PHLIP Vocabulary Harmonization Process

PHLIP Vocabulary Harmonization Process

 

 PHLIP, the Public Health Laboratory Interoperability Project, surfaced from the laboratory community with the mission to address the need to share lab data electronically.  The founding participants of PHLIP believed that an important first step to reaching the goal of standardized data exchange would be the harmonization of the vocabulary that Public Health laboratories utilize.  To this end, a representative group of state laboratories along with the CDC's Coordinating Center for Infectious Diseases (CCID) laboratories developed and utilized a detailed process to harmonize the vocabulary for each Nationally Notifiable Disease (NND).  All participants recognize that the task was, and is, daunting, though far less than each laboratory would face working on their own – with the added benefit that at the end we will actually be able to share data!   At the core of this effort are the laboratory Subject Matter Experts (SMEs), working to identify all laboratory tests for a specific NND, and then working with PHLIP vocabulary and data standards SMEs to collaboratively agree on a "harmonized" list of tests and corresponding results.  The Core Vocabulary Team compiles all data and decisions of the Work Group to produce the Test Category Spreadsheet, which physically represents a hierarchical structure for each NND.  This approach to harmonizing laboratory vocabulary is based on a paper describing LOINC hierarchy and will be described in detail during this session.   PHLIP continues to tackle the barriers and is addressing all elements for implementing HL7 messages with the initial focus on Influenza.  Working as a community of purpose, we have completed the vocabulary harmonization for 15 NNDs, and the implementation of production messages for unsolicited results reporting to the CDC Influenza Division.    This presentation will explain the process, present the deliverables, and show the path for those who follow.