The International Health Terminology Standards Development Organisation (IHTSDO) has announced a collaborative arrangement with the World Health Organization (WHO). The deal is to harmonise WHO classifications and SNOMED CT for the benefit of citizens around the world. WHO Classifications and SNOMED CT are complementary tools. When used together appropriately, they make it easier to summarise information from individual patients' health records into aggregate results needed for health policy, health services management and research.
WHO Classifications are used to capture key information on diseases, disability and interventions and other indicators of population health. Main classifications such as the ICD (International Classification of Diseases), in use for more than 100 years worldwide, provide data on life expectancy, causes of death, and inform the plans and decisions of health authorities in many countries. The detailed information that is aggregated for public health purposes, using WHO classifications, often comes from health records, which are increasingly being held in electronic form.
Electronic health records (EHRs) contain information that is important for the care of individuals, such as health problems, and care plans. Summaries of information in EHRs, extracted in a way that respects privacy of patients, are also crucial for management, health financing and general health system administration. As a result, the accuracy and consistency of EHRs is crucial for both patient care and to ensure sound management of health systems resources.
SNOMED CT, a standardised health terminology, can help to represent clinically relevant information in a consistent, reliable, and comprehensive way in EHRs. The terminology is used to help patients and their care providers capture more detailed key information on disease, disability, and interventions in patients' health records. Managed by the IHTSDO, it is used for this purpose and others in countries around the world.
This new agreement supports the aims of WHO and IHTSDO to enhance health through better health information. Synergies between WHO classifications and SNOMED CT have the potential, through better information, to improve the accuracy, reliability, and quality of health and healthcare; to eliminate gaps in information; and to control costs.
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