LOINC
Logical Observation Identifiers, Names and Codes
What is LOINC?
An international standardized lab terminology built to support ordering of laboratory tests (including some genetic testing), vital signs, and test panels as well as electronic delivery of results. It also contains codes to support a variety of standardized assessments and measures such as PHQ-9 and HEDIS.
Basic Metabolic Panel 2000 - 24321-2
Heart Rate - 8867-4
ERBB2 gene (HER2) duplication associated observations panel - Tissue by FISH - 74885-5
Poor appetite or overeating in last 2 weeks.frequency [Observed PHQ-9 CMS] - 54667-1
Never or 1 day - LA10997-7
2-6 days (several days) - LA10998-5
7-11 days (half or more of the days) - LA10999-3
12-14 days (nearly every day) - LA11000-9
According to its publisher, Regenstrief Institute, LOINC is used by reference labs, healthcare providers, government agencies, insurance companies, software and device manufacturers, and researchers from around the globe to identify data and move it seamlessly between systems.
After being first developed in 1994, Regenstrief organized the LOINC Committee to develop a common terminology for laboratory and clinical observations because there was a growing trend to send clinical data electronically from laboratories and other data producers to hospitals, physician's offices, and payers who use the data for clinical care and management purposes. Today LOINC has over 150,000 users from 196 countries and is a growing global standard.
What content is in LOINC?
LOINC currently contains more than 98,000 laboratory testing concepts, organized into a model that makes use of six “parts” to fully describe the test.
Component - the thing being measured (also called the analyte)
Property - the aspect or quality of the component being measured (e.g., the “mass”)
Time Aspect - whether the measurement is at a point in time, or collected over a time range
System - the body system in which the measurement is taken, along with a secondary contextual piece of information about the subject of the measurement (e.g., patient, or fetus)
Scale Type - the type of value to expect in the result. A number, a narrative, or a value from an enumerated scale
Method - information about the procedure used to perform the observation (e.g., electrophoresis)
There are codes for each of the individual parts that allow a user to understand the full range of tests for a particular component, such as “Sodium”. Additionally, there are codes for panels (or sub-panels) of laboratory tests that are grouped together in standard ways (e.g., “lipid panel” or “vital signs panel” or “CBC panel”).
Lesser-known codes in LOINC cover standard assessment instrument questions and their answers as well as a wide variety of codes for different kinds of documents and sections within standard healthcare records. In total, LOINC has over 280,000 codes.
How is LOINC used in the United States?
LOINC is a key standard laboratory terminology within the United States. According to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) LOINC is one of a suite of designated standards for use in U.S. Federal Government systems for the electronic exchange of clinical health information and is also a required standard in interoperability specifications of the U.S. Healthcare Information Technology Standards Panel.
One can clearly see the importance of LOINC in U.S. Healthcare by looking at the United States Core Data for Interoperability (USCDI), published by the Office of the National Coordinator (ONC). LOINC is a widely adopted standard for use in laboratory test ordering and results, as well as coding the key sections of certain clinical notes.
How is LOINC related to other healthcare standards efforts?
Regenstrief Institute maintains collaboration agreements with other standards organizations such as Health Level Seven (HL7), IEEE Standards Association, SNOMED International, Radiological Society of North America (RSNA), and Health Standards Collaborative (HSC).
The main alternative to LOINC is Nomenclature for Properties and Units (NPU).