1. Public Laboratory LOINC Workshop and Committee Meeting
Introduction to LOINC
a universal catalog of clinical observations
Daniel J. Vreeman, PT, DPT, MSc
Assistant Research Professor, Indiana University School of Medicine
Associate Director of Terminology Services, Regenstrief Institute, Inc
12.07.2010
Copyright © 2010

2. Origins of LOINC
The lingua franca of clinical observation exchange

4. Pieter Bruegel the Elder – Tower of Babel

5. Indiana Network for Patient Care
Referral Labs,
RxHub, etc…
St. Vincent
IUMG
Global Global Provider
Concept Index
Health
Patient Index
St. Francis
Dictionary
Departments
Clarian
Community
Wishard Memorial

6. Logical
Observation
Identifiers
Names and
Codes
A universal code system that facilitates exchange,
pooling, and processing of results

8. If an observation is a question
and the observation value is an
answer…
LOINC provides codes for
questions
Other vocabularies provide
codes for the answers

9. What is my patient’s
hemoglobin level?
718-7:Hemoglobin:MCnc:Pt:Bld:Qn

10. How fast does my
patient usually walk?
41959-8:Walking speed:Vel:1W^mean:^Patient:Qn:Calculated

11. Indiana Network for Patient Care
HL7 v.2.X Message
MSH|^~&|HOSPITAL_A|SAMPLE_HOSPITAL_A|||$YearMonthDay|||||||||||||||
LocalCode^LocalName^CodeSystem^LOINCcode^LOINCname^CodeSystem
PID|||$patientId$||$patientName$||||||||||||||||||||
PV1|||||||$attendingDoctor$||$consultingDoctor$||||||||
OBR|1|||012^CBC/Auto Diff^HSPA^57021-8^CBC W Auto Diff^LN||$reqDate|||||||||
OBX|2|ST|123^WBC^HSP_A^26464-8^Leukocytes [#/volume] in Blood^LN||10.8|K/MM3|||||F|
OBX|3|ST|234^RBC^HSP_A^26453-1^Erythrocytes [#/volume] in Blood^LN||4.82|MIL/MM3|||||F|
OBX|4|ST|345^HGB^HSP_A^718-7^Hemoglobin [Mass/volume] in Blood^LN||15.7|GM/DL|||||F|
OBX|5|CE|456^HCT^HSP_A^20570-8^Hematocrit [Volume Fraction] of Blood^LN||45|%|||||||F|
A
Message Processor
A
Institutional Repository

12. Laboratory LOINC

13. Clinical LOINC

14. The LOINC Community
Open, Nimble, Pragmatic

15. Open Development
Worldwide distribution at no cost
Volunteers!
End-user content additions

16. Number of LOINC codes by Release
70,000
LOINC Codes
Lab Codes
60,000
Slope = 2200
50,000
40,000
Slope = 600
30,000
20,000
laboratory terms only
10,000
0

18. loinc.org members
10,000
9,000
8,000
7,000
6,000
5,000
4,000
3,000
10 new members per day
2,000
300 new members per month
1,000
0

19. 9040+ users in 140 countries

20. Downloads: ~1100/month

21. http://search.loinc.org
(beta)

23. ~ 90 Organizations Listed

24. http://forum.loinc.org

25. International Adoption
Submissions, Translations, Implementations

26. Submissions (20 mo)

27. Translators

29. Existing Translations
Spanish
– BiTAC
– Conceptum Medical Terminology
Center
– Mexican Institute of Social Security
French
– Canada Health Infoway
– Société Française d'Informatique de
Laboratoires

30. Existing Translations
German
– DIMDI
Estonian
– Estonian Society for Clinical Chemistry
Portuguese
– Brazilian Federal Agency for Health Plans and
Insurance, Brazilian Clinical Analysis Society,
Brazilian Clinical Pathology Society, and Diagnóstico
das Américas (DASA)

31. Existing Translations
German, French, Italian, Spanish
– CUMUL
Simplified Chinese
– Bethune International Peace Hospital
Korean
– Korean Ministry for Health, Welfare and
Family Affairs

32. New/Updated this Release
Estonian
French
German
Greek
Italian
Spanish (maybe)

33. In-progress
Catalan
Dutch
French
Russian

38. French!

39. Large Implementations
SIGA Saúde project
– São Paulo, Brazil
Canada Health Infoway
– 5 Lab Information System Projects
ePSOS

40. Large Implementations

41. US Adoption
A few key highlights

42. Consolidated Health Informatics
Goal
– Interoperability standards for all federal health
agencies
Adopted LOINC as standard
– Laboratory result names (2003)
– Laboratory test order names (2006)
– Meds: structured product labeling sections (2006)
– Federally-required patient assessment instruments
with functioning and disability content (2007)

43. Other Key US Adoptions
HITSP
eLINCS
NAACCR
CDISC
NCQA/HEDIS

44. Other Key US Adoptions
HL7
HIPAA Claims Attachments
Many HIEs
– Maine Health InfoNet
– Florida Health Information Network
– Vermont Information Technology Leaders
Large Care Organizations
Insurance Companies

45. EHR Meaningful Use
• HITECH Act in ARRA
• Reimbursements for “meaningful
users” of certified EHR technology
• LOINC standard for Lab Results
– Phase I: when received from lab and
for patient summaries
– Phase II: LOINC

46. loinc.org/slideshows