West Coast Informatics TermHub solution addresses industry obstacles to translating unstructured healthcare text into recognized terminology standards

Q: When you speak to digital health companies, what are they asking about?

A: Today, we find that both public and private digital health companies are increasingly recognizing the critical role of standardized terminology in their approach to data representation. The initial step for many is data normalization, whether derived from real-time data sources or legacy data accumulated prior to the adoption of standardized terminologies.

Today, both established and startup companies are building their ecosystems by leveraging healthcare standards as the foundation for their data warehousing. A key challenge they face is transforming data that is not yet represented as standardized terminology concepts. In other words, they want to know how we can assist them in translating unstructured healthcare text into recognized terminology standards and do it at scale and on demand.

We have made big strides in further development of our normalization product, Automap. It has been receiving great feedback for helping customers accurately interpret data from various sources while maintaining consistency across platforms. It can process data from CCDA/FHIR documents, doctor/patient notes, and even proprietary terminologies specific to a company. We collaborate with customers to create tailored solutions to meet their unique data normalization needs. Automap projects sometimes also include our “full service” support where subject matter experts address situations in which text does not cleanly or unambiguously map to codes. Learn more by emailing us at info@westcoastinformatics.com.

Q: As Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement (TEFCA) matures in the US, what do you see as the impact on the healthcare industry?

A: TEFCA, a policy and technical approach to enable nationwide exchange of electronic health information across disparate health information networks mandated by the US 21st Century Cures Act, created a unified, nationwide network for the secure sharing of health data. As final rulemaking for this framework is being put in place, it is set to significantly reshape the US healthcare market, particularly benefiting digital health companies. These newer players, who are building their infrastructures from the ground up, have the advantage of integrating healthcare terminologies from the start, which is far easier than the costly and resource-intensive transformation efforts legacy companies have to undertake.

For established organizations, the need to adapt to the new interoperability standards often involves transforming existing systems — a process we've streamlined in the past using tools like Automap. However, digital health companies can sidestep this challenge entirely by embedding compliant terminologies early on.

TermHub plays a critical role in this landscape by offering an out-of-the-box solution that supports the interoperability demands of TEFCA. By making terminology management risk-free and highly accessible, TermHub enables forward-looking companies to scale faster and comply with TEFCA’s requirements without the heavy lifting involved in older, legacy system transformations. To learn more, sign up for a free 90-day trial.

More important than that, however, TEFCA includes a component that allows patients to access their own data through a single request from all providers in the network that hold their data. Because of this, we expect to see an explosion of new consumer-facing digital health applications and services in the next five years seeking to provide real opportunities for patients to engage with and improve their health. Each of these companies will face a flood of patient healthcare data with SNOMED CT, RXNORM, LOINC, and ICD10 codes (as well as unstructured, uncoded data). To make sense of it and build real value for patients, they will need tools like Automap and TermHub to organize, manage and query that data effectively to provide these new healthcare services.

Q: What factors are preventing wider adoption of healthcare terminology?

A: While there is no single answer to what is preventing wider adoption, it can often be attributed to several surface-level issues. Is it the cost? Is it the belief that standardized terminology isn’t necessary? Or is the transformation process too complex? These factors all contribute in some part, but they ultimately point to a broader issue which is the lack of easily accessible, understandable, and affordable solutions. The challenges outlined below (and others) drive the difficulties in adoption. TermHub addresses these potential barriers.

Challenges in quickly and easily deploying and customizing terminology servers

A significant barrier is the difficulty in quickly deploying and customizing a dedicated terminology server. Many solutions require either a dedicated team for self-hosting or reliance on costly vendor-managed systems. These options demand considerable internal resources or expensive support to add terminologies, update content, or make data model changes as required by Standards Development Organizations.

Misconceptions related to FHIR being a complete solution

The success of FHIR has led many to mistakenly believe it fully solves healthcare data interoperability. While FHIR provides a strong foundation, it is primarily a messaging standard with limited guidance on binding terminology codes to fields. We often hear questions like:

• "If producer and consumer both use FHIR, they can communicate, right?"
• "FHIR has data fields, but what about value sets that are rarely updated and don't cover what I need?"
• "Why should I care about terminology? Doesn’t AI understand text now?"

While FHIR handles structured data, challenges arise when dealing with data that isn't in predefined value sets, adding new or open-ended fields, handling provider or patient notes, or managing existing data. How will you find all information linked to a concept code within the FHIR message, or manage changes to concepts over time?

Lack of in-house knowledge and education

Most organizations lack the in-house expertise to properly and efficiently implement systems based on healthcare data standards. Common mistakes and distractions often arise from limited experience, a misunderstanding of standards, and insufficient educational resources … leading to increased costs and tooling that underperforms.

TermHub is the solution

TermHub addresses key challenges with an intuitive web interface that allows easy configuration and cloud-based deployment in minutes. This flexibility, combined with month-to-month licensing and a 90-day free trial, lets users experiment with terminology management risk-free. In addition to supporting FHIR v4 and v5 services, TermHub offers an enhanced API with capabilities that go beyond FHIR. Designed for all experience levels, it includes built-in guidance, videos, and blogs, simplifying adoption without the need for internal expertise. Instead of training an informatics team, companies can rely on TermHub as their healthcare terminology experts and focus on what they do best. Visit the TermHub website to learn more.

Attend WCI’s Expo session:

·       Thursday, October 24, 2024: Automated mapping: SNOMED CT to ICD11 with Brian Carlsen, from 13:30-14:00 KST / 04:30-05:00 UTC