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VMRCVM logo New Release Files Available
October 2018

The Problem and Diagnosis Terms hava been updated to include requested concepts and descriptions and to align it with the July 2018 release of SNOMED CT® and the Veterinary Extension to SNOMED CT. To obtain a copy of this release, login to VTSL (with a VTSL account or your UMLS username and password) and access it via the Documents page. If you've successfully logged in and have been granted access to Problem and Diagnosis Terms download, you should see a Documents button to the left. If you have successfully logged in, but do NOT see a Documents button, then you need to request access. To do this go to "My Profile".

Idexx Idexx announces availability of AAHA Problem and Diagnosis Terms within Cornerstone
March 2016

The IDEXX Cornerstone IT team is pleased to announce that Cornerstone versions 8.3 and higher now have the ability to seamlessly integrate the AAHA diagnostic terms with the Cornerstone software.

The use of standardized diagnostic codes within Cornerstone provides multiple benefits to practices including:

  • superior patient care through easy access to historical information for a particular patient improving care accuracy and efficiency.
  • enhanced client experience with the ability to link client education documents to specific diagnostic codes to be printed when entered in a medical note, creating consistency in messaging among staff.
  • improved practice care opportunities with patient-level reporting on specific diagnoses to easily monitor treatment response and client compliance.

There is no charge to Cornerstone users who wish implement the AAHA diagnostic terms within their software. All previously created diagnostic codes will automatically be archived without losing previously recorded patient history. To request access to the AAHA diagnostic terms, users just need to go to http://info.idexx.com/csaahacoderequest to complete and submit the needed form.

 

AAHA Problem and Diagnosis Terms - a subset of SNOMED CT®

The American Animal Hospital Association (AAHA) Electronic Health Record Task Force (EHRTF) has produced the AAHA Problem and Diagnosis Terms (a list of terms for incorporation into veterinary hospital information systems) to facilitate recording and analysis of patient medical records. AAHA has indicated a desire to align its terminology with the Systematized Nomenclature of Medicine - Clinical Terms (SNOMED-CT), a concept -based medical terminology. Alignment with SNOMED-CT can either occur at the concept level (partial alignment) or it can be carried to the level of logical alignment of the entire AAHA terminology (complete alignment). Complete alignment with SNOMED-CT means that each concept in the AAHA Problem and Diagnosis Terms list would have a matching concept in SNOMED and that the logic inherent in the two terminologies will match. Complete alignment between these terminologies is desirable so that data gathered using the AAHA terms list can be correctly searched using the SNOMED hierarchies and definitions and so that this data can be merged with data gathered by other veterinary organizations using SNOMED-CT. The following assumptions were made concerning the development of this subset:
  • It is not practical or desirable to use SNOMED CT in its entirety.
  • AAHA benefits from complete alignment between SNOMED-CT and the AAHA Problem and Diagnosis Terms list.
  • Veterinary Terminology Services Laboratory (VTSL) assumes that the alignment is to be on a concept basis. VTSL, with editorial guidance from the EHRTF, will determine what medical concept is being represented by the terms (text strings) in the AAHA list and then match them to appropriate medical concepts in SNOMED.
  • Any attempt to align the existing AAHA Problem and Diagnosis Terms list with SNOMED will necessitate adding content to SNOMED and alterations to the AAHA list. In its current form, the AAHA list includes 5200 individual terms and phrases. AAHA recognizes that their terminology standard will require ongoing (continuous) maintenance. The Veterinary Terminology Services Laboratory (VTSL) proposes to assist the American Animal Hospital Association (AAHA) to develop a concept-based terminology standard that serves the interest of small animal practitioners (AAHA members).