January 2020 SNOMED CT International Edition release available Back 3 Feb 2020 Back Since the date of issue, this information is now out of date and has been archived.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. The Production release of the January 2020 SNOMED CT® International Edition is now available. The January 31, 2020 release contains 3,044 new concepts and 39,477 changes, within SNOMED CT’s 350,000+ concepts. This release includes but is not limited to changes in anatomy, quality improvements across other hierarchies, including those changed as part of the organization’s Quality Initiative. Also included are new antigen concepts which will be used in the modeling of vaccine products in future releases. All changes are listed in the January 2020 SNOMED International Release Notes found on the releases page . Also of note, the January 2020 International Edition marks the first release which has been produced from SNOMED International's own terminology server, Snowstorm, a major technical milestone and core focus of the organization’s recently released 2020-2025 organization strategy . Making it a priority to respond to global health concerns and the needs of our Members, the January 2020 SNOMED CT International Edition Release includes new content for countries addressing the novel coronavirus. This is immediately available to Member countries at an important time in tackling the virus. The following new concepts have been added for the January 2020 release: Added concepts all have an additional synonym of 'Wuhan coronavirus' to aid searchability and can be seen in the SNOMED CT browser . Information and resources pertaining to the January 2020 SNOMED CT International Edition release is located on our releases page . If you have any questions about the January 2020 International Edition or have difficulties downloading the files from the distribution site, please contact SNOMED International at support@snomed.org with “January 2020 International Edition release question” in the subject line. Since the date of issue, SNOMED International has made changes to the concept descriptions based on renaming of the virus and syndrome by WHO and ICTV. Please visit https://www.snomed.org/news-and-events/articles/march-2020-interim-snomedct-release-COVID-19 for an udpate on current descriptions. Please note SNOMED CT identifiers and clinical meaning remain unchanged with existing content. Changes will be reflected in the July 31, 2020 SNOMED CT International Edition Release. 840539006|Disease caused by 2019 novel coronavirus (disorder)| 840534001|2019 novel coronavirus vaccination (procedure)| 840544004|Suspected disease caused by 2019 novel coronavirus (situation)| 840536004|Antigen of 2019 novel coronavirus (substance)| 840535000|Antibody to 2019 novel coronavirus (substance)| 840533007|2019 novel coronavirus (organism)| 840546002|Exposure to 2019 novel coronavirus (event)|

Valentia Technologies Back Valentia Technologies Vendor Overview Valentia Technologies develops and implements innovative software solutions and services that transform the way healthcare is provided outside of hospital. Our integrated suite of applications enables new models of joined-up converged care that address many of the mounting challenges facing healthcare today: rising demand, escalating costs, improving quality outcomes and accountability, and the need for greater. SNOMED CT-enabled solutions INDICI (Patient Management System - Primary Care) New Zealand - Australia - Ireland - Fiji Spectrum (National Telehealth System) - New Zealand -> Urgent & Unplanned Care GPOOH ( General Practitioner Out of Hours) Ireland CareMonX ( Emergency Medical Services ) - New Zealand, Australia, Ireland Scope of services Analytics, Chronic disease, Clinical coding, Clinical documentation, Diagnostic imaging, Drug, EHR, EMR, Lab, Middleware, Oncology, Order sets, Pharmacy, Telehealth Downloadable documents Valentia Technologies - Valentia Technology Office Head Office Valentia Technologies Limited Unit A6 Nutgrove Office Park Dublin 14 Ireland Dublin Leinster Dublin 14 Ireland http://valentiatech.com Contact details Ahmed Javad President Technical Services +64 988-918-88 ahmed.javad@gmail.com Regions where operational Africa, Asia, Europe, Global, Oceania

In 2025, the National Release Centre of the Belgian Health Terminology Centre launched 3 coordinated terminology projects aiming to map relevant SNOMED CT concepts to classifications supporting documentation of interventions, functionality and general practice. For each of the 3 domains, top experts cooperated in selecting a relevant sample of SNOMED CT concepts, either based on frequency of use in clinical practice of lexical entries or core sets of SNOMED CT. Experienced coders selected exact matches between SNOMED CT, on the one hand, and stem codes (classes) or inclusion terms of the different classifications, on the other hand, considering the level of aggregation in the upper and lower hierarchy of SNOMED CT. This mapping was supported by a thorough examination of the alignment of SNOMED CT domains, hierarchy(semantic) tags and attributes with the axes, used to build the different classifications. The existing ontological representation of concept relationships in SNOMED CT and in the Foundational Component of the WHO Family of International Classifications is intensely used to support the mapping process. The objective of the 3 projects is to develop the methodology for mapping, to