The Terminology Service is tightly integrated with the Clinical Data Interface Service and the Data Transfer Service in order to provide translations to and from vocabularies supported by the UMLS Metathesaurus as clinical data moves through the RHIO. A set of tools are provided to create and manage these translations.


The CareEvolution Terminology Service is implemented using the following design principles:

• All clinical data that is received by a CareEvolution Adapter from a clinical data source (i.e. ADT, lab, pharmacy) is cached using terms and codes from the originating clinical system. This ensures that terminology translation will not degrade the quality of the original data.
  
  
• Any terms from a clinical data source that are not managed using a vocabulary supported by the UMLS Metathesaurus are translated to a UMLS-supported vocabulary immediately on receipt if a translation is available. This translation is cached within the CareEvolution Adapter to ensure that clinical data can be efficiently referenced using a standard terminology during information exchange.
  
  
• Clinical data is exchanged between adapters using vocabularies that are supported by the UMLS Metathesaurus whenever possible. However, if translations to a UMLS-supported vocabulary are not available, the data will still be transmitted with terms from the originating clinical system.
  
  
• Visualization of clinical data can occur with both a UMLS-supported vocabulary and a locally supported vocabulary if a translation is available.
  
  
• A set of tools and services provide a means to manage terminology translations. They also provide a mechanism to “retranslate” existing data cached in a CareEvolution Adapter from previous terminologies as translations are created or standard terminologies are adopted.