ADOPTION OF SNOMED-CT® NEEDED TO FACILITATE NATIONAL HEALTH INFORMATION NETWORK
Failure to upgrade ICD-9-CM diminishes value of US investment in SNOMED-CT®

Chicago, October 10, 2005—In position statements published in the October issue of the Journal of AHIMA, the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) calls for the widespread adoption and implementation of SNOMED-CT® and ICD-10-CM and ICD-10-PCS in order to reap the full investment in electronic health records (EHR) and the development of a nationwide health information network (NHIN).

“A standard clinical terminology is essential for interoperable health information exchange,” states Linda Kloss, MA, RHIA, CEO of AHIMA. “As a controlled clinical reference terminology, SNOMED-CT codifies the clinical information that is captured in an EHR during care and provides a common language that enables consistency in capturing, storing, retrieving, sharing, and aggregating health data across specialties and sites of care.”

Expanded availability of SNOMED-CT increases the urgency of replacing ICD-9-CM with ICD-10-CM and ICD-10-PCS. Failure to upgrade the classification used for reporting diminishes the US investment in SNOMED-CT since classification systems are key elements of the health information reporting improvement strategy.

“The benefits of using a reference terminology increases exponentially if the reference terminology is mapped to modern, standard classification systems for the purpose of generating health information necessary for statistical analysis, reimbursement, and other secondary uses,” adds Kloss. “The anticipated benefits of an EHR cannot be achieved if detailed data captured by SNOMED-CT continues to be aggregated into an inadequate 30-year old classification system like ICD-9-CM,” adds Kloss.

AHIMA further calls for the development of robust maps from SNOMED-CT to ICD-10-CM and ICD-10-PCS in order to immediately maximize the value of clinical data and benefits of EHR systems once ICD-10 code sets, rules, and guidelines are implemented. Mapping from SNOMED-CT to ICD-10 will improve the value of clinical data as it will facilitate retrieval of coded data at the desired level of detail depending on the purposes for which the data are being used. It will also allow for administrative reporting functions such as reimbursement and statistical analysis not possible with SNOMED-CT alone.

To view AHIMA’s position statements, visit the Association’s Web site http://www.ahima.org/dc/positions/.

AHIMA is the premier association of health information management (HIM) professionals. AHIMA's 53,000 members are dedicated to the effective management of personal health information needed to deliver quality healthcare to the public. Founded in 1928 to improve the quality of medical records, AHIMA is committed to advancing the HIM profession in an increasingly electronic and global environment through leadership in advocacy, education, certification, and lifelong learning. For information about the association, go to www.ahima.org.