map a relevant sample of SNOMED CT codes in one-to-one exact maps to stem codes and inclusion terms, and to estimate the effort to complete a full map. Moreover, some recommendations will be formulated to integrate these mappings into man-machine interface at the point of care for data entry once and multiple use. Back View Map University of Ghent (2 of 2) SNOClass: a Belgian terminology project for mapping relevant SNOMED CT concepts to WHO Family of Classifications in 3 domains: ICHI for Procedures and interventions; ICF for functionality and disability; and ICPC-3 for Family Medicine/Primary Care Read More Country / Region EMEA Tags Data quality, EHDS (European Health Data Space), Mapping, Research, Tooling In 2025, the National Release Centre of the Belgian Health Terminology Centre launched 3 coordinated terminology projects aiming to map relevant SNOMED CT concepts to classifications supporting documentation of interventions, functionality and general practice. For each of the 3 domains, top experts cooperated in selecting a relevant sample of SNOMED CT concepts, either based on frequency of use in clinical practice of lexical entries or core sets of SNOMED CT. Experienced coders selected exact matches between SNOMED CT, on the one hand, and stem codes (classes) or inclusion terms of the different classifications, on the other hand, considering the level of aggregation in the upper and lower hierarchy of SNOMED CT. This mapping was supported by a thorough examination of the alignment of SNOMED CT domains, hierarchy(semantic) tags and attributes with the axes, used to build the different classifications. The existing ontological representation of concept relationships in SNOMED CT and in the Foundational Component of the WHO Family of International Classifications is intensely used to support the mapping process. The objective of the 3 projects is to develop the methodology for mapping, to map a relevant sample of SNOMED CT codes in one-to-one exact maps to stem codes and inclusion terms, and to estimate the effort to complete a full map. Moreover, some recommendations will be formulated to integrate these mappings into man-machine interface at the point of care for data entry once and multiple use. Description The scope of this Belgian terminology project is mapping relevant SNOMED CT concepts to WHO Family of Classifications in 3 domains: ICHI for Procedures and interventions; ICF for functionality and disability; and ICPC-3 for Family Medicine/Primary Care. Hence the focus is on mapping between conceptual systems, such as reference terminologies and aggregation terminologies. Scope SNOMED CT was selected with the role of reference terminology, covering all concepts needed for clinical care. The Ontological structure of the resource and the complex and the possibility to use the constraint language to explore volume and hierarchy in domains, semantic tags, and attributes. It was chosen because the Belgian Government gives a central role to SNOMED CT in the road to digital transformation in e-Health. How SNOMED CT will be used We focused on samples of SNOMED CT concepts, relevant for each the domains. Why SNOMED CT will be used Contact More information Learn more Get SNOMED CT Information about our license and fee structure Learn more Learn more Explore the wide range of resources available to our community of practice

Community content initiative will ‘“democratize” the development of SNOMED CT Back 9 Sept 2021 Back By Rory Davidson Chief Information Officer SNOMED International’s Chief Information Officer, Rory Davidson, discusses the organization's recent introduction of community content, answering your frequently asked questions about the offering. Over the past year, you may have heard some discussion of how SNOMED International is moving toward enabling stakeholders to contribute to and participate in the ongoing development, maintenance and improvement of SNOMED CT, our clinical terminology. In this blog post, SNOMED International CIO Rory Davidson explains what we mean by “community content,” how it will work and how we envision the benefits it will bring to our entire community of SNOMED CT users. Q: What do we mean by community content? RD: We want to provide a more easily accessible platform and content area where the community can contribute and collaborate on globally relevant SNOMED CT content. The community content model is a way to allow other stakeholders outside of SNOMED International to be involved in adding, improving and maintaining the terminology without our being a bottleneck. We talk about it as “democratizing terminology” in that we are enabling other people to participate in developing it, and by doing so, it won’t be just an ivory tower with SNOMED International at the top. Q: How will community content differ from national extensions? RD: The organization presently produces the SNOMED CT International Edition and publishes it twice a year (at the end of each July and January). National extensions are a bit different from the International Edition release. While dependent on the SNOMED CT International Edition, national extensions allow Members to add content to SNOMED CT that would not generally be relevant outside their country, based on policy, health trends, language, etc. You can think of a national extension as a localized layer on top of the International Edition. In contrast, community content provides somewhere to extend the core, the SNOMED CT