3M™ Terminology Consulting Services

Bridge your data islands

If each information system in your network operates in standalone mode, the answers you need are stranded on “data islands.” You could be missing critical opportunities to measure and improve the quality of patient care, analyze resource use, and implement evidence-based medicine. Through 3M Terminology Consulting Services (TCS), healthcare organizations can help bridge the “data islands” of multiple systems, applications and networks by mapping the terminologies, making diverse systems interoperable.

3M TCS offers a comprehensive program of terminology analysis, implementation, and data mapping services, delivered by seasoned medical informaticists with more than 20 years of experience in data dictionary development.

3M’s consultants have industry-leading expertise and real-world operational experience in terminologies, vocabulary standards, standards implementation and vocabulary development. This expertise is supported with advanced terminology tools that build on the robust vocabulary content and data mapping technology of the 3M™ Healthcare Data Dictionary (HDD).

The 3M HDD has been used to encode data for many commercial and government facilities and systems, including Department of Defense facilities worldwide. In addition, 3M medical terminology consultants have experience with meaningful use, Systematized Nomenclature of Medicine Clinical Terms (SNOMED CT®), Logical Observation Identifiers Names and Codes (LOINC®), Health Level 7 (HL7) and other vocabularies and standards.

Leverage your EHR investment

Standard terminologies are not comprehensive, and systems that simply map standard terminologies directly to each other do not address codes in legacy, “home grown” or hybrid systems. 3M TCS provides services and strategies for keeping legacy terminologies mapped to standards and continuously synchronized across multiple systems, thus preserving existing investments in legacy systems and electronic health records (EHRs).

Reduce costs

3M experts have the tools and informatics expertise to offer a cost-effective resource for maintaining vocabularies. This allows you to deploy your HIT staff and informaticists for other pressing demands.

Prevent recurring problems

Data interoperability is an ongoing process that requires a commitment to continuous improvement. 3M consultants can help you understand the impact of multiple, diverse terminologies on your clinical systems, repositories, and electronic records and recommend strategies to improve data storage and exchange.

Front-load the benefits

If your organization has limited resources and cannot immediately implement all recommendations, 3M consultants can outline improvements that will provide the greatest short-term benefit while avoiding duplicate efforts.