Coded Conversations

A Clearer Path Forward: Introducing the SNOMED CT Maturity Framework and Assessment ToolEpisode 07: Show NotesSNOMED International has released a new Implementation Maturity Framework designed to help Members, vendors, and implementing organizations better understand their progress with SNOMED CT and identify the steps needed to reach their future goals. Built in response to community demand, the framework offers a structured, practical way to assess readiness, capability, and strategic alignment across a range of implementation domains.In this episode, Kelly Kuru, Chief Communications and Collaborations Officer, is joined by two of the three team members responsible for SNOMED International's implementation services approach: Anne Randorff Højen, Implementation Support Specialist, and Alejandro Lopez Osornio, Senior Implementation Specialist. Together, they explore the purpose of the new framework, how it was designed, and why it has become a central part of SNOMED International’s wider strategy to support Members. Anne and Alejandro unpack the five Key Process Areas (KPAs) that form the backbone of the framework, the three tailored assessment streams, and the new self-assessment tool that turns organizational reflection into actionable next steps.Key Points From This Episode:[01:11] An introduction to the new Implementation Maturity Framework.[03:50] How this framework aligns with SNOMED International’s 5-year strategy.[05:00] The three dedicated streams of the tool and how it meets distinct needs.[07:56] How the new assessment tool works and the five KPAs.[11:36] How SNOMED International is helping people understand how to use this tool.[14:06] The time required to complete a full assessment.[16:19] The final part: a downloadable report including your maturity index.[18:53] Key takeaways.Quotes:“The implementation maturity framework is really designed to help anyone involved in implementing SNOMED CT to understand where they are on their journey and what steps they might take next.” — Anne Randorff Højen [01:43]“We've had an implementation maturity model for several years, but the key enhancement in this new version of the framework is that it has a much broader perspective.” — Anne Randorff Højen [01:56]“A way to understand your progress is important, so you can design your processes, you can define your organizations, your human resources, your skills, your governance structure, so you can achieve those goals.” — Alejandro Lopez Osornio [0:04:16]“If [there’s] anything I can say about our implementation team here at SNOMED is that there is always continuous improvement and there is always a lot of activity in terms of new and exciting ways that we can try and support implementers.” — Kelly Kuru [0:13:47]Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:Alejandro Lopez OsornioAnne Randorff HøjenSNOMED CT Implementation Maturity FrameworkImplementation Maturity Assessment ToolSNOMED CT Implementation Support PortalKelly KuruSNOMED International 

Translating SNOMED CT: New tools, tactics and approachesEpisode 06: Show NotesSNOMED International produces a terminology intended to provide a standardized and structured way of representing clinical information so it can be accurately captured, shared, understood, and used across healthcare systems. For an international organization with more than 50 Member countries globally, translation is a pressing and constant challenge. In this episode, Kelly Kuru, Chief Collaborations & Communications Officer for SNOMED International, is joined by Ole Våge, chair of SNOMED’s Translation User Group and a terminologist at the Norwegian Health Directorate; Feikje Hielkema-Raadsveld, computational linguist at Nictiz, a Dutch knowledge organization for digital information provision in healthcare; and Kai Kewley, a technical specialist for SNOMED International's Implementation Support Team. Following the Translation User Group meeting held in Oslo in April 2025, these key participants discuss the need for accurate translations of SNOMED CT as more and more non-English speaking countries become Members, the complexities and logistics involved, and the different approaches taken by different countries. They also unpack how the SNOMED Translation User Group is advancing the translation of the terminology internationally, new and evolving tooling that SNOMED International has been developing, and how AI is being leveraged to support translation. Key Points from This Episode:[00:51] An introduction to the topic of translation.[02:26] The roles of the guests and the importance of translation.[04:29] The complexities of SNOMED CT implementation for non-English speaking countries.[05:41] The resources and logistics of translation.