LOINC and SNOMED CT Code Use in Electronic Laboratory Reporting—US, 2011

Introduction Monitoring laboratory test reports could aid disease surveillance by adding diagnostic specificity to early warning signals and thus improving the efficiency of public health investigation of detected signals. Laboratory data could also be employed to direct and evaluate interventions and countermeasures, while monitoring outbreak trends and progress; this would ultimately result in better outbreak response and management, and enhanced situation awareness. Since Electronic Laboratory Reporting (ELR) has the potential to be more accurate, timely, and cost-effective than reporting by other means of communication (e.g., mail, fax, etc.), ELR adoption has been systematically promoted as a public health priority. However, the continuing use of non-standard, local codes or text to represent laboratory test type and results complicates the use of ELR data in public health practice. Use of structured, unique, and widely available coding system(s) to support the concepts represented by locally assigned laboratory test order and result information improves the computational characteristics of ELR data. Out of several coding strategies available, the Office of the U.S. National Coordinator for Health Information Technology has recently suggested incorporating Logical Observation Identifiers Names and Codes (LOINC) for laboratory orders and Systemized Nomenclature of MedicineClinical Terms (SNOMED CT) codes for laboratory results to standardize ELR.