International Edition, in a global way that is available to everybody, not just to a specific country as an extension. The International Edition has lots of checks and balances in place to ensure quality so we can’t add to it as quickly or as dynamically as people would often prefer, and national extensions tend to be quite specific. We see community content as an area where we can share things like reference sets, maps, translations and new content domains much more easily. This is based on our current thinking, which continues to evolve. Q: Can content be moved out of the community area and into the International Edition or a national extension? If so, how does that work? RD: In some cases, the community content area might be a staging area for content that people want to see globally that the SNOMED International team doesn’t have the capacity to add to the International Edition, or at least not that quickly. By including the content in the community content area, it’s available to everyone immediately. Once it has gone through a quality assurance process and clinical review, that content can be promoted into the International Edition, where it will then be maintained by SNOMED International. Q: How will quality continue to be assured with community content? RD: That’s the biggest challenge with this. It’s very easy to assure quality when you have a single team that is reviewing everything, but when you open it up to this collaborative approach, it becomes more challenging. It’s not just the process of ensuring quality across multiple external contributors; we also want to ensure stakeholders don’t perceive any impact to quality. We’re still reviewing the quality assurance process but it will require steps such as ensuring contributors are qualified, either by our certification courses or by other means, to work in the community content area. We will automate the QA process as much as we can, as we do for the International Edition and the national extensions, but ultimately this is a knowledge-based product and we are depending on other people to review community content. It requires treading a fine line between ensuring there are checks and balances while supporting and facilitating the community content contribution process. Q: What does community content mean to Members and other stakeholders? How does it benefit them and us? RD: It depends on the Member and the context: countries that have a large national extension, like Canada or Australia, may have global clinical content that they just haven’t been able to promote. The community content area could be where they put it, enabling other people to work with them to quality assure, maintain and use it, which means they no longer have to manage it in their extension. Countries that share a common language (as with French for Switzerland, Canada and Belgium, for example), can move their translation projects into the community content area, rather than each working individually on translations in their national extensions. This may be particularly useful for countries that are brand-new to SNOMED CT and that don’t have a lot of resources. For SNOMED International, the benefit is that we can work with clinical specialist groups and organizations, or even other standards bodies, who can manage whole areas of globally available community content that we (SNOMED International) don’t necessarily manage. That is a massive advantage for us in leveraging a wide and global knowledge base. It also means we can add new clinical domains to our clinical terminology. For example, one of the newest projects in community content is traditional medicine. Dr. Yongsheng Gao, one of our senior terminologists, has experience in that realm. He is working with a team of external experts on community content. It’s a great example of how we can work with other organizations without depending on our team to advance the work. Q: What kind of feedback have we received from our Members about this initiative? RD: I think Members can see the benefit of being able to have content globally available more quickly, because it takes time to add content to the International Edition. Community content speeds up that process of making content globally available.Members also see the flexibility community content enables and the advantages it provides, particularly in the area of translations. Non-Member countries might be more interested in becoming a SNOMED International Member when they see how community content facilitates language translation among countries that share languages. One great example of that is our Member country Kazakhstan, which speaks Kazak, but also Russian. Russian is also spoken in other countries, so if other Russian-speaking countries see there is already a translation project under way, they might be more interested in becoming a Member. Q: What challenges do you anticipate, if any, and how are we preparing to address them? RD: One challenge is ensuring quality, as I spoke about earlier. The other is making sure the community content area doesn’t become the wild west and just a dumping ground. At the moment, it’s a little bit like when Apple first unveiled the App Store for iPhones: they created the apps, but they didn’t know what people would do or how they would use them. We’re creating this area and we hope people will come and propose content additions to us. Then we will be able to say, “Yes, here’s a platform where you can do this and we can help you do