SNOMED CT, ICD-10-CM and Data Integrity TPHA

Michael Stearns, MD, was invited to present at the Texas Public Health Association – Annual Education Conference. on March 25, 2014 in Corpus Christi,  Texas.   Dr. Stearns provided a lecture titled “SNOMED CT, ICD-10-CM and Data Integrity.”  It reviewed the structure of SNOMED CT, ICD-10 and challenges associated with the use of clinical terminologies in patient care.   A number of desiderata were used to compare SNOMED CT and ICD-10-CM.  Clinical data coded with ICD-9-CM and ICD-10-CM will continue to be the most ubiquitous form of healthcare data available in health information systems, however, SNOMED CT will being to appear in a greater number of healthcare databases over the next few years.  It is being adopted by EHRs as their core clinical terminology.

The clinical advantages of SNOMED CT over ICD-9/10-CM are numerous, but SNOMED CT also suffers from challenges related to its size and the lack of familiarity of HIT and HIM professionals with its structure and capabilities.  A growing number of EHRs and instantiating SNOMED CT as their core clinical terminology.  This in turn will lead to more data being captured in the form of SNOMED CT rather than ICD-9/10-CM within clinical databases.  As ICD will still be required for payment, a growing number of healthcare systems will use maps from SNOMED CT to ICD-9/10-CM.

A copy of the presentation is available here: SNOMED CT, ICD-10-CM and Data Integrity TPHA March 25 2014

The program agenda for the Texas Public Health Association’s 2014 Educational Conference is available here:   http://www.texaspha.org/Resources/Documents/Public%20Health%20%20With%20You%20Every%20Step%20of%20the%20Way%20Preliminary%20Program.pdf