SENT ON BEHALF OF DON SWEETE

I extend my thanks to you for your patience as we have continued to monitor the developing situation with COVID-19 (coronavirus).  Made apparent by recent reports from the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there is no doubt that the virus continues to spread globally. 

Myself, in collaboration with the General Assembly Executive, have been constantly involved in discussion over the past few weeks regarding the present situation.  We have now made the difficult decision to cancel the face to face 2020 April Business Meetings to protect the health of our Community and do our part to prevent the spread of this outbreak.

In place of the Community Updates session, we will provide you with a document outlining the headlines from the organization since October 2019 that you can review and then pose your follow up questions with organization representatives.

While we are not rescheduling these meetings, we will support all meetings to go ahead virtually where possible and be in touch with relevant participants.  At this point, we plan to next convene face to face in Portugal, October 2020. 

I thank you for your ongoing support and encourage you to reach out to us with any questions or inquiries you have as a result of this decision. 

Sincerely, 

Don Sweete

CEO, SNOMED International

With the SNOMED International April 2020 Business Meetings in London approaching, we wish to provide an update about actions that the organization is taking around the novel coronavirus (COVID-19).

SNOMED International continues to closely monitor the coronavirus situation. The health risk of coronavirus for the general British public is considered low at this time, according to the latest summary from the UK government's Department of Health and Social Care. 

The April 2020 Business Meetings are proceeding as scheduled, and though we have no reason to believe that this will change, please be assured that the health, safety and well-being of our community remains our highest priority.

• SNOMED International will continue to follow the guidance of the UK government and the World Health Organization (WHO) and will provide updates to our community where necessary;

• We are communicating regularly with our venue, the Waldorf Hilton London, about any proposed protocols and procedures they may have;

• We encourage our attendees to monitor their relevant government department websites for the latest advice regarding travel to the UK.

If you have any questions, please click here to contact the SNOMED Events Team.

We hope to see you in London.

We wish to remind those attending the forthcoming Business Meetings in London that the deadline for obtaining our delegate accommodation rate at the Waldorf Hilton is this Wednesday, February 19th, 2020.

If you have not already booked then we encourage you to make the most of these discounted rates at the conference venue:

• Hilton Queen Guest Room:
  • Single occupancy £240 GBP/night
  • Double occupancy £250 GBP/night
  • Rates include full English breakfast, standard wifi access, and applicable taxes.
  • Check-in time is 15:00; check-out time is 12:00
  • Please note once the reservation has been made it becomes non changeable and non-refundable.

These rates are valid for nights between April 4th-9th, 2020. Please email the hotel directly if you need to extend your stay beyond these dates. 

Book now

Further information about the event can be found on our website:
https://www.snomed.org/news-and-events/events/business-meeting

Please contact the SNOMED Events Team (events@snomed.org) if you have any questions.

We look forward to seeing you in London!

Based on recent announcements by the World Health Organization (WHO) (Novel Coronavirus disease naming ) and the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) (Coronavirus study group), concepts recently added to SNOMED CT related to the recent outbreak of coronavirus respiratory disease have been revised.  The WHO has named the syndrome caused by this coronavirus, COVID-19.  The ICTV has named the virus “Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2” or SARS-CoV-2. 

The Fully specified names and preferred terms (US-English and GB-English only) have been updated to reflect these new names.  As the original names associated with these concepts were known to be temporary and there is no change in the meaning of the concepts, these description changes are considered to be technical corrections and do not require the inactivation and replacement of concepts from the January 2020 release of SNOMED CT. 

Note that the following changes do not affect clinical meaning, nor the SNOMED CT concept ID available to users. All changes will be included in the July 31, 2020 SNOMED CT International Edition release.

All previous descriptions related to these concepts have been retained to facilitate searching and mapping to descriptions that may have been used prior to these term changes.

For more information, please contact info@snomed.org 

The world is focused on the outbreak of respiratory illness caused by a novel coronavirus.  The World Health Organization (WHO) has named the syndrome caused by this coronavirus “COVID-19”, and the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) has named the virus “Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2” or SARS-CoV-2.

