CAP AND GESAWORLD FORM COLLABORATIONTO ADVANCE HEALTH IT STANDARDS
Collaboration will Help Advance Health Information Interoperability in Europe and the Americas
Northfield, Ill., and Barcelona, Spain, July 14, 2010— The College of American Pathologists’ (CAP) division CAP STS (SNOMED Terminology Solutions™) signed a collaboration agreement with Barcelona, Spain-headquartered Gesaworld, a consultancy in the health and social sectors, to work together in advancing the use of standards in health information technology (IT).
CAP STS has several clients in Spain’s health sector and is recognized as the authoratative source for SNOMED Clinical Terms® (SNOMED CT®) in the Spanish health IT marketplace. SNOMED CT, a globally recognized controlled medical vocabulary, is a robust and information-rich standardized clinical terminology that helps health professionals to record, store, analyze, and exchange information. Standards in health information allow electronic health records (EHRs) become more meaningful and useful—ultimately helping health professionals improve patient care.Together, CAP STS and Gesaworld will provide consulting, training, and implementation services for health IT standards. Gesaworld’s health projects span 20 countries managed through nine offices in Europe and North, South, and Central America. CAP STS has clients in North America, Australasia, and Europe, including the Copenhagen, Denmark-based International Health Terminology Standards Development Organisation (IHTSDO®), which owns SNOMED CT. CAP STS is the support organization for the IHTSDO.
“Our collaboration strengthens our presence not only in Spain, but in Europe and the Americas, and it allows us to offer a broader range of services in the health IT marketplace because of Gesaworld’s vast experience in health care,” said Kevin Donnelly, CAP STS vice president and general manager. “This collaboration will provide better service to our clients in their preferred language, such as Spanish and Portuguese, because of Gesaworld’s experience in countries where those languages are spoken.”
Spain’s Ministry of Health, as a member of the IHTSDO, provides the Spanish version of SNOMED CT free via its website for use in Spain. Linguistic normalization in health is a priority of the Ministry and its autonomous communities. Its National Health System Agency for Quality is responsible for developing initiatives to promote the use of SNOMED CT as a reference clinical terminology for EHRs throughout Spain.
“Collaborating with CAP and its division STS was a natural fit for Gesaworld,” said Roser Vicente, Gesaworld general director. “The collaboration with CAP, a leader in laboratory medicine, and its STS division, a leader in health IT standards implementation, will broaden and strengthen the depth and level of services clients receive from us working together.”
About CAP STS
CAP STS (SNOMED Terminology Solutions™) a division of the College of American Pathologists (CAP), is a leader in transforming health information. CAP STS’ Professional Services, leading the pursuit of semantic interoperability for EHRs, specializes in customized best-practice health information solutions from strategy and planning to implementation and maintenance. CAP STS’ goal is to ultimately improve patient care through supporting the pathologist’s role as chief diagnostician/clinical care advisor and advancing interoperable EHRs. CAP STS’ DIHIT (Diagnostic Intelligence and Health Information Technology) team is committed to advancing health IT standards, practices, and tools, such as the CAP Diagnostic Work Station initiative; and standardized electronic reporting, including the CAP electronic Cancer Checklists (CAP eCC). The CAP is a medical society that serves more than 17,000 physician members and the laboratory community throughout the world. It is the world’s largest association composed exclusively of board-certified pathologists and is widely recognized as the leader in laboratory quality assurance. The CAP is an advocate for high-quality and cost-effective patient care. For more information, visit www.cap.org/DIHIT or write to snomedsolutions@cap.org.
About Gesaworld
Gesaworld is one of the first Spanish consultancies, and a principal one with worldwide scope, specializing in the advisement and management of projects to contribute to quality improvement and sustainability of public and private services in the health and social sectors. Founded in Barcelona in 1999 by professionals with extensive experience in both sectors, today it operates in 20 countries with nine offices in Barcelona, Madrid, Washington, DC, Brazil, Chile, Nicaragua, México, Panamá and Portugal. For more information, visit www.gesaworld.com.
SNOMED CT® is a copyrighted work of the International Health Terminology Standards Development Organisation. ©2002-2010 International Health Terminology Standards Development Organisation (IHTSDO®). All rights reserved. SNOMED CT® was originally created by the College of American Pathologists. “SNOMED,” “SNOMED CT,” and IHTSDO are registered trademarks of the IHTSDO. All other trademarks used in this document are the property of their respective owners.
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CAP STS CONTACT
Candace Robertson
847-832-7764
crobertson@cap.org
GESAWORLD CONTACT
Marc Satorras
+34.93.363.03.27
msatorras@gesaworld.com
CAP STS
500 Lake Cook Road
Suite 355
Deerfield, IL 60015
800-323-4040
847-832-7700
www.capsts.org
www.cap.org/DIHIT
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