it,” whereas before we would have told people to work with their national extension or to get in the queue to add new content to the International Edition. Q: Can you describe the rollout process/timeline, beginning with a soft launch? RD: We’re ahead of schedule – we expected to start this at the beginning of next year but we did a soft launch in February 2021. We now have a URL and a community content browser that currently hosts four projects: cancer synoptic reporting, genomics, traditional medicine and the common French translation. The next steps are to govern what can and can’t go into the community content area with the help of our Members. Over the next 12-18 months, we’ll be improving our tooling technology platform so people will be able to get involved much more easily than they can at the moment. At the end of the day, though, the community content initiative will reflect the efforts and engagement of our stakeholders and users. Q: How will users add to or use community content? RD: Initially this will be guided by the Member Forum and steering committee. The process we’ve discussed with them is that someone will submit (an equivalent to) a business case and let us know what they want to do. There will be some oversight and they will have to ensure they will maintain that content. SNOMED CT is a dynamic terminology, so if the content changes, say, in six months to a year, it is going to have to be maintained, so we will need a commitment that participants will take on that responsibility. Q: Do we have any success criteria or any expectations in terms of uptake? RD: No; I would say the things we’ve been able to achieve with cancer synoptic reporting, traditional medicine and the common French translation project (and what we expect to be doing with the common German translation project) have demonstrated that the idea has traction. I think the criteria would be that in two to three years we have an increase in content but no decrease in quality. There may not be a lot of people involved; it may just be one organization, so it’s not driven by aspirations to specific volumes, it’s more about what will be made available to people at a global level. This is a work in progress – we’re very open for feedback to help us make this work for the community. It’s important to note that this is not intended to be a mechanism for SNOMED International to offload work; it gives people the ability to be much more involved than they are now, whether it’s a local hospital, a project group or another standards body. We’ll provide the platform to do it and/or a way for them to use their own tools if they want to access the service. Q: Where can people find more information? RD: They can find it at http://snomed.org/community-content . Please note that a confluence account is required. Register for an account . Have a comment about this post? We’d love to hear from you.

The United States representative to SNOMED International is the National Library of Medicine (NLM) on behalf of the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). United States The United States representative to SNOMED International is the National Library of Medicine (NLM) on behalf of the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Contact Details National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health Department of Health and Human Services 8600 Rockville Pike Bethesda, Maryland 20894 USA Telephone: +1 (301) 594-5983 Website: https://www.nlm.nih.gov/ Email: custserv@nlm.nih.gov Appointed Representatives General Assembly: Raja Cholan Member Forum: Patrick McLaughlin and Nick McGraw News articles Part of the National Institutes of Health, NLM provides information services to support the advancement of science, the progress of health care, and the public health. The Library’s electronic information services (including MEDLINE on PubMed.gov, consumer health information on MedlinePlus.gov, molecular biology and genomic resources, and many others) are available free of charge worldwide from http://www.nlm.nih.gov/ . NLM serves as the central coordinating body for clinical terminology standards within the US. The Library supports the development, enhancement, and distribution of clinically specific vocabularies (e.g., SNOMED CT®, LOINC®, RxNorm®) to facilitate the exchange of clinical data and improve retrieval of health information. NLM’s activities in support of health data standardization are described at http://www.nlm.nih.gov/healthit.html. NLM makes SNOMED CT available in multiple formats, both in its native file structure and as part of the Unified Medical Language System® (UMLS®) Metathesaurus®, where it is linked to more than 100 other biomedical terminologies in many languages and to lexical processing tools. The NLM distributes SNOMED CT free of charge to US and international users, under the terms of the standard affiliate license which is incorporated into the UMLS license agreement. Information about obtaining SNOMED CT from the NLM is available at www.nlm.nih.gov/snomed For more information users should contact NLM Customer service at https://support.nlm.nih.gov 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

