Guidelines for a Standardized Terminology Knowledgebase (Jira PSS-2312)

Description

A standard-based Terminology Knowledge Architecture (Tinkar) is necessary to support the operation of a variety of systems intended to deliver knowledge management for terminology to vendors, providers, and standards development organizations, like Health Level Seven International (HL7).

In 2021, a successful ballot was conducted for the HL7 Logical Model: Standardized Terminology Knowledgebase, Release 1 - an informative document outlining the requirements for managing terminology across diverse healthcare organizations. This document emphasized the need for a robust terminology foundation, supporting extensions for various informatics systems. It introduced a self-describing logical model for terminology knowledge bases, specifically designed to represent standard terminology modules such as SNOMED CT Releases, value sets, coding systems, local terms, and equivalence mappings. The logical model comprehensively captured internal semantics, concept details, detailed relationships between terms, and hierarchies of standard terminology modules. The foundation for a standard-based Terminology Knowledge Architecture (Tinkar) specification was articulated to facilitate knowledge management for terminology among vendors, providers, and standards development organizations, including Health Level Seven International (HL7).

In line with the commitment to continuous improvement and innovation, our goal in May 2024 is to provide an updated version of the previously balloted informative document. This update will encompass the following enhancements and additions:

Analysis and Alignment: Conduct a thorough analysis to map Tinkar requirements and model elements to FHIR resources with the intention of defining FHIR profiles to exchange terminology and knowledge authoring artifacts

Terminology Artifacts Sharing: Define a syntax for sharing terminology artifacts, considering the possibility of introducing new methods or extending existing standards, including FHIR profiles, likely on the CodeSystem and Provenance resources, defining Extensions and ValueSets as needed to support.

Logical Model Updates: Enhance the HL7 Logical Model: Standardized Terminology Knowledgebase, Release 1. This includes incorporating an updated set of Tinkar Model Concepts (also known as infrastructure concepts) and outlining the minimally required content for Tinkar implementation, in particular to support lossless SNOMED and LOINC representation.

Throughout this process, the emphasis is on continuous refinement and iteration, aligning with our commitment to developing a standard way of representing SNOMED, LOINC, and RxNorm towards a Standard for Trial Use (STU) specification.

Misc Notes
2025 April: TSC approved updated project scope statement at https://jira.hl7.org/browse/PSS-2312 2025 April: Work Group moved balloting the White Paper to the September 2025 cycle. NOTE: Russ Ott: This project Iintended to be a new version of the prior artifact, adding in initial implementation guidance on how to use that Reference Model (from the original publication) to exchange Terminology Change Sets. The prior artifact is Project 1623: https://www.hl7.org/special/Committees/projman/searchableProjectIndex.cfm?action=edit&ProjectNumber=1623 Stakeholders: Healthcare IT Vendors, Providers, Regulatory Agency, Standards Development Organizations (SDOs)