An Approach for Implementation of SNOMED-CT in Healthcare Information Systems

Systematized Nomenclature of Medicine - Clinical Terms (SNOMED-CT) is an international clinical reference terminology for use in health care information systems. However, there are several legacy systems operational in medical facilities which do not conform to standards and terminologies, primarily because they were not enforced while conceiving such systems, and also since health care is still an evolving domain in developing nations. However, recent developments in health care directed towards ubiquitous service provisioning and delivery mandate system interoperability and compliance with health standards. This paper discusses the challenges and strategies adopted for resolution in implementing SNOMED-CT in the Healthcare Information Systems (HIS) developed by the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (CDAC) in India, which is operational across multiple government medical facilities in the country. The discussion presented in this paper would be useful to health care practitioners and technology developers for developing implementation strategies for incorporating compliance of legacy health care IT systems with SNOMED-CT.