SNOMED International and the Bahmni Coalition are excited to announce a joint project to produce a SNOMED CT module for integration with Bahmni's open-source Electronic Medical Record (EMR.) SNOMED International’s vision to enable improved health for patients and citizens globally is well aligned with this initiative with its potential for improving care in digitally maturing and resource-constrained regions. 

Slated to launch at the end of the year, the Bahmni + SNOMED CT project will produce a SNOMED CT module for integration with Bahmni's open-source EMR to provide structured terminology openly to digitally maturing markets. The module will demonstrate how SNOMED CT's standardized clinical terms can be used by open-source EMRs to add structured meaning to clinical information, supporting efficient exchange among healthcare systems. 

About Bahmni

Bahmni, a recognized Digital Public Good, is built on the OpenMRS (medical record system) platform. It is an open-source EMR (a digital version of a patient's healthcare record) and hospital information system that combines and enhances existing open-source products in a single solution. 

Developed by global technology consultancy Thoughtworks, Bahmni brings together essential functionalities such as patient registration, appointments, recording diagnosis and procedures, billing, lab, pharmacy, and more, into one cohesive platform. With more than 500 implementations in more than 50 countries, Bahmni is designed for use in resource-constrained settings, many of which are in the early stages of digital health transformation. It is the preferred solution in many Asian and African countries and a strategic asset for many large humanitarian organizations.

About SNOMED CT

​SNOMED CT is a comprehensive, multilingual healthcare terminology created for use by healthcare professionals to capture the care of individuals in an electronic health record (EHR) and facilitate sharing, decision support and analytics, to support safe and effective health information exchange. 

About the project

The integration will enable organizations to use SNOMED CT along with the SNOMED CT Terminology Server in their health facilities to record diagnosis and clinical data as well as for reporting and clinical decision support use cases. Users will be able to search and save diagnoses, receive alerts when a drug-diagnosis interaction is contraindicated, generate diagnosis reports, and create forms. With the integration of SNOMED CT, patient responses can be standardized and therefore more easily exchanged with other electronic health records.

Driven by a mission to enable the clear exchange and analysis of health information for all, this initiative offers SNOMED International the opportunity to deliver on its humanitarian goals:   expanding access to the clinical terminology, reducing the barriers to SNOMED CT adoption and helping governments and countries better understand how to enhance and evolve their existing digital systems to realize the benefits of SNOMED CT. 

The initiative, which will also enable an implementation showcase and demonstrate the terminology’s powerful utility, is an excellent example of SNOMED International’s commitment to waiving fees for not-for-profit organizations that use SNOMED CT non-commercially for the betterment of people living in rural areas and for resource-constrained countries at the early stages of their digital health transformation. It also demonstrates the organization’s commitment to integrating with other health data standards in an effort to simplify reporting to other global organizations such as the World Health Organization and to be a good “global standards citizen.”

“We are extremely excited to see this project develop and take shape,” said SNOMED International CEO Don Sweete. “As an organization whose mission is to benefit the health of humankind, we are honored to be able to contribute to this international and collaborative effort, to be part of an initiative that will have such a positive impact on patients and healthcare organizations in regions that most need it.”

The benefits

In addition to providing access to standardized and accurate clinical data and clinical decision support, the initiative supports the development of better healthcare policies and public health initiatives. The adoption of SNOMED CT by close to 50 Member countries and by thousands of affiliate license users in non-Member countries also facilitates the use of the module around the globe and the exchange of health data across borders, further extending its utility.

Next steps

Launch of the module at the end of 2023 will enhance clinical decision support use cases for drug-drug interactions and allergies. It will also focus on improved HL7 FHIR compatibility, integration with the SNOMED CT data analytics tool, enabling WHO ICD-10 reports, and integration with a new micro FHIR terminology server. 

To learn more about this exciting initiative, visit the project website. 

Media Inquiries

Angshuman Sarkar

Thoughtworks

Email: angshus@thoughtworks.com

Kelly Kuru

SNOMED International

Email: comms@snomed.org