the full IHTSDO?Advisory Group Manual,?w here you can read more about how the AGs w ill function. The seven new Advisory Groups are:

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Join an IHTSDO Advisory Group

by Juliet Gole-Krarup, Association

Coordinator

IHTSDO is form ing seven new Advisory Groups to conduct specific activities that w ill

contribute to the fulfillm ent of the Managem ent Team?s

responsibilities or the organization?s m andate. The Advisory Groups w ill be chaired by Managem ent Team m em bers and w ill be agile in nature, given the changing needs and direction of the organization. At the beginning of each year, the Advisory Groups w ill develop a group w ork plan outline, determ ine w hether Task and Finish

sub- groups are required, outline any resource requirem ents, and lay out a set of m easures in order to m easure the progress of the applicable group w ork plan. The organization, w ith the approval of the Managem ent Board, m ay elect to seek approval for a separate budget item in the annual budget to assist the Advisory Groups in the com pletion of their approved w ork plans.

The nom ination period is now open. The deadline for

nom inations is Friday, 14 August 2015.

To apply, please go to http://tinyurl.com /ou9xyn7

The link above w ill also take you to

the full IHTSDO ?Advisory Group Manual,? w here you can read m ore about how the AGs w ill function.

The seven new Advisory Groups are:

Content Managers:

Chaired by the Head of Term inology, it w ill include a representative of each Mem ber country w ith its ow n national extension plus four representatives of the Mem ber countries that do not have national extensions. Its purpose is to assist IHTSDO in setting priorities for its content developm ent w ork, to undertake som e content developm ent w ork to augm ent IHTSDO?s content developm ent capacity, and to review and provide feedback on IHTSDO?s ongoing content developm ent w ork.

Please dow nload the Term s of Reference docum ent here for full details of the Group?s purpose, scope and m em bership.

E- Learning:

Chaired by the Head of Education, it w ill be the successor the

E- Learning Reference Group. The group w ill facilitate delivery of E- Learning products and services that address requirem ents of Mem bers and other stakeholders for developm ent of know ledge and skills related to Cont...

In this issue:

Join an IHTSDO Advisory Group:

Standing Com m ittees com ing in for a landing, Advisory Groups ready for take off (pages 1 & 2)

Positions Open: IHTSDO

Managem ent Board:

Apply to be one of up to five new MB m em bers (page 2)

SNOMED CT - Becom ing the

Multi- Lingual Standard it?s Meant

To Be

(page 3)

SNOMED CT E- Learning:

An update from IHTSDO?s Education Team (page 4)

IHTSDO and INSERM Collaborate

to Link SNOMED CT and

Orphanet?s Rare Disease

Nom enclature:

(page 5)

Drug Concept Model Project

Group:

A new and im portant resource for the Mem ber Forum (page 5)

Vendor Introduction Guide to

SNOMED CT:

The launch of an extensive program m e of vendor engagem ent (page 6)

SNOMED CT Expo 2015: Call for

Papers & Posters:

(page 6)

Brazil Joins as a Mem ber:

(page 7)

Consultant Term inologist

Program Update:

2015?s cohort is announced (page 7)

Proposed Deprecation of

SNOMED CT to ICD-9- CM

Epidem eological and Statistical

Map:

(page 8)

Proposed Deprecation and

Withdraw al of Support of

SNOMED CT Release Form at 1

(RF1):

(page 9)

IHTSDO New sletter | Q2 2015

Newsletter

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SNOMED CT and other IHTSDO products and

services. Each Mem ber w ill be perm itted to nom inate som eone, and there w ill also be tw o expert advisors selected for skill and expertise.

Modeling:

Chaired by the Digital Product Architect, it w ill com prise eight people selected for various skills plus four IHTSDO staff m em bers. It purpose is to advise the MT on clinical know ledge and inform ation m odeling.?

SNOMED CT Editorial:

Chaired by the Head of Term inology, it w ill com prise four external Consultant Term inologists (or

individuals w ith sim ilar standing and experience) to provide advice and guidance on issues related to the editorial policy underpinning developm ent and m aintenance of SNOMED CT content.? It w ill be a resource for the SNOMED CT Editorial Panel.?

Softw are Developm ent:

Chaired by the Head of Technical Services, it w ill be a skills- based group that w ill be integral to

docum enting and providing the governance around

the Open Tooling Fram ew ork open source com m unity. It w ill also be a regular forum for

providing softw are developers involved in re- using or developing IHTSDO tools w ith the latest inform ation and essential updates on the IHTSDO's softw are developm ent practices and tools and services.? Please dow nload the Term s of Reference docum ent here for full details of the Group?s purpose, scope and m em bership.