[07:08] Considerations for an international organization before becoming a member.[08:53] How different countries decide what they will or won’t translate.[11:10] Engagement and feedback on SNOMED’s translation and implementation internationally.[14:35] The evolution of the Translation User Group.[17:58] The development of tooling used for translation.[21:12] How AI is being leveraged to support translation.[23:45] What success looks like in the translation space.Quotes:“I think it's very important that we go to all this effort of translation because that's what enables us to use international code systems and you can't have interoperability with all kinds of local code systems.” — Feikje Hielkema-Raadsveld [0:03:29] “So when you're translating anything, there's always problems like words in languages that look alike, but don't mean the same thing, like false friends. There's a problem that languages have different concepts, different distinctions that they draw, that they have words for. So one of the examples we faced was SNOMED contains a concept for ‘giddy’ and it contains a concept for ‘dizzy.’ And in Dutch, that's both translated as ‘duizelig’. And actually, SNOMED contained a third concept as well, which was ‘giddy and dizzy.’ And that one really stumped us, obviously. So those are problems that you always face whatever you're translating. But SNOMED, it's more complex because for one thing, it's very important that you get it right. It's health care data. So even the finest distinction matters. Every concept is supposed to be unique. So if you arrive at the same translation, you have a problem that you need to solve. — Feikje Hielkema [04:38]“I think we have reached some kind of maturity now that instead of resolving individual translations, individual concepts, we are looking into what overarching issues are we facing when we translate ontology, which also depends on a certain culture.” — Ole Våge [0:16:25]“I feel really excited about this new effort being made because tooling was painful for us when we did this initial big translation. It helped us, but also caused some obstacles. So this, I think, would be a big next step for having high-quality translations of SNOMED CT in many countries.” — Ole Våge [0:20:48]Links mentioned in this episode:SNOMED’s Translation User GroupOle VågeNorwegian Health DirectorateFeikje Hielkema-RaadsveldNictizKai KewleyKelly KuruSNOMED InternationalSNOMED International Implementation Support PortalSNOMED International translation tools

The SNOMED-LOINC Collaboration: Advancing InteroperabilityEpisode 05: Show NotesLOINC (which stands for Logical Observations, Identifiers, Names, and Codes) is an international standard for identifying health measurements, observations, and documents. Over the past few years, SNOMED International and Regenstrief Institute, which oversees LOINC, have been collaborating on an exciting interoperability solution that will be released in the coming weeks.In this episode, Kelly Kuru, Chief Communications and Collaborations Officer at SNOMED International, is joined by Marjorie Rallins, Executive Director of Health Data Standards at LOINC, to discuss this collaboration. They delve into the importance of this joint effort in developing standards for digital health and interoperability. The conversation highlights the history and ongoing efforts to integrate SNOMED CT and LOINC. The episode also covers the technical aspects, challenges, and successes of this collaboration, emphasizing the mutual benefits for those involved and the positive impact it is likely to have on the global healthcare community. Key Points From This Episode:[01:29] An introduction to Marjorie Rallins and her role at LOINC.[03:44] The relationship between SNOMED and LOINC.[07:20] Working toward the shared goals of interoperable content. [10:02] What we can expect from this interoperability solution. [12:55] Examples of analytics use cases that will be enabled. [15:02] Release dates and update schedule. [17:51] The challenges and wins of this collaboration. Quotes:“And I really look at our two organizations, our communities, as really one community or a Venn diagram that overlaps almost completely.” — Marjorie Rallins [0:09:08]“We all gained from diversity of complementary skills and knowledge. We've talked about that in some of our joint discussions. And we've sort of experienced sustained and collective community interests.” — Marjorie Rallins [0:19:42]“We got some value out of being able to transform the LOINC terminology into the concept model in a way that we hadn't anticipated and that actually saved resources.” — Marjorie Rallins [0:19:59]Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:Marjorie RallinsRegenstrief InstituteLOINCThe LOINC OntologyKelly KuruSNOMED International