The Federal Public Service Health, Food Chain Safety and Environment is responsible for distributing SNOMED CT in Belgium. Belgium The Federal Public Service Health, Food Chain Safety and Environment is responsible for distributing SNOMED CT in Belgium. Contact Details Federal Public Service Health, Food Chain Safety and Environment Galileelaan 5/2 1210 Brussel België Website: www.health.belgium.be Licensing: https://mlds.ihtsdotools.org/#/landing/BE Email: terminologie@health.belgium.be Appointed Representatives General Assembly: Tom Van Renterghem Member Forum: Katrien Scheerlinck and David Op De Beeck News articles First release of the SNOMED CT common French translation The terminology Centre of the Federal Public Service Health, Food Chain Safety and Environment manages, coordinates, facilitates and promotes the use of terminology in Belgian healthcare. The multidisciplinary team, which is part of the Standards Unit within the Data and Policy Information Department of the Directorate-General for Healthcare, consists of profiles with diverse backgrounds: medical specialists, terminologists, ICT specialists and linguists. Together, they take care of the maintenance, support and release of various terminological standards in Belgium, including SNOMED CT®. These standards are crucial for quality healthcare because they help ensure that healthcare information is recorded and shared unambiguously and only once. Acting as the SNOMED National Release Centre (NRC) of Belgium, the Terminology Centre is responsible for distributing and managing SNOMED CT in Belgium. It also produces translations of the terminology in Dutch and French. The first Belgian SNOMED CT release dates back from March 2018. In the meantime, the content of the Belgian language refset has increased to nearly 580.000 Dutch and 250.000 French validated translations. In terms of coverage, the current Belgian extension contains validated Dutch descriptions for almost 280.000 concepts and validated French descriptions for almost 170.000 concepts. Every six months, a new release is published and made available via MLDS. More information about SNOMED CT in Belgium can be accessed at: https://apps.health.belgium.be/ (Dutch and French only) Affiliated licenses can be obtained at https://mlds.ihtsdotools.org/#/landing/BE 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

Why SNOMED CT? New platform presents a refreshed case for investing in the comprehensive clinical terminology Back 16 Dec 2021 Back London, United Kingdom -- SNOMED International released today its refreshed SNOMED CT Case for Investment report. Available on a new interactive platform , the Case for Investment presents evidence that SNOMED CT adds measurable value to a broad range of primary and secondary health processes leveraging SNOMED CT encoded data to enable improved patient outcomes. Through the narrative, the report provides accessible and understandable answers to questions such as, “what is SNOMED CT?”, ‘what makes SNOMED CT unique?’, “how and where is it in use globally?” and “why invest in SNOMED CT?” SNOMED CT, the most comprehensive and multilingual clinical healthcare terminology in the world, possesses unique characteristics that differentiate it from other classifications and terminologies. Among these characteristics are SNOMED CT’s position as a core reference terminology, its clinically comprehensive 350,000+ concepts supported by a machine-readable semantic network, broad use and mandate in select countries. Showcasing real world use and outcomes of SNOMED CT is the best way to demonstrate its value, understanding that SNOMED CT must be embedded in a clinical information system, health data & analytics platform or an interoperability solution for it to function. Through the Case for Investment, 10 examples of SNOMED CT use across data entry and integration, clinical information sharing, point of care analytics, population and management analytics and research domains have been featured. Ranging across different countries such as Australia, Canada, China, United Kingdom, United States, continued collection of additional SNOMED CT case studies remains an ongoing priority. SNOMED International CEO, Don Sweete, commented on the development and outcomes of the Case for Investment. “There has been a tremendous evolution in SNOMED CT over the past 10 years and this report demonstrates the value that it offers healthcare systems and stakeholders worldwide” said Sweete. “With a complement of 41 Members that represent health systems globally, continuously refreshed knowledge and analysis on the nature, utility and value of standards like SNOMED CT can’t be overstated. Health system decision-makers need to be equipped with clear knowledge of how their investments in SNOMED CT translate into positive outcomes for the health of their nation’s citizens.” In terms of conclusions, the report presents SNOMED CT as a scalable and “fit for purpose” clinical terminology, adhering to international criteria, data quality and suitability requirements. A part of the bigger picture, SNOMED CT is one of many contributing factors to improving patient outcomes, and studies show that the use of SNOMED CT-embedded systems can provide significant qualitative and quantitative patient outcome benefits. Looking forward, SNOMED CT must also contemplate how it enables the future needs of medicine and research. A healthcare industry that is ever evolving, the future opportunities for SNOMED CT will be driven by new healthcare data sources and new healthcare technologies such as national cohorts, big data and AI, clinical genomics, phenomics and environment, etc. Experience the breadth of the SNOMED CT Case for Investment through the organization’s interactive value platform .

