Video, slides and resources available online
Hundreds of people from around the world attended a virtual meeting focusing on health data standards needed during the COVID-19 pandemic. The webinar, presented by LOINC®, highlighted the team’s efforts to create common terminology to identify laboratory tests for the novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2.
LOINC, short for Logical Observation Identifiers Names and Codes, housed at Regenstrief Institute, is a set of universal terms used to identify health observations and facilitate interoperability among health organizations. The collection and exchange of testing and results are especially important as global health leaders work to track and contain SARS-CoV-2.
The three-hour meeting, held on March 26th, was hosted by LOINC Interim Director for Strategic Planning and Communications Theresa Cullen, M.D., M.S.
Swapna Abhyankar, M.D., LOINC interim director of content development and operations, provided an overview of virus nomenclature and LOINC’s collaboration with public health labs and standards development organizations. Jami Deckard, a senior LOINC content developer, discussed the expedited process of creating these terms while maintaining quality assurance.
Four members of the LOINC community described their work in response to SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19 and how it relates to LOINC’s efforts. Those speakers included Riki Merrick from the Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL), Tracy Okubo from the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC), Jim Case from SNOMED International, and Stan Huff from Intermountain Healthcare. All presentation slides are available here.
The event also included a question and answer session. A list of these will be posted on the LOINC website.
LOINC continues to add COVID-19-related terms to its system as the situation develops and requests are made.
Watch the entire webinar or specific sections relevant to you here. Requests for additional tests in LOINC may be made here.
