Key foundation of electronic health communication in place

NEHTA today announced that it has recently signed an agreement with SNOMED International that enables the free use of SNOMED Clinical Terms® in Australia from July 1 2006.

The average encounter with a healthcare professional generates a large amount of clinical information - for example the diagnosis, treatment procedure and prescribed medication. The practitioner must choose from a huge number of ways and names to describe what they hear, see, prescribe or decide to do. When this information is sent to other practitioners – e.g. the pathologist, pharmacist, home nurse or specialist, each of whom may use different terms to describe the same thing – misunderstandings can occur.

SNOMED Clinical Terms (CT) will help standardise the clinical terms used by computer systems within healthcare. “Every year, avoidable deaths and injuries occur because of poor communication between healthcare practitioners,” said Dr Ian Reinecke, CEO NEHTA. “The delivery of a standard clinical language for use in Australian health information systems is therefore a significant step towards improving the quality and safety of healthcare in Australia.”

“This is also a significant step for NEHTA, as this achievement coincides with NEHTA’s first birthday,” Dr Reinecke noted. “This caps a busy year for NEHTA, which has included leading the negotiations for Australia to become a charter member of the SNOMED Standards Development Organization. Membership will entitle Australia to a voice in the governance, development and maintenance of SNOMED CT and will provide ongoing access to SNOMED CT for use within Australia. Along with other charter members, NEHTA will shortly sign a Letter of Intent to demonstrate Australia’s commitment to founding the SNOMED Standards Development Organization.”

The imminent creation of the Standards Development Organization is further evidence of the value of SNOMED CT as the most powerful clinical terminology for building electronic health records. 

NEHTA will extend SNOMED CT to suit the specific needs of the Australian healthcare environment and the practices of local health professionals.

Organisations who are interested in gaining free access to SNOMED CT for use in Australia should register their interest with NEHTA by emailing terminologies@nehta.gov.au This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it .

Read more: http://www.nehta.gov.au/content/view/136/144/