Interoperability, SNOMED and ICD.
Interoperability, SNOMED and ICD.
Paraphrasing the New Oxford American Dictionary of interoperable, it is possible to conclude that interoperability refers to the ability “to exchange and make use of information” (McKean, 2005). Within the context of Health Information Technologies and Electronic Medical Records (EMR), interoperability must be an essential characteristic of any healthcare-related records. Interoperability ensures the right communication between healthcare providers, insurance companies, researchers, end users, etc. Interoperability increases the value of EMR, because it allows exchanging data with other applications (Gaynor, Yu & Duepner, n.d.). One of the key aspects of interoperability includes the medical terminology used to store and retrieve information about signs, symptoms, diagnoses, and procedures.
1. Summarize briefly what SNOMED and ICD are. What is the common thread?
The Systematized Nomenclature of Medicine – Clinical Terms (SNOMED-CT) is a terminology system used to consistently, reliably and comprehensively represent clinical information while producing EMR (Natale, 2013). The International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, 10th edition (ICD-10) is a classification mainly designed for information output, e.g. for research purposes. It works by aggregation input details into codes designed for reporting (Natale, 2013). Although they can be mapped together, the common thread is that many clinicians and healthcare providers believe they are interchangeable, or equivalent, when they are not (3M Health Information Systems, 2013).
2. ICD-10: why it is or is not important for modern healthcare?
While the ICD-10 is very useful for research purposes because it contains a hierarchically designed classification of diseases, it is not very useful for modern healthcare. As said before, the ICD-10 is a system better suited to retrieve information for epidemiology research, than to input information about a patient’s diagnoses and procedures. Plus, it was created in 1992, so it is more than 20 years old (Handler, 2013). Furthermore, U.S. healthcare providers must select and implement either SNOMED or ICD in their systems, and by 2011 only 53% of HIM directors or managers had begun the planning process for ICD-10 implementation (Houser, Morgan, Clements & Hart-Hester, 2013). The new revision of the ICD (ICD-11) is planned to be published in 2015 (Handler, 2013). Therefore, the ICD-10 implementation will already be outdated next year.
References
3M Health Information Systems. [3MHealthInformation]. (2013, January 18). SNOMED and ICD mappings [video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsXFatxVYJw&feature=youtu.be
Gaynor, M., Yu, F., Duepner, B. (n.d.). Domain: Systems and Standards. Module 8B – Standards for Healthcare. PDF Presentation.
Handler, J. (2013, February 13). Let's Abandon ICD-10! (and use SNOMED-CT instead). Retrieved November 16, 2014, from http://mmodal.com/articles/lets-abandon-icd-10/
Houser, S. H., Morgan, D., Clements, K., & Hart-Hester, S. (2013). Assessing the Planning and Implementation Strategies for the ICD-10-CM/PCS Coding Transition in Alabama Hospitals. Perspectives in health information management/AHIMA, American Health Information Management Association, 10 (Spring), 1a.
Natale, C. (2013, February 18). Why SNOMED cannot replace the ICD-10-CM/PCS code sets. Retrieved November 16, 2014, from http://www.icd10watch.com/blog/why-snomed-cannot-replace-icd-10-cmpcs-code-sets
McKean, E. (2005). The new oxford american dictionary. New York, NY. Oxford University Press.
