Skip to main content

Comparative Analysis of Clinical Terminology Servers: A Quest for an Improved Solution

  • Conference paper
  • First Online:
Digital Economy. Emerging Technologies and Business Innovation (ICDEc 2024)

Abstract

In response to the evolving dynamics of healthcare, this research underscores the need for robust solutions to facilitate the exchange of clinical terminology, ensuring seamless communication and interoperability across healthcare systems. Terminology servers are pivotal in standardising and managing terminology, ensuring consistent communication and knowledge sharing. We must choose a modern, highly customisable, multilingual terminology server that supports FHIR and standard terminologies. This article offers a comprehensive overview of the challenges and limitations of existing clinical terminology exchange methods. We evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of prominent terminology servers. The findings reveal crucial insights into the current landscape of terminology management solutions, uncovering limitations and potential gaps. As a result, the article concludes with a compelling argument for the need to explore and develop a new enhanced terminology server solution. This exploration responds to the evolving demands of the modern healthcare industry and sets the stage for future advancements in clinical terminology management.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
$34.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or eBook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Andrews, J.C., Bogliatto, F., Lawson, H.W., Bornstein, J.: Speaking the same language: using standardized terminology (2016)

    Google Scholar 

  2. Apelon: Apelon Distributed Terminology System (DTS) (2024). http://www.apelondts.org/

  3. Awaysheh, A., Wilcke, J., Elvinger, F., Rees, L., Fan, W., Zimmerman, K.: A review of medical terminology standards and structured reporting. J. Vet. Diagn. Invest. 30(1), 17–25 (2018)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. B2iHealthcare: Snowray. The Healthcare Terminology Service (2024). https://snowray.app/

  5. Bender, D., Sartipi, K.: HL7 FHIR: an agile and RESTful approach to healthcare information exchange. In: Proceedings of the 26th IEEE International Symposium on Computer-Based Medical Systems, pp. 326–331. IEEE (2013)

    Google Scholar 

  6. Benson, T., Grieve, G., Benson, T., Grieve, G.: Snomed CT. Principles of Health Interoperability: FHIR, HL7 and SNOMED CT, pp. 293–324 (2021)

    Google Scholar 

  7. Bodenreider, O., Cornet, R., Vreeman, D.J.: Recent developments in clinical terminologies-SNOMED CT, LOINC, and RxNorm. Yearb. Med. Inform. 27(01), 129–139 (2018)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. CSIRO: Ontoserver (2024). https://ontoserver.csiro.au/

  9. Gazzarata, R., Maggi, N., Magnoni, L.D., Monteverde, M.E., Ruggiero, C., Giacomini, M.: Semantics management for a regional health information system in Italy by CTS2 and FHIR. In: Applying the FAIR Principles to Accelerate Health Research in Europe in the Post COVID-19 Era: Proceedings of the 2021 EFMI Special Topic Conference, vol. 287, p. 119. IOS Press (2021)

    Google Scholar 

  10. HL7: HL7 Common Terminology Services. Service Functional Model Specification. Release 2 (2022). http://www.hl7.org/documentcenter/private/standards/CTS/V3_CTS2_r2_2015FEB_R2022.pdf

  11. HL7: FHIR is a standard for health care data exchange, published by HL7® (2023). http://hl7.org/fhir

  12. HL7: FHIR Terminology Module (2023). http://hl7.org/fhir/terminology-module.html

  13. IHTSDO: Snowstorm (2024). https://github.com/IHTSDO/snowstorm/

  14. ISO: Sector: Health (2024). https://www.iso.org/sectors/health

  15. Lehne, M., Sass, J., Essenwanger, A., Schepers, J., Thun, S.: Why digital medicine depends on interoperability. NPJ Digit. Med. 2(1), 79 (2019)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Luna, D., Otero, C., Gambarte, M.L., Frangella, J.: Terminology services: standard terminologies to control medical vocabulary. “Words are not what they say but what they mean”. In: Heston, T.F. (ed.) eHealth. IntechOpen, Rijeka (2018). https://doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.75781

  17. Metke-Jimenez, A., Steel, J., Hansen, D., Lawley, M.: Ontoserver: a syndicated terminology server. J. Biomed. Semant. 9, 1–10 (2018)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Health Standards Organization: Why health care standards matter (2024). https://healthstandards.org/standards/why-standards-matter

  19. Regenstrief Institute, Inc.: LOINC (2023). https://loinc.org/

  20. Rhapsody: Rhapsody®Semantic terminology management feature overview (2024). https://rhapsody.health/resources/rhapsody-semantic-terminology-management-feature-overview/

  21. SNOMED International: SNOMED CT (2023). https://www.snomed.org/

  22. Termmed: TermSpace (2024). https://cf-prod-main.termspace.com/

  23. TermX: About (2024). https://termx.org

  24. TermX: Download (2024). https://termx.org/download

  25. TermX: Tutorial (2024). https://termx.org/docs

  26. Wardle, M.: Hermes (2024). https://github.com/wardle/hermes/

  27. WHO: ICD (2023). https://www.who.int/

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Contributions

M.I. and I.B. designed the idea for the manuscript, and M.I. wrote it with support from I.B. All authors contributed to the final version. G.P. and P.R. supervised the project.

This work in the project “ICT programme” was supported by the European Union through the European Social Fund.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Marina Ivanova .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2025 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this paper

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this paper

Ivanova, M., Bossenko, I., Piho, G., Ross, P. (2025). Comparative Analysis of Clinical Terminology Servers: A Quest for an Improved Solution. In: Bach Tobji, M.A., Jallouli, R., Sadok, H., Lajfari, K., Mafamane, D., Mahboub, H. (eds) Digital Economy. Emerging Technologies and Business Innovation. ICDEc 2024. Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing, vol 531. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-76368-7_8

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-76368-7_8

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-031-76367-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-031-76368-7

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics