What is Structured Data?

Summary

Structured data is a method for storing information in a computer so that it can be used efficiently. For our purposes, it allows the electronic exchange of information among disparate systems while assuring that all systems have the same understanding of that data. The important thing for you to know is that exchanging health care information requires converting much of it to standard codes. ICD-9/10 codes are a good and familiar example. Healthcare facilities, insurance companies and other entities that use ICD-9 codes all understand that 034.0 indicates Streptococcal Sore Throat. Using the code instead of a typed description eliminates the possibility of misunderstandings due to misspelling, abbreviations, and different terminologies.

Net Health Employee Health and Occupational Medicine employs a number of codes that are standards across the industry. CPT codes, another familiar code that has been in use for a long time, are used for billing. UNII Codes are used to indicate types of allergies, and the VA/KP problem codes are used to indicate allergy reactions. The good news is that you do not need to know all these codes. When entering structured data in Net Health Employee Health and Occupational Medicine, you will choose from an alphabetical list of descriptions; Net Health Employee Health and Occupational Medicine will enter the correct code.

Codes Used in Net Health Employee Health and Occupational Medicine for Structured Data

Code	Uniquely Identifies	Use in Net Health Employee Health and Occupational Medicine
CPT code Common Procedural Terminology. Nationally standardized list of clinical procedures and activities, the alphanumerical coding of which is used to bill insurance carriers.	Medical services	CPT Code table Attach to medical activities Billing insurance companies
CVX codes that are related to vaccines, toxoids and immune globulins with their corresponding, developed by CDC	Vaccine/Immunization	Entered in certain Medical Activity (Vaccine/ Immunization) Exporting patient health information (CCD/CCR) Export to state agency
HCPCS Healthcare Common Procedure Coding System, est. 1978; Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services	Supplies, drugs and certain other kinds of services	CPT Code table (when a code is entered in the table, it is marked as either CPT or HCPCS.) Billing insurance companies.
ICD9 code International Classification of Diseases, Version 9: a standardized classification of diseases and their associated codes. Required for insurance billing.	Diagnoses Illness and Conditions History	ICD-9 table Problems (PMH) wizards Assessment wizards Drug interactions check Clinical Guidelines Billing
LOINC Logical Observation Identifiers Names and Codes is a database and universal standard for identifying laboratory observations. It was developed and is maintained by the Regenstrief Institute, Inc., an internationally-recognized non-profit medical research organization, in 1994. LOINC was created in response to the demand for an electronic database for clinical care and management and is publicly available at no cost.	Lab Results	Entered in certain Medical Activities (Imaging/Radiology, Other Screen/Test) Match lab results received via electronic interface to visit activities.
NDC Drug products are identified and reported using a unique, three-segment number, called the National Drug Code, which is a universal product identifier for human drugs.	Drug Products	Entered in CPT Code table Only applicable for billing medications dispensed in-house. If entered, this code will, by default, print on the CMS 1500 form instead of the CPT code. If a CPT Code's related medical activity has an Activity Type of Vaccine/Medication, an override NDC code can be entered when clinical results are entered on a visit.
RVU Relative Value Units (assigned by Medicare)	n/a	Entered in CPT Code table Used in pricing medical services. Analyzing revenues for a given time period
SNOMED Systematized Nomenclature of Medicine is a systematically organized computer processable collection of medical terminology covering most areas of clinical information such as diseases, findings, procedures, microorganisms, pharmaceuticals etc. It allows a consistent way to index, store, retrieve, and aggregate clinical data across specialties and sites of care. It also helps organizing the content of medical records, reducing the variability in the way data is captured, encoded and used for clinical care of patients and research.		The VA/KP codes discussed below are a subset of the larger system of SNOMED codes.
UNII Codes	Allergy Substances	UNII Food/Substance Codes table Allergy Wizards E xchanging patient health data (CCD/CCR)
VA/KP Codes	Allergy reactions (Subset of SNOMED Codes)	VA/KP Problems List Codes table Allergy Wizards Exchanging patient health data (CCD/CCR)