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.