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Our partners
SNOMED International has an active program of partnering with international standards development organizations, professional clinical bodies and commercial organizations. The goal is to facilitate the use of SNOMED CT with other international standards and profiles.
The SNOMED CT Included badge represents content fully integrated as part of SNOMED CT.
While partners retain ownership of their content, SNOMED International manages, produces, releases and distributes it as part of SNOMED CT.
The focus of partnerships is to enhance consistency in meaningful data capture and information exchange and to improve safety, while enhancing functionality and enabling interoperability for the growing number of healthcare professions that use and exchange electronic health records using SNOMED CT and related products.
Some of the resulting products include mappings, SNOMED CT subsets and guidance on the use of SNOMED CT alongside, and integrated with, other standards.
Clinical partnerships
Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics
In 2021, SNOMED International announced 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.
American Academy of Periodontology & European Federation of Periodontology
Effective as of October 1, 2021 for a five-year term, the collaboration struck with the American Academy of Periodontology (AAP) and the European Federation of Periodontology (EFP) emerged from the need identified by the SNOMED International Dentistry Clinical Reference Group (CRG) to update and augment the periodontal content in SNOMED CT.
To ensure periodontal content within SNOMED CT is in line with current practice, the Dentistry CRG advised incorporation of content from the Classification of Periodontal and Peri-Implant Diseases and Conditions, jointly published by the AAP and the EFP.
American Dental Association
The American Dental Association (ADA) is not-for-profit and the largest professional association for dentistry in the United States, representing more than 157,000 dentist members. It is the premier source of oral health information in the United States, if not the entire world, and has advocated for the public’s health as well as promoted the art and science of dentistry since 1859. It has developed and continues to develop the SNODENT dental diagnostic code set.
American Joint Committee on Cancer
In July 2022, the American College of Surgeons (ACS) and SNOMED International entered into a licensing agreement to include agreed upon American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) references in SNOMED CT. The AJCC is administered by the Chicago-based American College of Surgeons.
American Medical Association
The American Medical Association (AMA) and SNOMED International have a collaborative agreement to coordinate on the design and development of their respective coding and terminology products.
The AMA works collaboratively alongside other leading standards-development organizations (SDOs) like SNOMED International to advance our mutual missions to seek the clear and timely exchange of clinical information across health systems as part of our pursuit of safe, effective and patient-driven health care.
European Renal Dialysis Association
SNOMED International and the European Renal Dialysis Association - European Dialysis and Transplant Association in December 2017 signed a SNOMED CT Licensing Agreement. This built on a previous research agreement that ERA-EDTA had to use SNOMED CT for Primary Renal Disease (PRD) in the ERA-EDTA registry, clarifying further the use of SNOMED CT and how the SNOMED CT content should be managed over time. The SNOMED CT Licensing Agreement is for 5 years and on review can be renewed for a further 5 years.
This provides a free set of the primary renal disease content for use in the Renal Registry. As of May 2022, the Renal Registry became solely managed by ERA, and will be referred to as the ERA Free Set. This free set is also included as part of SNOMED International's Global Patient Set.
Global Alliance for Genomics and Health
SNOMED International, as part of its commitment to developing its approach to Genomics, has become a member of the Global Alliance for Genomics and Health. As a member, SNOMED International contribute to work to identify content requirements, and to provide support for the interoperability challenges faced by the global genomics community.
INSERM
In February 2020, the Institut national de la santé et de la recherche médicale (Inserm) and SNOMED International took steps to renew their relationship governing the rare disease content included in SNOMED CT. Orphanet, the Inserm unit dedicated to knowledge on rare diseases, maintains the Orphanet nomenclature of rare diseases (ORPHA codes) and provides a multilingual database of information related to rare diseases and orphan drugs.
A relationship initially forged in 2015, the objective of the agreement is to improve the visibility of rare diseases in terminologies and promote interoperability among different codification and terminology systems, such as SNOMED CT for the benefit of their shared users globally.