SNOMED CT + the Bahmni Coalition: Open-source electronic medical record makes digital health tech available in low-resource settings globallyEpisode 04: Show NotesThe mission of SNOMED International, the not-for-profit organization that owns, administers and develops SNOMED CT, the world’s most comprehensive clinical terminology, is to develop a global language for health -- uniting health systems from around the world and enabling them to communicate with and understand one another. As part of that goal, the organization also has a humanitarian mandate to develop tools and advance capabilities in digitally maturing countries with the goal of enabling more people around the globe to benefit from the use of SNOMED CT. To that end, in 2023 SNOMED International began a collaboration with the Bahmni Coalition, a group of organizations that have come together to steward the future of Bahmni, an open-source EMR specifically designed for use in low-resource healthcare settings. In 2024, SNOMED International official joined the Coalition.In this episode, SNOMED International Chief Communications and Collaborations Officer Kelly Kuru is joined by Nick Egharos, SNOMED International's Global Vendor Engagement Lead and Customer Relations Executive for the Middle East and Africa; and Satish Viswanathan, Head of Social Change and Sustainability for ThoughtworksIndia & Middle East, and a member of the governing committee of the Bahmni Coalition. They discuss how SNOMED CT has been integrated into the Bahmni EMR, and what this means for the low-resource countries where it is being used. Through the Coalition, the ecosystem using Bahmni has grown, leading to its adoption in more than 50 countries around the world. Tune in to hear about the evolution of this partnership and the plans for it going forward. Key points from this episode:The formation of the Bahmni Coalition and what it aims to do.How SNOMED got involved with Bahmni and the objectives that brought them together.The alignment of this partnership with SNOMED International’s humanitarian mandate. The phases of the project and what has already been achieved. An introduction to the Bahmni EMR and how it was built with open source. Insight into Bahmni’s use cases and global adoption. SNOMED’s ongoing role in the Bahmni Coalition.What it means for Bahmni to have SNOMED in its coalition.The input and feedback that the coalition is seeking to shape the future of Bahmni. Plans for the future of SNOMED and Bahmni’s continued work and areas of focus. Quotes:“By providing SNOMED for free in an open source EMR product, I think we're really trying to show that we're committed to the broad distribution of SNOMED globally, and super keen to find ways to distribute it in ways that allow us to maintain our ability to support SNOMED and yet give that broad access.” — Nick Egharos [0:05:48]“The credibility that having an organization like SNOMED as part of the Bahmni Coalition offers to countries and ministries of health worldwide can prove a real shot in the arm for adoption of open source technologies like Bahmni in digital healthcare settings worldwide.” — Satish Viswanathan [0:18:57]“We've already benefited from collaborating with the SNOMED team to enhance our understanding of terminology, but we also hope that with SNOMED’s deep clinical and terminology expertise, we'll also be able to get more feedback about the product itself and help shape the future of the product as we go forward.” — Satish Viswanathan [0:19:24]“In terms of additional enhancements, I think there's nothing but opportunity and there's a wide array of things we could do, but we want to make sure that as we move forward, we're building things that add value to the customers and to the Bahmni Coalition as a whole.” — Nick Egharos [0:22:51]Links mentioned in today’s episode:SNOMED InternationalThe Bahmni CoalitionSatish ViswanathanKelly KuruNick EgarhosBahmni + SNOMED CTBahmni roadmap consultationThoughtworksDigital Public Goods Alliance  

The International Patient Summary (or IPS) is an accessible standardized minimum health dataset for patients’ health information. In this episode, we delve into what it is, how it works, and the potential benefits it holds for patients, healthcare providers, and entire healthcare systems.For this conversation, Kelly Kuru, Chief Communications and Collaborations Officer at SNOMED International, is joined by two health information standards, business, and IPS subject matter experts: Robert Hausam and Michael Nusbaum. Both are active contributors to the IPS and its related governance. They also both serve as representative members of the Joint Initiative Council for Global Health Informatics Standardization (JIC), an organization focused on