INDIANAPOLIS, US and LONDON, UK – Regenstrief Institute and SNOMED International have released LOINC® Ontology 2.0, the next version of The LOINC Ontology: A LOINC and SNOMED CT Interoperability Solution and a significant advance in their ongoing collaboration to streamline the exchange and use of health data worldwide.
This version expands the Ontology with approximately 6,000 additional concepts, with more than 2,500 new “Orderable Grouper” concepts that provide practical, higher-level groupings for laboratory orders. By introducing this organization, called LABORDERS.ONTOLOGY, the partners are deepening their relationship and making it easier for implementers to deploy a broader range of LOINC and SNOMED CT concepts across health information systems.
Developed as a LOINC and SNOMED CT interoperability solution, the LOINC Ontology helps organizations that implement different combinations of the two standards meet clinical and regulatory requirements with a single, complementary approach. SNOMED CT supplies the computable framework, while LOINC contributes rich laboratory and pathology content in a widely understood format – benefiting implementers globally, including those in countries that do not yet use LOINC. The update is in response to international users who requested clearer navigation and application. Instead of working with a flat list of tens of thousands of concepts, implementers can now use this organization hierarchy to locate and manage related tests more efficiently.
Version 2.0 continues to support the ongoing development of standardized laboratory orders and results for exchange and use in health data systems globally. Each grouper combines component, system (specimen) and a new “measurement” property to group related result concepts, giving users an at-a-glance structure that encompasses three or more related tests. These concepts are designed for ordering, not for reporting results, and align with the granularity typical of laboratory order catalogs.
“Many laboratories need order codes that are more abstract than result codes,” said Marjorie Rallins, DPM, M.S., executive director of Health Data Standards at Regenstrief, which oversees LOINC. “With these new Orderable Grouper concepts, we’re giving the community a better way to align laboratory ordering practices with the rich specificity of LOINC. The LOINC Ontology is novel and transformative in providing clinical observation content in an integrated format that accelerates interoperability and supports stakeholders with meeting clinical and regulatory requirements.”
“Significant commitment and collaboration have gone into producing this Ontology,” said Don Sweete, CEO of SNOMED International. “SNOMED CT contributes the computable clinical framework, rigorous semantics and terminology that anchor the Ontology 2.0 hierarchy, enabling navigation, decision support, analytics and global interoperability alongside LOINC’s laboratory content. It’s an excellent illustration of how we’ve leveraged our mutual expertise to further the goal of interoperability for implementers globally.”
Key highlights of LOINC Ontology 2.0 include:
- ONTOLOGY concepts: Each combines component, system (specimen) and a new “measurement” property to group related result concepts.
- Created for ordering, not results: These concepts provide a granularity consistent with typical laboratory order catalogs but should not be sent as result codes.
- Clearer navigation: Users gain an “at a glance” structure that encompass three or more related result concepts for easier browsing.
- Guidance and training: Tutorials and educational resources will be developed to support correct implementation and prevent misuse.
The LOINC Ontology is fully owned by Regenstrief Institute and is available free of charge under the existing LOINC royalty-free license. SNOMED International members and users can access LOINC in the same format as SNOMED CT. Each organization retains editorial control of its respective standard.
SNOMED International, a not-for-profit organization governed by 50 global members, sets global standards for health terminology. Its comprehensive, multilingual SNOMED CT enables healthcare professionals to capture, share and analyze patient care data to support safe, effective health information exchange.
In 2022, the two organizations signed a milestone agreement to create a LOINC extension of SNOMED CT. This built on a partnership established in 2013 that linked SNOMED’s clinical semantics to LOINC’s observational concepts, improving data exchange and interoperability across health systems.
For more information and to browse and download the Ontology, visit https://loincsnomed.org.
About LOINC®
LOINC® was created in 1994 at Regenstrief Institute to facilitate interoperability in healthcare. There was a growing trend to send clinical data electronically between healthcare entities, a practice that has now become ubiquitous. Today, it contains more than 108,000 concepts for everything from an albumin level to a zygomatic arch X-ray report. For each concept, LOINC contains many other rich details, such as synonyms, units of measure and carefully crafted descriptions.
About SNOMED International
SNOMED International is a not-for-profit organization that owns and develops SNOMED CT, the world’s most comprehensive healthcare terminology product. We play an essential role in improving the health of humankind by determining standards for a codified language that represents groups of clinical terms. This enables healthcare information to be exchanged globally for the benefit of patients and other stakeholders. We are committed to the rigorous evolution of our products and services, to deliver continuous innovation for the global healthcare community. SNOMED International is the trading name of the International Health Terminology Standards Development Organisation. https://www.snomed.org.
About Regenstrief Institute
Regenstrief Institute, based in Indianapolis, is a globally renowned medical research organization with expertise and innovation in aging, health services and biomedical informatics research, global health standards and data stewardship. The organization collaborates with local, state, national and international public and private sector partners to develop, conduct, disseminate and implement impactful scientific research and solutions in health systems and across communities. The Institute’s vision is to engage in pioneering, transformative, interdisciplinary solutions for a healthier world.