International Council of Nurses
On August 11 2020, SNOMED International and the International Council of Nurses (ICN) announced that they had again joined forces, this time with an agreement that has paved the way for the International Classification for Nursing Practice (ICNP) to be managed, produced, released and distributed by SNOMED International, fully integrated as part of SNOMED CT.
This agreement, which is the culmination of years of collaboration between the two organizations, will see ICN retain ownership of ICNP and continue to define its content so that it meets the needs of the global nursing profession. The agreement aligns with increasing global health digitisation, the widespread use of SNOMED CT-enabled electronic health records (EHR), and the documentation of ICNP-specific content by nurses around the world.
The key aspect of the agreement is the incorporation of ICNP 2019 into SNOMED CT and the consequent production and distribution of an ICNP 2019 SNOMED CT reference set by SNOMED International on behalf of ICN with subsequent annual releases.
In October 2021, SNOMED International and ICN announced the production release of a new reference set, the International Classification of Nursing Practice (ICNP) SNOMED CT Nursing Practice Refset.
International Diet Dysphagia Standardisation Initiative
In 2022, SNOMED International and the International Diet Dysphagia Standardisation Initiative (IDDSI) signed an agreement to incorporate IDDSI Framework v2.0 content into SNOMED CT to enable use in electronic health records globally.
The agreement has been driven by community requests as well as by the need identified by the SNOMED International Nutrition Care Process Terminology (NCPT) Clinical Project Group to include IDDSI Framework v2.0 content in order to facilitate the inclusion of NCPT in SNOMED CT.
International League Against Epilepsy
In 2022, SNOMED International and the International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE) signed a five-year agreement to contribute global improvements in care and services for people with epilepsy, a group of disorders characterized by recurrent seizures.
The ILAE Commission for Big Data and SNOMED International have established an Epilepsy Clinical Project Group. Members of this group will work together to define processes to maintain and update epilepsy content within the international edition of SNOMED CT’s clinical terminology, the world’s most comprehensive healthcare terminology product.
Commercial
IBM Watson
In March 2017, SNOMED International and IBM announced that Watson Health will adopt SNOMED CT for use in Watson Health offerings in support of IBM’s commitment to comprehensive standardization of patient data worldwide.
Standards partnerships
DICOM
In March 2016, SNOMED International and the DICOM Standards Committee signed a SNOMED CT Licensing Agreement. This was the first agreement between the two organizations, clarifying the use of SNOMED CT in DICOM standards and how the SNOMED CT content should be managed over time. The SNOMED CT Licensing Agreement is for 5 years.
In 2021, SNOMED International and DICOM formally extended their longstanding agreement to publish a SNOMED CT Freeset of coded concepts in the Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) Standard.
GS1
In April 2016, IHTSDO and GS1 signed a Collaboration Agreement focusing on specific areas of joint work, building on a previous Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) established to facilitate liaison between the two organizations and committing to closer working to ensure compatibility between our respective standards where appropriate.
The agreement will be reviewed and evaluated to explore how the two organizations may continue to collaborate in 2023.
Global Medical Device Nomenclature Agency
In 2012, SNOMED International and Global Medical Device Nomenclature Agency (GMDNA), the organization responsible for the international Global Medical Device Nomenclature© (GMDN), signed a 5 year Cooperation Agreement. A key focus of the Agreement was to exchange, harmonize and incorporate medical device term descriptions from each other to enhance the end-to-end patient risk and safety use cases in healthcare systems incorporating medical device information.
HL7 International
In July 2019, Health Level Seven® Inc. and SNOMED International announced another 2 year collaboration agreement, building on previous agreements in 2009, 2014 and 2016. The agreement again is aimed at improving interoperability, thus focusing on the adoption of working practices that facilitate the use of SNOMED CT with HL7 standards globally. As previously, both organisations are working towards avoiding duplication of effort and resolving issues related to gaps and overlaps.