furthering the important role that health information standards play in enabling interoperability. Rob and Mike shed light on the development of the IPS since its inception, the collaborative efforts behind the initiative, and the drivers shaping its development and use. You’ll learn about the type of information included in the IPS, real-world examples of how it can be used, the milestones attained to date, and the challenges to its widespread adoption. Tune in to gain valuable insights into this groundbreaking initiative and its potential to revolutionize healthcare information sharing globally.Key Points from This Episode:An introduction to our guests, Rob Hausam and Mike Nusbaum, and their roles in the IPS.What the International Patient Summary (IPS) is and why it was created. The required information and some of the other items that may be included in the IPS.Insight into the Joint Initiative Council for Global Health Informatics Standardization (JIC).Why the IPS has become a priority for healthcare.The role of the G7 and other entities that have highlighted the importance of the IPS.Specific examples of IPS use cases.The milestones that the IPS has already reached and the ones ahead.Challenges and obstacles to its widespread adoption.How to learn more about the IPS.Quotes:“TheInternational Patient Summary is a minimal and a non-exhaustive set of basic clinical data of a patient, especially agnostic and condition-independent, but it's intended to be readily usable by all clinicians for unscheduled cross-border patient care.” — @rhausam[0:04:45]“What [the JIC has] resulted in now is a number of standards that are designed to work together, developed by different organizations but designed to be fully synchronized, which is really helpful to those who want to implement and use the IPS in their day-to-day activities.” — @mhnusbaum [0:07:25]“… in June 2021, when the G7, at their meeting in the UK, they actually issued a statement that declared the importance of collaboration and the use of the International Patient Summary very specifically.” — @mhnusbaum[0:08:07]“Everybody seems to be rallying around the IPS and the importance of the IPS because it’s one of the very first things that have ever been developed in the digital health world that is truly and uniquely international.” — @mhnusbaum[0:08:32]Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:Robert HausamMichael NusbaumKelly KuruSNOMED InternationalInternational Patient SummaryJoint Initiative Council for Global Health Informatics StandardizationG7 Health Ministers DeclarationGlobal Digital Health PartnershipHL7 International

Coded Conversations: The Entity Linking Challenge Episode 02: Show NotesThere are vast amounts of patient data captured in unstructured clinical data, making it challenging to analyze them and extract meaningful insights. However, by applying a standardized clinical terminology like SNOMED CT, healthcare organizations can convert this free-text data into a structured format that can be readily analyzed by computers, in turn stimulating the development of new medicines, treatment pathways and better patient outcomes. In this episode, SNOMED International Chief Digital Information Officer Rory Davidson is joined by Will Hardman, Artificial Intelligence (AI) specialist at UK-based AI consultancy Veratai, to discuss why SNOMED International has partnered with Veratai and PhysioNet, the research resource for complex physiologic signals that is managed by members of the MIT Laboratory for Computational Physiology, to launch the Entity Linking Challenge. You’ll learn what entity linking involves and why the challenge was launched, as well as a few of the challenges the partners faced in designing the competition. Will explains some of the difficulties faced by annotators in dealing with codes that are ambiguous and predicts some of the exciting outcomes that the challenge is expected to produce. He also shares his predictions for the future of entity linking beyond the competition. Tune in to find out more about the Entity Linking Challenge, how you can get involved, and what winners stand to gain – including a share of the $25,000 prize pool!Key points from this episode:How the idea for the Entity Linking Challenge came about.The barriers to using available technology to extract valuable information from clinical data.What entity linking involves.Unexpected challenges participants may encounter in the building of entity linking models.The role of each of the partners in the competition.Three exciting outcomes from the Entity Linking Challenge that Will foresees.The challenge of finding a dataset and how the partners came to use MIMIC-IV.How annotators deal with ambiguous codes.How participants can access the