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 .

Epic Back Epic Vendor Overview Providing electronic health record solutions to healthcare organizations with the patient at the heart. SNOMED CT-enabled solutions We use SNOMED as reference terminology to enable clinical decision support, reporting and patient population grouping. Scope of services Analytics, Chronic disease, Clinical coding, Clinical documentation, EHR, EMR, Lab, Oncology, Order sets, Pharmacy, Telehealth Downloadable documents Office 1979 Milky Way Verona WI 53593 USA www.epic.com Contact details Peg Horner Support Lead; EpicCare Ambulatory 608-777-5793 peg@epic.om Regions where operational Asia, Europe, Global, North America

New Zealand is represented in SNOMED International by Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora. New Zealand New Zealand is represented in SNOMED International by Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora. Contact Details Health New Zealand 133 Molesworth Street PO Box 793 Wellington 6140 New Zealand Website: www.tewhatuora.govt.nz Email: standards@tewhatuora.govt.nz Appointed Representatives General Assembly: Alastair Kenworthy Member Forum: Mia van Dorp, Evan Li News articles There is more energy than ever in rolling out SNOMED CT as the key information standard for an equitable, data-driven and digitally-transformed health and social system in Aotearoa New Zealand. SNOMED CT implementation is central to an interoperability roadmap supporting the New Zealand Health Strategy, Pae Ora Healthy Futures reforms and national digital health programme, with their long-term goals of achieving health equity and improving health outcomes for all New Zealanders. The focus over the next three years is the primary and community sector, where health providers are migrating their systems to SNOMED CT as they introduce new models of care, become data-driven and use technology to reduce workforce pressures. SNOMED also plays a vital part in the New Zealand adaptation of the International Patient Summary standard, which allows consumers to tell their health story in digital form and streamlines their interactions with health services. More information about SNOMED CT in New Zealand can be accessed here: www.tewhatuora.govt.nz 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

SNOMED CT is playing an increasingly vital role in bridging national drug dictionaries with electronic clinical records. Several countries are aligning their drug data with the SNOMED International Clinical Drug Model, while recent enhancements to SNOMED CT—particularly in its capacity to represent non-defining associations and metadata annotations—are expanding its use as a versioned, standardized content distribution suitable for consumption by terminology servers. However, each country approaches this alignment from different starting points, with varying source formats, data models, and local priorities. In this paper, we identify recurring patterns and the challenges they present, and propose strategic approaches that combine mapping techniques, automated transformations, expert curation and revision processes, and concept model extensions to enhance representation, ensure local relevance, and maintain transparency of source data. Back View Map termMed Implementing national clinical drug extensions across different countries and diverse use cases: comparing challenges and strategies to overcome them Read More Country / Region Americas Tags Collaboration, Implementation, Mapping, Tooling SNOMED CT is playing an increasingly vital role in bridging national drug dictionaries with electronic clinical records. Several countries are aligning their drug data with the SNOMED International Clinical Drug Model, while recent enhancements to SNOMED CT—particularly in its capacity to represent non-defining associations and metadata annotations—are expanding its use as a versioned, standardized content distribution suitable for consumption by terminology servers. However, each country approaches this alignment from different starting points, with varying source formats, data models, and local priorities. In this paper, we identify recurring patterns and the challenges they present, and propose strategic approaches that combine mapping techniques, automated transformations, expert curation and revision processes, and concept model extensions to enhance representation, ensure local relevance, and maintain transparency of source data. Description This paper examines the challenges encountered during the implementation of three national drug extensions, each originating from distinct data sources. We present the strategies employed to align these extensions with the SNOMED International model, which vary depending on the characteristics and constraints of each source. These