LONDON and CHICAGO, Jul. 29, 2021 -- SNOMED International is pleased to announce a new collaboration agreement with the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics to include the Academy’s Nutrition Care Process Terminology (NCPT) version 2020 in the International Edition of SNOMED CT.

 The NCPT supports the Academy’s Nutrition Care Process, which is a systematic approach to providing high-quality nutrition care that includes nutrition assessment, diagnosis, intervention and monitoring/evaluation. The Academy’s Nutrition Care Process Research Outcomes Committee developed and maintains the NCPT.

The agreement formalizes the work SNOMED and the Academy have been doing since 2017 when representatives from the Academy and other nutrition and dietetics associations around the world requested the inclusion of the NCPT in the SNOMED CT International Edition. SNOMED and the Academy established the NCPT Clinical Project Group, a SNOMED International project group which includes representatives from both organizations along with international users to guide and facilitate the work.

SNOMED International is the nonprofit organization that owns and maintains SNOMED CT, the world’s most comprehensive clinical terminology with more than 350,000 concepts ranging across diagnosis, signs and symptoms and tens of thousands of surgical, therapeutic and diagnostic procedures.

“We are extremely pleased to be able to formalize this collaborative effort,” said SNOMED International CEO Don Sweete. “The inclusion of the NCPT in SNOMED CT further enhances the utility of the clinical terminology and aligns with our focus on social determinants of health; nutrition playing a key component of an individual's well-being.”

“This collaboration comes at an exciting time for health professionals around the world who provide food and nutrition services and care,” said registered dietitian nutritionist Kevin L. Sauer, the 2021-2022 President of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. “The NCPT is a necessary building block as we solve challenges like malnutrition in all its forms and food insecurity, now and in the future. The Academy has worked with dedicated subject matter experts to author and provide a well-defined nutrition terminology, and the integration of NCPT into SNOMED CT is a major breakthrough toward reaching these objectives.”

The five-year agreement governs the working relationship between the Academy and SNOMED International regarding the maintenance and updating of NCPT content in SNOMED CT. Related activities will also include developing an approach to the method and content of attribution, developing and maintaining processes based on changes to SNOMED CT over time, and to managing additions and changes to the NCPT. Both organizations will work together to build awareness of the benefits of this initiative among dietetic and nutrition professionals and will consider future collaborative activities based on emerging global requirements.

About the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics

Representing more than 112,000 credentialed nutrition and dietetics practitioners, the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics is the world’s largest organization of food and nutrition professionals. Headquartered in Chicago, Ill., the Academy is committed to improving the nation’s health and advancing the profession of dietetics through research, education and advocacy. Visit the Academy at www.eatright.org.