MIMIC-IV dataset and details on the training required.Will’s predictions for the future of entity linking beyond the competition.How to find out more about the competition.Quotes:“And really, the reason to do this Entity Linking Challenge was to show some of the things we talk about in SNOMED CT, about how do we use new technologies that fall under the AI banner and umbrella to benefit healthcare, improve healthcare data, and get SNOMED into the vast ocean of unstructured healthcare data records that are out there.” — Rory Davidson  [0:01:48]“The question is, ‘Can you actually use the computer to figure out where the mentions of specific well-defined clinical concepts are in this data and extract them automatically?’” — Will Hardman [0:03:18]“There's an awful lot of knowledge about health conditions and human health that's locked up in these records that's currently not available for analysis. So that's at the root of this [Entity Linking] challenge.” — Will Hardman [0:03:41]“I think the linking part is easier. I think it's the entity recognition part that's hard.” — Will Hardman [0:23:03]“And right now we're focusing on how do we get that structure into the data? Because once we've got that structure, that's when you can apply some of these technologies in even cooler things about the analytics and the clinical pathways and how do you improve patient healthcare and patient outcomes and that’s where we get into the really exciting stuff.” — Rory Davidson [0:23:56]Links mentioned in this episode:Will HardmanVerataiPhysioNet: MIMIC-IVDrivenDataBlog post about entity linking 101 (Mentioned at 17:01)SNOMED CT Entity Linking Challenge - BenchmarkRory DavidsonRory Davidson on XSNOMED International

Interoperability: Developments and Challenges in the Pursuit of the Holy Grail of Digital HealthEpisode 01: Show NotesAchieving interoperability in digital health presents significant challenges, but the rewards are immense. In the inaugural episode of SNOMED International’s podcast Coded Conversations, we delve into the intricacies of interoperability, unpacking developments in this field and the challenges faced. Joining us are two leading experts: hematologist Dr. Charles Gutteridge,  clinical advisor to SNOMED International, and Chief Clinical Information Officer at Barts Health NHS Trust in London; and Rory Davidson, SNOMED International’s Chief Information Officer. Kelly Kuru, Chief Communications Officer for SNOMED International, moderates this conversation.Tuning in you'll gain insights into what interoperability means in healthcare, the challenges inherent in achieving it, the vital role of a clinical terminology like SNOMED CT in enabling it, and where we currently stand in terms of its development. You’ll also hear about its benefits for medical professionals and patients, the global significance of comprehensible and shareable healthcare data, and the value of being able to use reliable medical data for research purposes. Join us in exploring the latest advancements moving the healthcare world closer to making interoperability a reality.Key Points From This Episode:An introduction to interoperability in healthcare.Challenges of achieving interoperability: the human factor.The technical side of interoperability and the importance of establishing standards.How the COVID-19 pandemic contributed to the realization of interoperability.The role of clinical terminologies like SNOMED CT in enabling interoperability.What we are doing well in terms of achieving meaningful interoperability.The decision support built into this system.Some of the benefits of structured systems like this for patients.The value of interoperability in a world lacking sufficient healthcare resources and capacity.Parting comments about the importance of the global nature of interoperability for healthcare data.The value of being able to share data for research purposes.Quotes:“The technology will do what we want; it’s the human angle that’s the most important part of any discussion on interoperability.” — @rd_work [0:06:57]“Terminology brings unambiguity into the message [of interoperability]. It means that [the message] is completely understood; you’re not having to interpret somebody else’s pretext or handwriting or anything like that.” — @rd_work [0:18:08]“That magic bit of connecting data about people to research ideas that generate new knowledge is partly driven by making sure the data is interoperable.” — @GutteridgeC [0:27:06]“Making it possible to share [data] for research purposes is one of the things that drives modern healthcare systems.” — @GutteridgeC [0:27:23]Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:Dr. Charles Gutteridge on XRory DavidsonRory Davidson on XKelly Kuru on XKelly KuruSNOMED International