Leading Health Technology Company Healthpoint has launched the inclusion of SNOMED Clinical Terminology into their health and social services directory API. The move enables applications and users of the Healthpoint API to use standardised clinical terminology, reducing the chance of misinterpreting a clinical need, and ensuring greater accuracy when connecting people to the correct service the first time. The use of SNOMED CT within the Healthpoint API can assist in processes such as: health promotion, patient journey mapping, referrals, and appointment bookings.

Kate Rhind CEO of Healthpoint emphasises:

SNOMED CT’s introduction is a game-changer for New Zealand’s health sector. It’s a crucial keystone for digital modernisation, allowing us to leverage data for better patient outcomes and a more efficient healthcare system.

The Healthpoint API – healthpointapi.com is built using HL7® FHIR® (Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources) standard for healthcare data exchange. Healthpoint designed the API so New Zealand-based organisations and other applications can access ‘real-time’ comprehensive health and social services content held within the Healthpoint directory.

Chair of HL7NZ, John Carter says…

Integrating SNOMED CT into Healthpoint’s FHIR®-based API offers an even greater level of interoperability than using either of these open standards on their own and ensures the Healthpoint information can be easily shared and specifically targeted to the right service or clinician.

An advantage of SNOMED CT is that reference sets and language reference sets can be created that are relevant to the country or region you are in. Healthpoint is working with the SNOMED National Release Centre at Health New Zealand – Te Whatu Ora, to validate mapping from existing Healthpoint categorisations, and provide patient-friendly concepts in English and Te Reo Māori.

Providing patient-friendly terminology in Healthpoint and the Healthpoint API could benefit health organisations and patients nationwide. Imagine a doctor using “fracture of humerus” and a patient using “broken arm.” SNOMED enables the use of synonyms but provides a single code, ensuring everyone is referencing the same concept.

With this upgrade a person will be able to search the Healthpoint directory using patient friendly terms in either English or Te Reo Māori and get results for relevant specialists or services. For example, for “Cervical Screening” or “Whakamātautau waha kōpū.” At the same time an application can query the Healthpoint API by the SNOMED code for this concept and return the same list of services.

And how this concept is represented in SNOMED:

In the rollout, Healthpoint will enable the “category,” “type” and “specialty” elements on the FHIR Healthcare service base resource and allow users to query the API using these elements.

Healthpoint rolled out SNOMED CT to the production version Healthpoint API on Friday 19th of April 2024.

About Healthpoint:

Healthpoint is New Zealand’s Health and Social Services Directory. Established in 2004, Healthpoint is an integral part of the National Health and Social Services landscape.

The Healthpoint Directory is not just a website or a directory. It is a gateway to information that helps people access and use health and social services around the country. Healthpoint’s vision is to support fairer access online by enabling service providers to profile themselves and share their voice, including who they are, what they provide, access criteria, and contact details.

Millions of enquiries find content to connect whānau to better care. This includes visits to the site, as well as partners, apps and internet-connected devices that connect directly with the content through the Healthpoint HL7® FHIR® API.

The proof of its success is in the numbers; approximately one million visitors each month to www.healthpoint.co.nz, including whānau and health professionals. There are over 11,000 health services profiled and 8,000 editors, who are updating their information on the directory. Every day, anywhere between 200 – 400 providers change their information about the services they offer.

The Healthpoint API:
healthpointapi.com

Healthpoint Directory:
www.healthpoint.co.nz

Media Enquiries:
john@healthpoint.co.nz