IBM Watson Health Adopts SNOMED CT

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., March 30, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- SNOMED International and IBM (NYSE: IBM) Watson Health today announced that Watson Health will adopt SNOMED CT (Clinical Terms) for use in Watson Health offerings in support of the company's commitment to comprehensive standardization of patient data worldwide.
 
SNOMED CT serves as an international standard for clinical terminology. It enables a global exchange and analysis of clinical information in electronic health records through a codified language that represents groups of clinical terms. For example, a medical professional can enter the term 'myocardial infarction' into an electronic medical record in multiple ways—as myocardial infarction disorder, cardiac infarction, heart attack, myocardial infarction, and myocardial intact. SNOMED CT is designed to recognize that those terms relate and links them via a common SNOMED CT code, so computing systems like Watson can efficiently and comprehensively identify all references to such terms across disparate types of data and use that data to derive cognitive insights.
 
"SNOMED's agreement with IBM Watson Health breaks new ground," said SNOMED International CEO Don Sweete. "Imagine the impact of feeding SNOMED CT's 325,000+ concepts into Watson's cognitive capabilities. The possibilities for clients, and the healthcare industry in general, are almost limitless."
 
More than 30 countries have adopted SNOMED CT and it is actively used through agreements with 5,000 affiliates, such as payors, medical libraries and biopharmaceutical companies, extending the reach of its vast collection of structured clinical concepts.

"SNOMED CT presents clinically-relevant concepts and modifiers consistently and comprehensively, providing a 'global language of healthcare'," said Lisa Rometty, Vice President of Global Markets for IBM Watson Health. "Standardizing our offerings on SNOMED CT supports our efforts to provide customers and collaborators with clear information to help clinicians as they consider medical decisions and support the efficient delivery of quality care."
 
For more information on SNOMED International and licensing of SNOMED CT please visit snomed.org.

About IBM Watson Health
Watson is the first commercially available cognitive computing capability representing a new era in computing. The system, delivered through the cloud, analyzes high volumes of data, understands complex questions posed in natural language, and proposes evidence-based answers. Watson continuously learns, gaining in value and knowledge over time, from previous interactions. In April 2015, the company launched IBM Watson Health and the Watson Health Core cloud platform (now Watson Platform for Health). The new unit will help improve the ability of doctors, researchers and insurers to innovate by surfacing insights from the massive amount of personal health data being created and shared daily. The Watson Platform for Health can mask patient identities and allow for information to be shared and combined with a dynamic and constantly growing aggregated view of clinical, research and social health data. For more information on IBM Watson, visit: ibm.com/watson. For more information on IBM Watson Health, visit: ibm.com/watsonhealth.
   
About SNOMED International:
SNOMED International is a not-for-profit organization that owns and develops SNOMED CT, the world's most comprehensive healthcare terminology product. We play an essential role in improving the health of humankind, by determining standards for a codified language that represents groups of clinical terms. This enables healthcare information to be exchanged globally for the benefit of patients and other stakeholders. We are committed to the rigorous evolution of our products and services, to deliver continuous innovation for the global healthcare community. SNOMED International is the trading name of the International Health Terminology Standards Development Organisation.
 
About SNOMED CT
SNOMED CT is the world's most comprehensive healthcare terminology product. It enables the global exchange of medical information through a codified language that represents groups of clinical terms. SNOMED CT is rigorously evolved to meet the diverse, varying needs of clinicians and other stakeholders across different disciplines, sectors and geographies. The value to patients, healthcare providers, vendors and government departments is clear: precise, exchangeable medical data results in better health records, clinical decisions and data analysis, helping clinicians save time, money and lives.
 
Media Contacts:

Kelly Kuru
SNOMED International | Head of Communications
(e) [email protected]
(m) +1-416-566-8725
 
Lorie Fiber
IBM Watson Health
(e) [email protected]
(m) +1-646-318-0575

SOURCE IBM Watson Health