Term inology Release:

Chaired by the Digital Product Architect, it w ill be a skills- based group that w ill advise on standards, business processes and docum entation related to the production, productization, quality assurance,

packaging and distribution of SNOMED CT and derivative products.

Tooling User:

Chaired by the Head of Technical Services, the group w ill com prise Mem ber representatives and be a forum for providing group m em bers and end users of IHTSDO tools w ith the latest inform ation and

essential updates on the IHTSDO's tools and services. It w ill also allow group m em bers and end users to provide IHTSDO feedback on existing tools, provide input into future tools, and be involved in testing tools.?

Positions Open: IHTSDO Managem ent Board

The International Health Term inology Standards Developm ent Organisation is calling for applications for up to five positions on the IHTSDO Managem ent Board. Managem ent Board m em bers serve tw o- year term s, w hich m ay be renew ed, beginning in October. Each year the Managem ent Board m eets face- to- face at least three tim es and holds at least three additional teleconferences. Face- to- face m eeting locations are London (UK) and a variety of other locations around the w orld.

Application Process:

Com plete inform ation is available at: http://tinyurl.com /p4k6xbs

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SNOMED CT

-Becom ing the Multi- Lingual Standard it's Meant To Be

By Anna Adelöf, Customer Relations Lead EMEA

SNOMED CT is the global clinical term inology, but in order for it to com e into com m on use around the w orld and consequently launch the im provem ent in interoperability and healthcare, it benefits from being translated into local languages.

Other than the English language prim ary release form at of SNOMED CT (nam ed SNOMED CT International release), only a Spanish translation is m anaged directly by IHTSDO. There are also a num ber of translations of SNOMED CT that

are m anaged by Mem ber countries. These have been created according to the IHTSDO translation

principles and access to these translations can be retrieved through the relevant National Release Center.

As the m em bership of IHTSDO continues to grow, m any m ore non- native English speaking countries are joining. It is therefore anticipated that the desire for translations w ill only increase. For som e countries the need for translation m ay be a barrier to adopting SNOMED CT and becom ing a Mem ber of the

IHTSDO. IHTSDO therefore supports Mem ber country translations of SNOMED CT through guidance and financial support.

Our Mem bers have created and continue to m aintain a num ber of National Extensions and translations. The ones that are available today are:

- Australia: SCT AU, National Extension including Australian English

- Canada: SCT CA, National Extension including English and French com ponents

- Denm ark: SCT DK, National Extension including a

full Danish translation

- Netherlands: SCT NL, National Extension including a Dutch translation

- New Zealand: SCT NZ, National Extension - Spain: SCT ES, National Extension including

European Spanish

- Sw eden: SCT SE, National Extension including a full Sw edish translation

- United Kingdom : SCT UK, National Extension including UK English

- United States: SCT US, National Extension Additionally, a num ber of our other Mem bers are w orking on m aking their first translated release, these countries are:

- Belgium (French and Dutch)

- Chile (national extension of International Spanish edition) - Estonia - Lithuania - Portugal - Poland - Slovak Republic

- Uruguay (national extension of International Spanish edition)

In conclusion, a lot has happened in the last year or so and IHTSDO is happy to see that the language of SNOMED CT has expanded and can be understood by a larger num ber around the w orld. We continue w orking w ith our Mem bers ensuring good and trusted translations, and w e look forw ard adding m ore languages to our library. If you w ish to learn m ore about these extensions/translations please contact the National Release center in question, or em ail us at [email protected].

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SNOMED CT E- Learning Update

By David Markwell, Head of Education

SNOMED CT is a pow erful m odern clinical term inology, but gaps in know ledge and

understanding lead to a view that it is just a large and com plex code system . To address those gaps,

IHTSDO is now delivering and enhancing its

E- Learning service. Enthusiasm for the SNOMED CT Foundation Course has led to over 1700 people being offered places on the course this year. How ever, there is m ore to do to build on that foundational know ledge and encourage deeper understanding of our term inology.

The first tw o Foundation Course intakes have com pleted and another intake is just starting. So far 260 people have successfully com pleted the course and a few m ore are on track to

com plete in the next few days. The latest Foundation Course intake started on June 1st w ith over 500 new learners and 700 m ore are due to start in

Septem ber.

