SNOMED International and LOINC® by Regenstrief announce their renewed agreement and upcoming production release of the LOINC® Ontology: A LOINC and SNOMED CT interoperability solution.
Renewed commitment
Although the main focus of the renewed collaboration agreement is the release of the LOINC Ontology, it also continues the work initiated in 2022, including the adoption of working practices that facilitate the use and interoperability of the terminology standards both organizations produce. It will also focus on ensuring that stakeholders/users globally have clear direction on the use of the standards, whether together or individually, and that an effective interoperability solution is available to users when both standards are implemented in the same system.
The upcoming release is the result of the renewed collaboration between the two organizations that began in 2022 and continued in 2023 with the technical preview of the ontology, building on the relationship formed more than a decade ago.
The ontology, colloquially referred to as the LOINC Extension, is slated for release at the end of March 2025 and will initially cover quantitative laboratory tests. After the initial production release, Regenstrief plans to issue the release twice a year (March and September) following the twice annual LOINC release. To keep up to date on important project news including informational release webinars, subscribe to receive updates.
What is the LOINC Ontology?
The LOINC Ontology supports providers and users who implement different combinations of SNOMED CT and LOINC in health information systems and allows them to meet clinical and regulatory requirements in a single solution. An extension of SNOMED CT’s ontological framework, the ontology creates SNOMED CT and LOINC codes for all concepts that are shared between the terminologies. SNOMED CT provides the computable framework and LOINC provides laboratory and pathology content in an understood format to countries that do not currently use LOINC.
The goals of the collaboration are to improve health and better care through standardized terminology and to make it easy for implementers to take a unified approach to implementing both standards. It minimizes duplication of effort between Regenstrief and SNOMED International, gives implementers a choice of which codes to use, and provides a single solution that meets clinical and regulatory requirements globally. As part of this joint effort, SNOMED International subject matter experts have worked with the LOINC team to provide ontological guidance, modelling, relevant content specialization and technical support. Regenstrief, however, continues to own and manage the ontology.
The March 2025 release will include more than 35,000 concepts, including quantitative lab tests and the top 200 most used lab tests ordered. Domains of information (lab, clinical, documents, radiology, survey instruments) will be added incrementally. We will link existing SNOMED CT concepts to existing LOINC content where applicable and new LOINC codes will be created as needed. LOINC Parts will be mapped to SNOMED concepts, and new SNOMED CT concepts will be created as needed.
Over the next few months, both organizations will also focus on developing implementation resources, including jointly developed guidance, tangible pilots and opportunities for community engagement, to better understand implementers’ experiences.
LOINC, short for Logical Observation Identifiers Names and Codes, is a worldwide standard used in 193 countries and available in 20 languages for identifying health measurements, observations and documents enabling the identification, exchange and collection of data across health systems. Created and maintained at Regenstrief Institute, the system is free to use.
SNOMED CT, with more than 360,000 concepts, is the most comprehensive, multilingual clinical healthcare terminology in the world.
“It is extremely gratifying to see the progress that the LOINC and SNOMED CT teams have made over the past year in developing the production release of the LOINC Ontology,” says SNOMED International Chief Executive Officer Don Sweete. “While our end goal is, jointly, to support the delivery of better patient care worldwide, a big piece of that is enabling providers and other users of the ontology with a less complex, more integrated approach that eliminates the challenges posed by using two separate health data standards.”
The upcoming release of the LOINC Ontology reflects the strength and dedication of our partnership with SNOMED International,” says Marjorie Rallins, DPM, M.S., Executive Director of LOINC and Health Data Standards at Regenstrief. “By combining the robust capabilities of both standards, we’re delivering an integrated solution that simplifies implementation for healthcare providers and promotes seamless data exchange. This collaboration is a pivotal step toward improving interoperability and supporting better health outcomes globally.”
Visit snomed.org and loinc.org for more information on each standard. Visit loincsnomed.org for more information on the LOINC Ontology and review the frequently asked questions.
Contacts:
Regenstrief Institute
John Erickson
Email: prteam@regenstrief.org
SNOMED International
Kelly Kuru
Email: comms@snomed.org