4/01/2015
Bill Coe, Lead Metadata Specialist
Editor’s Note: Join us as we explore how the Healthwise metadata team makes our high-quality health education findable and meaningful. Check back for additional posts.
Every year, people turn to Healthwise information about 180 million times. From electronic health records to secure online patient portals to laboratory management systems, the accurate transfer of information in health care depends on standard classification schemes called code sets to do the “translating.” The Healthwise content metadata includes codes from a number of standard code sets, enabling the content to be linked into health systems and thus findable and useful to the clinicians, coaches, and consumers who turn to us to help people make better health decisions.
How do we include these complex code sets in our metadata? Read on…
Integrating into clinicians systems through SNOMED-CT® (Systematized Nomenclature of Medicine—Clinical Terms) is critical. The Healthwise® Knowledgebase and our Patient Instructions are indexed with SNOMED codes, allowing these products to be accessed and easily found in clinical systems. This also helps our clients meet one of the criteria in the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) rules for Meaningful Use.
CMS criteria to meet Meaningful Use Stage 2 are clear, and one of the systems that helps coordinate that is LOINC (Logical Observation Identifiers Names and Codes). Healthwise includes LOINC codes in our document metadata, focusing on the 300+ commonly used codes as identified by LOINC’s producer.
Helping users finding relevant information on conditions is the bread and butter of Healthwise. ICD-9-CM (International Classification of Diseases, 9th Revision, Clinical Modification), the primary billing code system, is key to client success. Healthwise documents are indexed with appropriate ICD-9-CM codes so that users can find relevant information on conditions and symptoms.
And we’re proud that we work to stay ahead of what’s coming next. ICD-10-CM will replace ICD-9-CM as the primary billing code system in October 2015 in an historic shift. Healthwise already includes ICD-10 codes in its document metadata so that clients get appropriate and relevant health education information for their users.
Healthwise document metadata includes the appropriate codes needed to meet CMS Meaningful Use requirements and to deliver the information needed to make better health decisions.