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We have medications listed in our medical system. They are mapped to RxNorm ids.
We want to migrate to Snomed. Is there a way to match RxNorm ids to Snomed concept ids? Perhaps there is a database with links? Or a service?
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SNOMED CT is a terminology that can cross-map to other international terminologies, classifications and code systems. Maps are associations between particular concepts or terms in one system and concepts or terms in another system that have the same (or similar) meaning.
Also, RxNorm is the official HITSP standard for exchanging information on “clinical drugs”, which means the combination Ingredient+Strenght+dose form, the first line of a written prescription. NDCs are inventory codes, whose built-in hierarchies focus on the packagers, not the drugs.
LOINC is used to code the testing method, whereas SNOMED CT codes for non-numeric answers. In HL7 messages, LOINC provides codes for the question in fields OBR-4 and OBX-3, while SNOMED provides codes for the answers in OBX-5. For more complex test results, SNOMED CT is needed to properly define testing.
SNOMED CT enabled clinical health records benefit populations by: Facilitating early identification of emerging health issues, monitoring of population health and agile response to changing clinical practices. Enabling accurate access to relevant information, reducing costly duplications and errors.
SNOMED and RXNORM are very different in how they represent drug information. RXNORM is much more complete and encodes strength, administration route, packaging information and product names. SNOMED has mainly principal active ingredients and some product names. The coverage in SNOMED for strength and administration route is not great.
For instance SNOMED does not have IDs for Prozac but does have for Fluoxetine which is the principal ingredient of Prozac
In RXNORM you can find the following connections:
[PROzac Weekly 90 MG Delayed Release Oral Capsule]
-- ingredient --> [Prozac]
-- precise ingredient --> [Fluoxetine]
And the ingredient concept will take you to SNOMED:
[Fluoxetine] --> SNOMEDCT_US:53640004 SNOMEDCT_US:372767007
Bear in mind that most ingredient in SNOMED are duplicated as product and substance and each of these types give different relations.
Three options to implement this:
The important aspect here is that if you replace RXNORM IDs with SNOMED IDs you will be losing information but of course depending on your use case that might be just fine. I would consider using NDCs.
Disclaimer: I was an engineer at BioPortal and currently CTO at Lexigram.
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