Due to the high dem and for these courses and lim itations of the E- Learning platform used for the first tw o course intakes, w e investigated m ore scalable

solutions. With the support of our technical team , w e w ere able to sw itch over to a new platform in

tim e for the Foundation Course intake on June 1st. The new platform is a Moodle- based server hosted and m anaged by IHTSDO. The m igration has been sm ooth though a little tim e- consum ing. It is already clear that this w ill be easier to use and m aintain going forw ard, as w ell as being m ore scalable and flexible. We are continuing to m ake adjustm ents to the presentation of m aterials, but the new server is already providing an im proved service for enrolled learners on the Foundation Course and the

upcom ing Im plem entation Course. You can take a look at the new server at

http://elearning.ihtsdotools.org. Som e presentations are now publicly accessible and in the next few w eeks all our existing E- Learning m aterials w ill be

Center w eb page. We w ill then have a single consistent source of online training services.

What next?

As the new platform allow s m ore scalable self- paced course delivery, w e w ill begin regular m onthly intakes to the Foundation Course. Application w ill reopen on August 24th and w ill stay open

indefinitely. From that point forw ard, our target w ill be to allow all applicants to start the course w ithin four to eight w eeks of applying.

We are also busy developing m ore advanced courses for those w ho have com pleted the Foundation Course. Fifty people have recently been enrolled on the first 'pilot' intake of the Im plem entation Course w hich w ill start in early July. The IHTSDO Content

Team is also w orking w ith us and the UK National Release Center to develop a content editors course. This course is initially aim ed at National Release Center staff in Mem ber countries that are developing or planning to

develop a National Extension. The first 'pilot' intake is expected to start the course at the end of this year.

Currently w e only provide E- Learning services in English. How ever, w e know that this is an obstacle for som e learners. We are therefore w orking w ith a num ber of IHTSDO Mem bers to enable them to develop translated versions of the courses. We recognize that this is unlikely to m eet everyone's needs for m ore accessible m aterials, so w e are also looking at options for adding subtitles or w ritten scripts to presentations to facilitate learning.

Expo Tutorials:

In addition to E- Learning developm ent, the Education and Content team s are also preparing tutorial m aterials that w e and our colleagues in Uruguay w ill deliver during the SNOMED CT Expo in Montevideo on 29th and 30th October 2015.

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IHTSDO and INSERM Collaborate to Link SNOMED CT and

Orphanet?s Rare Disease Nom enclature

By Jane Millar, Head of Collaboration

The IHTSDO and INSERM (Institut national de la santé et de la recherche m édicale, Paris) has recently signed a Collaboration Agreem ent to link SNOMED CT and Orphanet (w w w.orpha.net). Orphanet produces a rare diseases nom enclature. It is

supported by the European Union but used globally to facilitate collation of inform ation about rare diseases.

The tw o organizations have developed a detailed joint w ork plan w hich m eans that over the next year IHTSDO w ill w ork to ensure that the relevant content in Orphanet is represented in SNOMED CT, and INSERM w ill w ork on a resulting m apping table w hich w ill then be available from IHTSDO alongside the SNOMED CT content.

This is an exciting collaboration w hich both organizations have sought for som e tim e and are pleased to now have in place, w ith expectation that this w ill lead to other collaborative activity.

For IHTSDO this is seen as a key building block to

start to support the field of Genom ics, providing the link from inform ation collected at point of care to research and innovation in this very im portant area of m edicine.

IHTSDO's Jane Millar and Ian Green with the INSERM team

Drug Concept Model Project Group

By Toni Morrison, Senior Terminologist

One outcom e of the IHTSDO Business Meeting in Copenhagen in April 2015 w as a recom m endation to establish a Drug Concept Model Project Group, reporting to the Mem ber Forum . This Project Group w ill support the strategic goals of the IHTSDO and its Mem ber countries by developing, testing, and

docum enting a drug concept m odel(s) suitable for use by Mem ber countries as the basis for populating drug content in a national extension.

In the tim e since the Business Meeting, w e have been busy creating briefing papers, term s of reference, and perform ing needed follow up w ith the Mem ber Forum .

In addition to the w ork to be perform ed by the Drug Concept Model Project Group, the IHTSDO team w ill create, and distribute for m em ber review and

com m ent, a Technology Preview for a revised

Products hierarchy using only a Medicinal Entity concept class (an abstract representation of active ingredients in a drug product) prior to the IHTSDO Business Meeting in October 2015.

