Systematized Nomenclature of Medicine—Clinical Terms (SNOMED CT) is a
comprehensive clinical terminology developed specifically to facilitate the electronic
storage and retrieval of detailed clinical information. It is the result of collaboration
between the College of American Pathologists (CAP) and the United Kingdom’s
National Health Service (NHS). SNOMED CT merges CAP’s SNOMED Reference
Terminology, an older classification system used to group diseases, and the NHS’s
Clinical Terms Version 3 (better known as Read Codes), an established clinical
terminology used in Great Britain and elsewhere. As a result, SNOMED CT is based
on decades of research. As of April 2007 SNOMED is owned, maintained, and
distributed by the International Health Terminology Standards Development
Organization (IHTSDO), a nonprofit association based in Denmark. The National
Library of Medicine is the U.S. member of the IHTSDO and distributes SNOMED at
no cost within the United States (NLM, 2008).