organization’s participation in the COVID-19 Interoperability Alliance . The Alliance is an informatics focused environment supporting collaborative authoring of COVID-19 related interoperability data resources. Alongside Alliance partners Clinical Architecture, logica, MITRE, Regenstrief Institute, Apelon, and Care Evolution, SNOMED International joins an open collective where parties can create, evolve and share meaningful data supporting the current COVID-19 global pandemic. Each participating organization has contributed their respective clinical COVID-19 content, quality assured by a variety of skilled resources and subject matter experts globally. SNOMED International, specifically, has contributed COVID-19 - SNOMED CT Signs and Symptoms, COVID-19 - SNOMED CT Edition - Prerelease Terms from the Global Patient Set and the COVID-19 - SNOMED CT to ICD-10 Map, resources which can also be accessed here. The Alliance provides a hub for healthcare information to enable public and private organizations to quickly and easily identify, monitor, and measure data relevant to COVID-19 and has made these resources available through the following: Open access to downloadable data resources created by the Alliance Open access to an interactive content browser FHIR API access to published data assets (for development purposes only) A collaborative information management workshop for registered contributors Useful links relating to COVID-19 interoperability and analytics The type of data resources being created include clinical, demographic, and administrative value sets; Focused terminology subsets; FHIR profiles and attributes; and useful meta-data. Data produced by the Alliance will be made available to the public under a Creative Commons license which provides the right to share, use, and build upon the data provided. Subscribe to SNOMED International news Stay up to date on SNOMED news, features, developments and newsletters by subscribing to our news service. Subscribe

BLOG: Updated allergy, hypersensitivity & intolerance implementation guide Back 19 Oct 2023 Back In this blog, Ian Green, SNOMED International’s Customer Relations Lead Europe and Global Clinical Engagement Business Manager; and Anne Randorff Højen, Implementation Support Specialist, discuss our updated Allergy, Hypersensitivity and Intolerance Implementation Guide, developed by the SNOMED International Clinical Reference Group for Allergies/Hypersensitivity. Q: What is the Clinical Reference Group (CRG) for Allergies/Hypersensitivity? A: This CRG is a community of practice for clinicians focused on allergies/hypersensitivity and intolerance in which members discuss issues and influence the development and improvement of content in SNOMED CT. The group also supports the development of derivative products that will support implementations focused on the allergies/hypersensitivity and intolerance specialty. To learn more about this group, visit this page. Q: Why was this guide developed? A: The guide was designed to promote interoperability within and between systems or implementations in a consistent way by providing clear guidance for structuring adverse sensitivity data as part of a patient’s Electronic Health Record. The guide also provides clinicians with an overview of the approach to enable accurate and interoperable recording of clinical detail Q: Who is the guide intended for? A: The guide is intended for a range of professionals who work in this area, including SNOMED International Members who are seeking uniform, clear best practices for documenting adverse sensitivity, and understanding how SNOMED CT can be applied in this domain. It’s also intended for clinicians interested in understanding how SNOMED CT can support the clinical needs for data collection and acquisition within the field of Allergy, Hypersensitivity and Intolerance. Information managers who are looking to learn how SNOMED CT can be integrated into health information models within the domain of Allergy, Hypersensitivity and Intolerance to support the implementation of SNOMED CT and enhance data interoperability can also use it, as can software developers who want to learn how to integrate SNOMED CT into software applications used in the domain of Allergy, Hypersensitivity, and Intolerance. Q: What does it cover? A: The guide represents a culmination of work started by the Implementation Special Interest Group in 2014 and continued by the SNOMED International Clinical Reference Group for Allergies/Hypersensitivity starting in 2020. It includes five chapters that provide key use cases, elaborate on SNOMED CT terminological needs, introduce HL7 FHIR for data exchange, and present technical considerations for joint implementation. Q: Where can people find the guide? A: You can find it here: snomed.org/allergy . We have also produced a demonstrator to show the implementation principles covered in the guide. The demonstrator can be found here . For more information, contact Ian Green or Anne Randorff Højen at 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