mediumConceptDesignMidSeniorStaff
Both systems send a coded lab result and the receiver still cannot use it. Why?
6 min readUpdated 2026-08-15
Answer
Short answer
A code means nothing without its code system, its version and a mapping the receiver trusts. Local catalogues dominate, LOINC, SNOMED CT and ICD answer different questions, value set expansions drift with versions, and every local-to-standard map is lossy, owned and perpetually going stale.
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Likely follow-ups
- Two servers expand the same value set differently. What would you check first?
- A concept you have been sending for years is inactivated in the next release of the code system. What happens to historic data and to new messages?
- When is it right to map a local code to a broader parent concept, and what must the receiver be told?
- How would you detect that a lab has silently added tests to its catalogue that your map does not cover?
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