When we think of foreign languages, our minds turn to Spanish, German, French, Mandarin Chinese, etc. In our industry, Greek and Latin are the origins for much of our terminology. Since the adoption of the electronic health record (EHR), other languages have caused many of us to become multilingual. Most of us are familiar with ICD-10, which includes both ICD-10-CM and ICD-10-PCS, but there are a few other “languages” that are less familiar (or even foreign) to most. In this session with Kat, we are going to explore these languages, which include SNOMED, LOINC, and RxNorm. We will break down these language barriers and introduce a single standardized terminology that can bring a new approach to data integration and, more importantly, safe patient care.   

 

Learning Objectives

1. Understand the background/use of ICD, the new ICD-10 COVID-19 codes, and how they are used with other conditions.

2. Describe the background/use of SNOMED codes in conjunction with the electronic health record (EHR) and natural language processing (NLP).

3. Illustrate the background/use of LOINC and the electronic exchange of clinical health information.

4. Demonstrate the background/use of RxNorm, allowing computer systems to communicate drug-related information clearly and efficiently.

5. Introduce one more solution that creates a single standardized terminology for improved data integration and patient safety.