The agreement recently renewed in 2021, target activities have been planned up to July 2023, at which point a review of delivered work products and upcoming activities will be undertaken.
IHE International
In April 2019, IHE International and SNOMED International formally announced a license agreement encouraging data consistency and interoperability across international boundaries, with benefits for clinical care, research and operational efficiency.
International Council for Harmonisation of Technical Requirements for Pharmaceuticals for Human Use
In 2021, SNOMED International and the International Council for Harmonisation of Technical Requirements for Pharmaceuticals for Human Use (ICH) announced the release of important new maps between global medical terminologies SNOMED CT and MedDRA. This collaborative effort was the first deliverable of a new agreement entered into between SNOMED International and ICH.
Joint Initiative Council
The Joint Initiative Council for Global Health Informatics Standardization (JIC) was formed to further the important role of health informatics standards to:
Enable interoperability of information and processes across health domains;
Support the timely, efficient delivery of safe, coordinated, accountable, high-quality health services to individuals, communities and populations; and,
Facilitate effective global markets for health information systems.
Visit http://www.jointinitiativecouncil.org/ for a list of participating Members.
LOINC®
In 2013, IHTSDO and Regenstrief Institute Inc. signed a long-term agreement to begin cooperative work linking their leading global health care terminologies: Logical Observation Identifiers Names and Codes, or LOINC®, and SNOMED CT.
In October 2022, the two organizations signed a new collaboration agreement facilitating the adoption of standardized terminology to support broadened interoperability of health data exchange around the globe with the goal of enhancing and improving the delivery of healthcare. The agreement also paved the way forward for coordinated use of SNOMED CT and LOINC® by both SNOMED International and Regenstrief, with each retaining editorial control of its respective standard.
In October 2023, and under the scope of the 2022 agreement, LOINC® from Regenstrief and SNOMED International commenced
generation of The LOINC Ontology: A LOINC and SNOMED CT interoperability solution.
World Health Organization
SNOMED International and WHO have experienced a formal collaborative relationship since 2010 when they first entered into a ground-breaking collaborative arrangement that would change the relationship between the two organizations and their respective standards, by enabling users of SNOMED CT to use WHO classifications jointly and interoperably.
In 2024, WHO and SNOMED International began exploring a joint sustainable framework to link ICD-11 and SNOMED CT.
Education partnerships
University of Eastern Finland
In 2020, the University of Eastern Finland and SNOMED International struck an agreement to deliver mutually agreed upon SNOMED CT educational content including the organization's professionally curated Foundation course, with the potential to also offer the Implementation Course and suite of Authoring courses. As a result of this agreement, the University of Eastern Finland will serve as an extension of the SNOMED International Education Program within parts of Finland and be empowered to issue course completion certificates and certifications as applicable.
Digital China Health
In 2019, Digital China Health and SNOMED International struck an agreement to deliver mutually agreed upon SNOMED CT educational content including the organization’s clinically and technically curated Foundation and Implementation courses, with the potential to also offer the organizations suite of Authoring courses for delivery. As part of this agreement, Digital China Health will serve as an extension of the SNOMED International Education Program within China and be empowered to issue course completion certificates and certifications as applicable.
Research partnerships
Human Phenotype Ontology
In 2022, the Monarch Initiative signed a five-year collaboration agreement with SNOMED International to develop maps from the clinical terminology SNOMED CT to Human Phenotype Ontology (HPO), a standardized vocabulary of phenotypic abnormalities encountered in human disease, and to HPO from SNOMED CT.
Observational Health Data Sciences and Informatics
In June 2022, the Observational Health Data Sciences and Informatics (OHDSI) community and SNOMED International formalized their long-time relationship with a five-year collaborative agreement that will benefit both of their user communities.
The collaboration provides OHDSI and its user community with comprehensive ontologies on specific healthcare domains and content such as devices, social determinants of health, disease severity scores and modifiers of cancers, as well as better concept definitions and resolutions of composite concepts in large-scale observational research.