LOINC
Encyclopedia
Logical Observation Identifiers Names and Codes (LOINC) is a database
and universal standard for identifying medical laboratory observations. It was developed and is maintained by the Regenstrief Institute
, a US non-profit medical research organization, in 1994. LOINC was created in response to the demand for an electronic database for clinical care and management and is publicly available at no cost.
It is endorsed by the American Clinical Laboratory Association and the College of American Pathologists
. Since its inception, the database has expanded to include not just medical and laboratory code names, but also: nursing diagnosis, nursing interventions, outcomes classification, and patient care data set.
related to electronic health record
s. The purpose is to assist in the electronic exchange and gathering of clinical results (such as laboratory tests, clinical observations, outcomes management and research).
Several standards, such as IHE
or HL7, use LOINC to electronically transfer results from different reporting systems to the appropriate healthcare networks. However, the health information enclosed is identified by a multiplicity of code values that may vary according to the entity producing those results. This has obvious disadvantages to the healthcare network that may need to adopt different codes to access and manage information coming from multiple sources. Managed care providers, for example, often have negotiated contracts that reimburse episodes of care and unique coding to trigger automated claim payment. Mapping each entity-specific code to its corresponding universal code can represent a significant investment of both human and financial capital.
A universal code system will enable facilities and departments across the world to receive and send results from their areas for comparison and consultation and contribute toward a larger public health initiative of improving clinical outcomes and quality of care.
LOINC is one of the standards for use in U.S. Federal Government systems for the electronic exchange of clinical health information. In 1999, it was identified by the HL7 Standards Development Organization as a preferred code set for laboratory test names in transactions between health care facilities, laboratories, laboratory testing devices, and public health authorities.
Each database record includes six fields for the unique specification of each identified single test, observation, or measurement:
A unique code (format: nnnnn-n) is assigned to each entry upon registration. Other database fields include status and mapping information for database change management, synonyms, related terms, substance information (e.g. molar mass
, CAS registry number
), choices of answers for nominal scales, translations.
The fact that universal standards are being promoted (if not adopted by national organizations and agencies) is an indication that the dialogue will continue regarding the development, structure, financing, monitoring, enforcement, and integration of standards within the broader health care system.
International interest in LOINC continues to grow. A number of efforts have been undertaken to translate the LOINC documents and terms into various languages, such as Simplified Chinese, German
, Spanish
. For more information on LOINC International, see LOINC International. As of January, 2009, the software RELMA (Regenstrief LOINC Mapping Assistant) is available in separate downloads that contain an additional word index in Spanish
, Simplified Chinese, or Korean
, which allows searching in these languages in addition to English
.
Database
A database is an organized collection of data for one or more purposes, usually in digital form. The data are typically organized to model relevant aspects of reality , in a way that supports processes requiring this information...
and universal standard for identifying medical laboratory observations. It was developed and is maintained by the Regenstrief Institute
Regenstrief Institute
The Regenstrief Institute, Inc. is a private, non-profit research organization affiliated with the Indiana University School of Medicine and based in Indianapolis. It was founded in 1969 by Sam Regenstrief...
, a US non-profit medical research organization, in 1994. LOINC was created in response to the demand for an electronic database for clinical care and management and is publicly available at no cost.
It is endorsed by the American Clinical Laboratory Association and the College of American Pathologists
College of American Pathologists
The College of American Pathologists , is a medical society serving more than 17,000 physician members and the laboratory community throughout the world....
. Since its inception, the database has expanded to include not just medical and laboratory code names, but also: nursing diagnosis, nursing interventions, outcomes classification, and patient care data set.
Function
LOINC applies universal code names and identifiers to medical terminologyMedical terminology
Medical terminology is a vocabulary for accurately describing the human body and associated components, conditions, processes and process in a science-based manner. Some examples are: R.I.C.E., trapezius, and latissimus dorsi. It is to be used in the medical and nursing fields...
related to electronic health record
Electronic Health Record
An electronic health record is an evolving concept defined as a systematic collection of electronic health information about individual patients or populations...
s. The purpose is to assist in the electronic exchange and gathering of clinical results (such as laboratory tests, clinical observations, outcomes management and research).
Several standards, such as IHE
IHE
IHE may refer to:* Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise* Insensitive High Explosive* Institution of Higher Education* Institute of Highway Engineers - renamed from the Institute of Highway Incorporated Engineers...
or HL7, use LOINC to electronically transfer results from different reporting systems to the appropriate healthcare networks. However, the health information enclosed is identified by a multiplicity of code values that may vary according to the entity producing those results. This has obvious disadvantages to the healthcare network that may need to adopt different codes to access and manage information coming from multiple sources. Managed care providers, for example, often have negotiated contracts that reimburse episodes of care and unique coding to trigger automated claim payment. Mapping each entity-specific code to its corresponding universal code can represent a significant investment of both human and financial capital.