Read the Article

As part of the global effort to manage and contain this global public health emergency, two global health standards organizations, Regenstrief Institute and SNOMED International, are doing their part to support care teams globally to code and track SARS-CoV-2 testing and COVID-19 cases, and by extension support clinicians and researchers in their efforts to address its containment. 

Both subject matter experts in coding and structuring clinical information, Regenstrief Institute and SNOMED International have recently introduced new content to their respective products, a laboratory and health observations oriented coding system in the case of LOINC, and a broad spectrum clinical terminology in the case of SNOMED CT. With the high rate of global adoption for both standards, LOINC and SNOMED CT have taken swift action to make this content immediately available to support those on the ground in tackling the virus.

“With novel viruses that appear to be easily transmittable, such as the coronavirus, it is vitally important that all identified cases be reported quickly for public health tracking,” said Regenstrief Research Scientist Theresa Cullen, M.D., M.S., global health expert with the Regenstrief Institute. Don Sweete from SNOMED International says “the creation of new COVID-19 and SARS-CoV-2 codes and concepts from LOINC and SNOMED CT introduce the structure in coding needed for health systems internationally to manage the outbreak. Both Cullen and Sweete agree that in possessing superior data, health leaders worldwide can engage in a higher degree of analysis to inform their outbreak management approach. Based on the formal naming of the syndrome and virus by WHO and ICTV, both organizations are presently updating their respective code and concepts to reflect the change.
 
For more information on the specific actions that each organization has taken, visit Regenstrief Institute and SNOMED International respectively.
 
Regenstrief Institute and SNOMED International mutually recognize the importance of interoperability through standardization in the pursuit of timely, safe and efficient health care and continue to work collaboratively to achieve this end. 

If you are attending at the forthcoming Business Meetings in London please note that SNOMED International has obtained delegate rates at the venue, the Waldorf Hilton:

• Hilton Queen Guest Room:
  • Single occupancy £240 GBP/night
  • Double occupancy £250 GBP/night
  • Rates include full English breakfast, standard wifi access, and applicable taxes.
  • Check-in time is 15:00; check-out time is 12:00
  • Please note once the reservation has been made it becomes non changeable and non-refundable.

These rates are valid for nights between April 4th-9th, 2020 and are guaranteed until February 19th, 2020.

Please email the hotel directly if you need to extend your stay beyond these dates. 

Book now

Further information about the event can be found on our website:
https://www.snomed.org/news-and-events/events/business-meeting

Please contact the SNOMED Events Team (events@snomed.org) if you have any questions.

We look forward to seeing you in London!

SNOMED International is pleased to advise that NHS Digital are holding a workshop on the Role of SNOMED CT, FHIR and other standards in addressing Clinical & Business needs in Lab Medicine (Pathology) at the same venue as our April conference, on the Thursday directly following the Business Meetings.

Venue Details: Waldorf Hilton Hotel, London
Date: 9th April 2020

Please click here for more information.

NHS Digital welcome participation from interested participants in other member SNOMED member countries and anyone else with an interest in this area! They have limited spaces available so please register your place by emailing pathologyanddiagnostics@nhs.net or info@snomed.org.

SNOMED International is pleased to announce that the forthcoming April 2020 Business Meetings is open for registration. 

• Dates: 5th-8th April 2020
• Location: The Waldorf Hilton Hotel, The Strand, London, UK [timezone: BST]
• Schedule: April 2020 - SNOMED International Business Meetings

Please click here to register now.

Further information (including details about accommodation at the venue) can be found on our website:
https://www.snomed.org/news-and-events/events/business-meeting

An announcement regarding the keynote speaker on Monday 6th April will follow soon. 

Please note that the deadline for booking delegate rate accommodation at the hotel is 19th February, so we encourage you to book as soon as possible. 

The main Business Meetings will be preceded by a closed session for the Terminology Management Working Group on Saturday 4th April.  

Please contact the SNOMED Events Team (events@snomed.org) if you have any questions.

We look forward to seeing you in London!