LOINCthat

LOINCthat is a web-based platform designed to assist in the discovery, management, and mapping of LOINC terms for use in electronic health records and health information exchange. The project aims to streamline access to LOINC terminology by providing a searchable database, a browser-friendly viewer, and a programmatic API, with emphasis on interoperability across systems that use related vocabularies such as SNOMED CT, ICD-10-CM, and UCUM units.

Overview and capabilities: The platform consolidates LOINC code definitions, properties, panels, and survey items and supports advanced search capabilities, including natural-language queries, filters by term type, and connections to related terms. It incorporates a mapping component that suggests crosswalks to related terminologies and supplies confidence scores to guide integration decisions. User contributions are supported through a review workflow, and the system maintains historical versions of codes to support longitudinal data analysis.

Architecture and data management: LOINCthat adopts a modular design with a RESTful API, a web client, and background services that ingest regular LOINC releases. Data are stored in a versioned repository with provenance metadata to track changes, authors, and rationale for mappings. The platform emphasizes open standards and compatibility with common data interchange formats used in health information systems.

Impact and governance: Intended for use by laboratories, health IT vendors, and clinical researchers, LOINCthat aims to improve data capture accuracy and support interoperability in FHIR-enabled environments. As an open project, it promotes community governance, transparency, and licensing conducive to collaborative development and reproducible research.