Exchanging
There are a number of alternative techniques that may be used when exchanging SNOMED CT expressions in messages. These include:
Placing the full SNOMED CT compositional grammar expression in the relevant code field of the message.
For example, the HL7 version 3 CD data type (Release 2) allows the 'code' property to include SNOMED CT expressions (see HL7 TermInfo guide).
Using an alternative structure for representation of the logical structure of an expression.
For example an OWL serialization.
Placing a unique expression identifier in the relevant code field of the message
This approach requires the use of a shared expression repository enabling the recipient system to look up and resolve this identified to the relevant expression.
Decomposing the expression into separate codes that can be placed in different fields within the message structure.
This approach assumes alignment between the message structure and the relevant parts of the SNOMED CT concept model.
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