The Copernican era of healthcare terminology: a re-centering of health information systems.
- 1 January 1998
- journal article
- review article
- p. 68-73
Abstract
Health terminology and classifications have been an unseen backwater in healthcare practice and information systems development. Today however, the recognized need for comparable patient data is driving a new discovery about its strategic importance. Consistent patient descriptions and concept-centered data representations are crucial for efficient discovery of optimal treatments, best outcomes, and efficient practice patterns. The fabled linkage of knowledge sources at the time and place of care requires the conceptual intermediary of common terminology. A brief history overviewing the evolution of health classifications will provide the foundation for considering present and evolving health terminology developments. Their roles in health information systems will be characterized. Discussion will focus on the likely influences of the HIPAA legislation nationally and the new ISO Healthcare Informatics Technical Committee internationally, on terminology adaptation and incorporation.This publication has 7 references indexed in Scilit:
- Evaluation of a "Lexically Assign, Logically Refine" Strategy for Semi-automated Integration of Overlapping TerminologiesJournal of the American Medical Informatics Association, 1998
- Phase II Evaluation of Clinical Coding Schemes: Completeness, Taxonomy, Mapping, Definitions, and ClarityJournal of the American Medical Informatics Association, 1997
- SNOMED RT: a reference terminology for health care.1997
- The Content Coverage of Clinical ClassificationsJournal of the American Medical Informatics Association, 1996
- Scalable and expressive medical terminologies.1996
- Toward a Medical-concept Representation LanguageJournal of the American Medical Informatics Association, 1994
- Formal properties of the Metathesaurus.1994