New Releases of pCLOCD and SNOMED CT Available

The July 2020 versions of pan-Canadian LOINC Observation Code Database (pCLOCD) and Systematized NOmenclature of MEDicine Clinical Terms (SNOMED CT®) are now available for review and implementation accessible from Terminology Gateway.

In addition, the Standards Resources for COVID-19 page has been updated to provide the latest news and status of SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19 content.

Content highlights for the July 2020 release of pCLOCD include:

• 16 new records, of which 7 are new SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19 LOINC terms requested or identified by Canadian implementers. (If your SARS-CoV-2 LOINC term for testing is not listed and you would like for it to be included in the next pCLOCD release, please submit a Request for Change via Infoway’s Request Management System.)
• Change based on the July 2020 International release of LOINC® includes:
  • 55 total records with content edits in either English or French, marked as R05.12.00_2.68
• Other key updates consists of updated pCLOCD Terms of Use and pCLOCD Maintenance guide.

Please refer to the specific pCLOCD Release Notes for details on all edits, new content highlights and key updates . These notes are intended to accompany the release to provide further information on specific additions and changes that have been incorporated into this release.

Content highlights for the January 2020 release of SNOMED CT include:

• 2,073 new concepts added to support Clinical finding enhancements
• 441 new concepts added to support Pharmaceutical / biologic product enhancements
• 306 new concepts added to support Body Structure enhancements
• 299 new concepts added to support Procedure enhancements
• 137 new concepts added to support the Substances enhancements
• 135 new concepts added to support the Organisms enhancements
• 117 new concepts added to support Observable entity enhancements
• 456 new concepts supporting: Record Artefacts, Physical Objects, Situation with explicit context, Specimen, SNOMED CT Model Component, Staging and scales, Event, Social context and Qualifier Value
• Quality initiative: 23,233 changes were made to existing content, those changes cover changes to concept definitions, description changes, concept definition status changes from Primitive to Sufficiently Defined, inactivation of descriptions and concepts
• Maintenance of the Controlled Medical Terminologies (CMT) Subsets and Collaboration efforts and ICD-10 map: LOINC - SNOMED, Orphanet, ICD-11, ICD-O, Global Medical Device Nomenclature Agency (GMDNA)
• Technical updates: Logic Profile Enhancements with OWL axiom refset files and Machine Readable Concept Model (MRCM) updates. Release package updates (a new configuration file) and changes to the file naming convention.

Highlights for Canadian Users

Concrete domain: new concepts and RF2 representation.

Updated modeling for diagnostic procedures related to changes to abdomen/pelvis terminology. Updated modeling and editorial guidelines for drug products and vaccines.

Continued Caronavirus pandemic support: guidance, new codes, and a Rollup Delta Package from March Interim Release. More information about SNOMED CT COVID-19 is available via the SNOMED CT COVID-19 Related Content space.

If you have implemented the International March 2020 Interim Edition, please contact us directly at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to obtain the July 2020 International Edition Delta Rollup files.

Please refer to SNOMED CT July 2020 International Release Notes for further information on specific additions and changes incorporated into this release.

Requests for Change

Requests for change to these terminology standards should be made via Infoway’s request for change management system, InfoRMS, which is accessible once you have logged into your Infoway account.

If you do not have an Infoway account, register to request an InfoCentral account and accept the appropriate license agreements.

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