LOINC update seeks to advance semantic interoperability

Regenstrief Institute has announced its semiannual content update for the Logical Observation Identifiers Names and Codes data standard.

LOINC is a global standard for health terminology that supports the identification, exchange and collection of data across the healthcare continuum.

The August 2024 LOINC content update added nearly 1,600 new concepts and modified 1,400 existing ones. Focus areas include medical devices, public health reporting, social determinants of health (SDOH) and diagnostics.

"Although LOINC content is curated and developed in a continuous cycle, the semiannual release of LOINC ensures the seamless availability of the new and updated content to users to align with evolving trends and advancements in healthcare," said Marjorie Rallins, DPM, MS, executive director of health data standards at Regenstrief Institute, in a press release.

"LOINC release 2.78 includes concepts that continue our mission toward interoperability of health information across health domains globally," Rallins said.

Specific updates to LOINC include the following:

• Nearly 250 new concepts to standardize the representation of the data for semantic interoperability.
• New concepts for a Food and Drug Administration-approved diagnostic system that uses artificial intelligence to identify cervical cancer.
• Continued work on the model post-acute care assessments required by CMS.
• Concepts created in partnership with the Diabetes Technology Society to standardize data from continuous glucose monitoring devices.
• Collaboration with the National Committee for Quality Assurance to create concepts for the High Impact Chronic Pain assessment, which supports better management and intervention.
• Support for the International Patient Summary development through new concepts to alert clinicians of extreme health conditions impacting patients.
• New content to support the PhenX Toolkit, a set of standard measurement protocols for cross-study analysis in biomedical research.

LOINC release 2.78 also furthers Regenstrief Institute's work with the HL7 Gravity Project by incorporating new SDOH content in social risk domains like job insecurity and housing instability.

Hannah Nelson has been covering news related to health information technology and health data interoperability since 2020.