A long- term roadm ap for drug product- related content w ill be created based on the outcom e of the concept m odel developm ent and feedback received about the Technology Preview.

For m ore details, or to inquire about becom ing a m em ber of the Project Group, please contact your Mem ber Forum representative, or your IHTSDO Custom er Relation Lead (Liara Tutina, Anna Adelof, or Shelley Lipon).

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Vendor Introduction Guide to SNOMED CT

By David Markwell, Head of Education

IHTSDO is launching an extensive program m e of vendor engagem ent underpinned by a

com prehensive Vendor Engagem ent Strategy. As part of that, IHTSDO is pleased to publish its Vendor Introduction to SNOMED CT. The guide is targeted at people engaged in the developm ent of electronic health record (EHR) system s and other related services and applications in healthcare inform ation technology. It w ill also be of interest to a broader audience including anyone engaged in designing, developing, procuring, deploying, configuring or m anaging EHR system s and services.

The Vendor Introduction to SNOMED CT provides an inform ative practical introduction to SNOMED CT focused prim arily on the needs of vendors and developers of EHRs. It identifies key benefits for vendors arising from im plem enting SNOMED CT; provides a brief description of the key characteristics of SNOMED CT; acknow ledges that the diverse nature of EHR system s, as w ell as the w ide scope of SNOMED CT, m eans that there can be no universal approach for im plem enting SNOMED CT in system s; introduces ten w ays in w hich SNOMED CT can be used in EHR system s; discusses potential SNOMED CT im plem entation strategies; covers a num ber of

considerations that arise out of em bedding SNOMED CT into an EHR system ; describes the three types of license that govern use of SNOMED CT; provides links to m any of the key resources for further learning about SNOMED CT, and offers high- level guidance on w ays to deliver a positive user

experience of SNOMED CT as part of an EHR system . The Vendor Introduction to SNOMED CT provides an authoritative introduction and points readers to other SNOMED CT docum entation for detailed inform ation. Basic inform ation about SNOMED CT including its benefits can be found in the SNOMED CT Starter Guide. In- depth technical inform ation can be found in the Technical Im plem entation Guide and other guides. All these and others are available from the SNOMED CT Docum ent Library.

The link to the Vendor Introduction to SNOMED CT, other SNOMED CT docum entation and the SNOMED CT Docum ent Library are below :

http://snom ed.org/vendorintro.pdf http://snom ed.org/snom edct_starter.pdf http://snom ed.org/tig.pdf

http://snom ed.org/doc

SNOMED CT Expo 2015: Call for Papers & Posters

By Fleur McBriar, Events & Business Support

IHTSDO invites you to subm it a proposal for a presentation or poster for the SNOMED CT Expo 2015, to be held from the 29th-30th October in Montevideo, Uruguay.

Key Dates:

- Friday, 10th July ? Call for subm issions closes (review by Program Com m ittee begins)

- Friday, 24th July ? Proposers inform ed w hether their subm issions have been accepted

- Friday, 14th August ? Final abstracts required from presenters (for the Expo program ) - Monday, 12th October ? Final date to receive

electronic copies of posters and slide decks See the Call for Papers at:

Subm it your proposal by em ail to: snom [email protected]

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Brazil Applies To Be a Mem ber

By Shelley Lipon, Customer Relations Lead, Americas

Exciting tim es for IHTSDO as w e w ill soon w elcom e Brazil as our new est Mem ber. During the April Business Meeting in Copenhagen, representatives from the Ministry of Health for Brazil form ally subm itted their application for m em bership to our CEO. This day w as a long tim e in the m aking as

discussions w ith Brazil had been going on for num erous years. There is expected to be an official announcem ent by their Minister in the upcom ing m onths, once form alities have been com pleted. Brazil is looking forw ard to theirfirst m eeting as a form al Mem ber in Uruguay in October.

Consultant Term inologist Program Update

By Cathy Richardson, Senior Terminologist

At the beginning of June the 2015 cohort of

Consultant Term inologist?s com m enced their

program . The m entoring program is designed to

enable participants to develop the skills to

undertake advanced term inology developm ent

tasks. Over the next 12 m onths each of the

participants w ill w ork on four content

developm ent projects as w ell as a group project.

Selected from a strong field of candidates this

year?s cohort includes Maria Braithw aite, Elaine

Wooler, Sim on Harry, Sarita Keni, Monique van

Berkum and David Sperzel.