strategies range from fully automated transformations—applied when source alignment gaps are minimal or when maximizing source transparency is critical—to more complex approaches involving manual curation at the individual product level. In some cases, the process also required the creation of use case-specific classes to support key functions such as prescription, dispensing, and data analytics. Scope SNOMED CT was selected as it is emerging as the leading reference model for integrating locally marketed medicinal products with clinical data in electronic health records (EHRs). It is also evolving into a comprehensive, standards-based distribution format that defines the semantics of drug classes and incorporates relevant metadata to support their use across diverse clinical and analytical settings. How SNOMED CT will be used SNOMED CT serves as a bridge between medicinal product data stored in national drug dictionaries and clinical information recorded in patient health records. It enables a wide range of use cases, including clinical decision support, accurate data recording, and electronic prescribing. However, to address specific local requirements, the international drug model often requires adaptation—through localization, extension, and harmonization—ultimately evolving into a comprehensive content model tailored to each implementation context. Why SNOMED CT will be used Contact More information Learn more Get SNOMED CT Information about our license and fee structure Learn more Learn more Explore the wide range of resources available to our community of practice

This presentation explores how SNOMED CT GPS is leveraged as the preferred terminology for cross-border health information exchange, particularly within the context of the European EHR Exchange Format (EEHRxF) and the upcoming EHDS regulations. We will highlight IHE-Europe's role in interoperability profile specification and testing and describe how SNOMED CT strengthens semantic interoperability across national systems through “pivot documents” using the Patient Summary as an example. Back View Map IHE Europe (1 of 2) How SNOMED CT enables Cross-Border Health Information Exchange: IHE Profiles and the European EHR Exchange Format Read More Country / Region EMEA Tags EHDS (European Health Data Space), Implementation This presentation explores how SNOMED CT GPS is leveraged as the preferred terminology for cross-border health information exchange, particularly within the context of the European EHR Exchange Format (EEHRxF) and the upcoming EHDS regulations. We will highlight IHE-Europe's role in interoperability profile specification and testing and describe how SNOMED CT strengthens semantic interoperability across national systems through “pivot documents” using the Patient Summary as an example. Description IHE-Europe has played a key role in shaping and testing the interoperability frameworks used for cross-border health information exchange in Europe. This presentation focuses on the application of IHE Profiles as the structural backbone of transaction workflows, and the integration of SNOMED CT as the semantic foundation for clinical content within pivot documents like the Patient Summary (PS). As the EU prepares for EHDS implementation, including the FHIR-based EEHRxF specifications, this presentation will discuss how IHE is supporting the implementation of the new EHDS requirements and enabling safe, reliable, and semantically consistent data exchange between and within the EU Member States. Scope SNOMED CT GPS was selected as the preferred terminology due to its ready availability, comprehensive clinical content coverage, and multilingual support, which are essential for cross-border care. It plays a pivotal role in enabling semantic interoperability, which is critical for safe and accurate clinical decision-making when health data is shared across borders. Its global recognition and maturity make it a natural fit for aligning European data exchange frameworks with international best practices. How SNOMED CT will be used SNOMED CT GPS is used as the preferred code system for the clinical sections of structured documents such as the European Patient Summary. By serving as the semantic layer of pivot documents exchanged cross-border, SNOMED CT GPS ensures that clinically meaningful information can be reliably understood across linguistic and system boundaries. Mapping from national/local terminologies to SNOMED CT GPS is operationalized at the national level, often through Terminology Servers, enabling seamless transformation into EEHRxF-compliant formats. Why SNOMED CT will be used Contact More information Learn more Get SNOMED CT Information about our license and fee structure Learn more Learn more Explore the wide range of resources available to our community of practice