A universal code system will enable facilities and departments across the world to receive and send results from their areas for comparison and consultation and contribute toward a larger public health initiative of improving clinical outcomes and quality of care.
LOINC is one of the standards for use in U.S. Federal Government systems for the electronic exchange of clinical health information. In 1999, it was identified by the HL7 Standards Development Organization as a preferred code set for laboratory test names in transactions between health care facilities, laboratories, laboratory testing devices, and public health authorities.
Format
A formal, distinct, and unique 6-part name is given to each term for test or observation identity. The database currently has over 58,000 observation terms that can be accessed and understood universally.Each database record includes six fields for the unique specification of each identified single test, observation, or measurement:
- Component- what is measured, evaluated, or observed (example: urea,...)
- Kind of property- characteristics of what is measured, such as length, mass, volume, time stamp and so on
- Time aspect- interval of time over which the observation or measurement was made
- System- context or specimen type within which the observation was made (example: blood, urine,...)
- Type of scale- the scale of measure. The scale may be quantitative, ordinal, nominal or narrative
- Type of method- procedure used to make the measurement or observation
A unique code (format: nnnnn-n) is assigned to each entry upon registration. Other database fields include status and mapping information for database change management, synonyms, related terms, substance information (e.g. molar mass
Molar mass
Molar mass, symbol M, is a physical property of a given substance , namely its mass per amount of substance. The base SI unit for mass is the kilogram and that for amount of substance is the mole. Thus, the derived unit for molar mass is kg/mol...
, CAS registry number
CAS registry number
CAS Registry Numbersare unique numerical identifiers assigned by the "Chemical Abstracts Service" toevery chemical described in the...
), choices of answers for nominal scales, translations.
Uses
Some of the advantages resulting from adopting LOINC may include improved communication in integrated healthcare delivery networks, improved community wide electronic health records, the automatic transfer to public health authorities of case reports for reportable diseases (e.g. for disease control or detection of epidemics), improved transfer of payment information for services rendered and a significant improvement in the overall quality of health care by reducing errors in the system.The fact that universal standards are being promoted (if not adopted by national organizations and agencies) is an indication that the dialogue will continue regarding the development, structure, financing, monitoring, enforcement, and integration of standards within the broader health care system.
International interest in LOINC continues to grow. A number of efforts have been undertaken to translate the LOINC documents and terms into various languages, such as Simplified Chinese, German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
, Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
. For more information on LOINC International, see LOINC International. As of January, 2009, the software RELMA (Regenstrief LOINC Mapping Assistant) is available in separate downloads that contain an additional word index in Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
, Simplified Chinese, or Korean
Korean language
Korean is the official language of the country Korea, in both South and North. It is also one of the two official languages in the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture in People's Republic of China. There are about 78 million Korean speakers worldwide. In the 15th century, a national writing...
, which allows searching in these languages in addition to English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
.
See also
- CDAClinical Document ArchitectureThe HL7 Clinical Document Architecture is an XML-based markup standard intended to specify the encoding, structure and semantics of clinical documents for exchange.CDA is part of the HL7 version 3 standard...
- CDISCClinical Data Interchange Standards ConsortiumClinical Data Interchange Standards Consortium is a non-profit organization, whose mission is "to develop and support global, platform-independent data standards that enable information system interoperability to improve medical research and related areas of health-care". Their main project, the...
- Clinical Care Classification SystemClinical Care Classification SystemClinical Care Classification SystemThe Clinical Care Classification System is a standardized, coded nursing terminology that identifies the discrete elements of nursing practice...
- DICOM
- DOCLEDOCLEDOCLE , is a non-numeric health coding and medical classification system. The Docle system is used in Health Communication Network's electronic medical record and patient management software package, Medical Director...
- HL7
- Public Health Information NetworkPublic Health Information NetworkThe Public Health Information Network is a national initiative, developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention , for advancing fully capable and interoperable information systems in public health organizations...
- SNOMED, SNOMED CTSNOMED CTSNOMED CT , is a systematically organised computer processable collection of medical terminology covering most areas of clinical information such as diseases, findings, procedures, microorganisms, substances, etc...
- UMLS
- Controlled vocabularyControlled vocabularyControlled vocabularies provide a way to organize knowledge for subsequent retrieval. They are used in subject indexing schemes, subject headings, thesauri, taxonomies and other form of knowledge organization systems...
External links
- LOINC pages of Regenstrief Institute, Inc.
- Introduction to the HL7 Standards
- U.S. National Library of Medicine
- CUMUL - a project that attempts to create a multilingual version of LOINC identifiers.
- Chinese LOINC Interface System - a pilot project that aims to show a simplified Chinese version of LOINC terms.