Consultant Term inologist?s m ust recertify every

three years to rem ain on the IHTSDO register,

and in April this year Jim Case, Bruce Goldberg

and Guillerm o Reynoso w ere approved by the

Managem ent Board for recertification. Over the

next few m onths w e should also see several new

Certified Consultants as the 2014 cohort

com plete their projects.

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Proposed Deprecation of SNOMED CT to

ICD-9- CM Epidem eological and Statistical Map

You are invited to participate in the public consultation stage of a proposed IHTSDO deprecation of the SNOMED CT to ICD-9- CM Epidem iological and Statistical Map. The consultation stage w ill run from 20 July to 20 Septem ber 2015. Participants w ill be able to review and com m ent on, via an online form , the

deprecation docum ent, including the proposed plan and tim eline. The deprecation docum ent and the link to the feedback form w ill be available on the IHTSDO w ebsite

at http://w w w.ihtsdo.org/new s- articles during the consultation period.

Scope:

The SNOMED CT to ICD-9- CM Epidem iological and Statistical Map includes m aps from the SNOMED CT Clinical Findings to ICD-9- CM 2012, the last updated version.

Reason for deprecation:

The World Health Organization stopped

m aintenance of ICD-9 in the 1990s w hen ICD-10 cam e into use by the WHO Mem ber States. The United States (U.S.) National Center for Health Statistics is responsible for m aintenance of the clinical m odification (CM) of ICD-9. The last regular, annual update to ICD-9- CM code w as on October 1, 2011.

The target system (ICD-9- CM 2012) for the SNOMED CT to ICD-9- CM Epidem iological and Statistical Map is being replaced w ith ICD-10- CM, a new er

classification. The ow ners of ICD-9- CM consequently no longer w ill be m aintaining and updating it. With the adoption of ICD-10- CM or other m odifications of the WHO version of ICD-10, the SNOMED CT to ICD-9- CM Epidem iological and Statistical Map usage w ill end.

ICD-9- CM Replacem ent:

ICD-10- CM or other m odifications of the WHO version of ICD-10. ICD-10- CM w as developed by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), the (U.S.) Federal agency responsible for use of the

International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problem s, 10th revision (ICD-10).

Proposal for new artifact:

None. The U.S. National Library of Medicine is responsible for the SNOMED CT to ICD-10- CM m ap.

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The IHTSDO New sletter provides new s and features from IHTSDO, delivering SNOMED CT. If you have com m ents on the editorial content, then please contact the editor, Fleur McBriar, at fm [email protected]

Proposed Deprecation and Withdraw al of Support

of SNOMED CT Release Form at 1 (RF1)

You are invited to participate in the public consultation stage of a proposed IHTSDO

deprecation and w ithdraw al of support of RF1. The consultation stage w ill run from 17 July to 1 October 2015. Participants w ill be able to review and

com m ent on, via an online form , the deprecation docum ent, including the proposed plan and

tim eline. The deprecation docum ent and the link to the feedback form w ill be available on the IHTSDO w ebsite at http://w w w.ihtsdo.org/new s- articles during the consultation period.

Reason for Deprecation:

Three of the nine founding IHTSDO Mem bers currently distribute the RF1 version of SNOMED CT. The num ber of IHTSDO Mem bers has tripled to 27 since RF2 superseded RF1 as the authoritative SNOMED CT distribution form at. Only one- ninth of the IHTSDO Mem bership currently uses the outdated distribution form at. There is no longer a business case for IHTSDO to allocate resources to m aintaining and m itigating risks associated w ith this outdated form at.

In addition, RF1 has w ell docum ented design flaw s. Its derivation from RF2 introduces potential safety risks, resulting from possible anom alies in the

m anually curated Com patibility Package. The design flaw s have been corrected in RF2. By deprecating these obsolete artifacts, IHTSDO w ill reduce risk and

save resources, and it w ill be able to focus on a m ore stream lined, accurate, efficient and safe product line.

Scope:

The scope includes RF1 files distributed as part of the six- m onthly release of the SNOMED CT International Edition. These files are distributed in the package called ?Snom edCT_RF1Release_INT_yyyyddm m?. These files contain the SNOMED CT term inology, the ICD- O m ap, and VTM and VMP subsets. These

products w ill continue to be available in the RF2 distribution. The RF1 canonical relationship file and RF1 developer toolkit w ill be w ithdraw n, pending the prioritization of replacem ent products to be included in the RF2 distribution.