New Zealand a founding member of new International Health Organisation

1 May 2007

New Zealand, with eight other nations, is a founding member of the newly-formed International Health Terminology Standards Development Organisation (IHTSDO, also known as SNOMED SDO). The IHTSDO has acquired the intellectual property rights of SNOMED Clinical Terms (SNOMED CT) and its antecedents from the College of American Pathologists (CAP) for US$7.8 million, marking a milestone in the international standardization of heath data.

The new international organisation has assumed responsibility for SNOMED CT’s ongoing maintenance, development, quality assurance, and distribution. The CAP will continue to support SDO operations under an initial 3-year contract and will continue to provide SNOMED-related products and services as a licensee of the terminology.

“We are delighted with the initial success of this truly international undertaking.” said Professor Martin Severs, IHTSDO Management Board chair. “Making SNOMED CT available this way is an example of how global health cooperation can have an important impact on health systems, services, and products around the world.”

“As the international adoption and use of SNOMED CT has grown, it has become apparent that an international governance structure that would be open to the entire global healthcare community would be to everyone’s benefit,” said Thomas Sodeman, MD, FCAP, president of the College of American Pathologists. “The College is proud to have assisted in this important milestone.”

The Ministry of Health's Deputy Director-General of Corporate and Information, Debbie Chin, said "Joining the IHTSDO now as a Charter (i.e. founding) Member is of real benefit to the New Zealand health system. It will place us at the forefront of international health development, and allow New Zealand to benefit from the other member countries' expertise in deriving maximum benefit from SNOMED CT”.

“Adoption of SNOMED CT will deliver a wide range of benefits” she said. “Critically, it will better enable the creation and use of structured and unambiguous clinical information by health professionals”.

Having secured the rights for New Zealand to use SNOMED CT, the Ministry of Health will now take two steps. First, it will put in place the arrangements required for licensing and distribution of SNOMED CT in New Zealand. Second, it will work with the health and disability sector to determine how SNOMED CT can best be adopted across the sector and how the Ministry of Health can facilitate and support that ongoing process.

The Ministry’s membership of the IHTSDO has been supported by the Health Information Strategy Action Committee (HISAC). “Adoption of SNOMED CT is an important component in achieving the goals of the Health Information Strategy for New Zealand 2005. Consistent and uniform use of clinical coding and terminology use across the health sector is important for patient safety and quality of care.” said Chai Chuah, Acting Chair of HISAC. “The Committee is delighted that the Ministry has secured the rights for New Zealand to use SNOMED CT, and now looks forward to working with the Ministry over the question of its adoption across the health and disability sector”.

For vendors of health information systems, the adoption of SNOMED CT is expected to underpin development the next generation of health and patient information systems. New Zealand will provide SNOMED CT® to users by way of an Affiliate License which will contain the conditions for use that require acceptance prior to accessing SNOMED CT®. The Ministry is currently considering what fees may be charged for licensing.

The IHTSDO is registered in Copenhagen, Denmark as a not-for-profit association. The Charter Members are organisations representing Australia, Canada, Denmark, Lithuania, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Sweden, United Kingdom, and United States of America. Membership is open to all countries, and there is a provision for sponsored use in developing countries. The IHTSDO will establish formal harmonization activities with other organizations, including the World Health Organization (WHO), to promote effective interoperability between SNOMED CT and other health data standards.

Further information including a description of the IHTSDO’s goals, open and participatory governance process, uniform licensing terms, other base information and answers to FAQs are available at the IHTSDO Web site http://www.ihtsdo.org/

ENDS

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