Welcome to the Infoway Subset Registry
Implementers are free to adopt or adapt these subsets to meet their particular clinical and business requirements. In order to maintain semantic interoperability, as implementations might pre-adopt new codes, implementers should be able to accept, store and retrieve additional concepts using the same code system(s) for these subsets.
Release schedule:
- Subsets are reviewed annually.
- Subsets using SNOMED CT are updated with each release of the Canadian Edition of SNOMED CT.
- Some subsets, such as those using the SC code system are updated on a more ad hoc basis to meet user implementation timelines.
Table of Contents
Common to all releases
- Subsets maintained by Infoway are published on the Terminology Gateway, where implementers can:
- browse the subsets
- download them as excel, JSON or XML files
- compare versions of a subset by viewing the change logs
- and subscribe to be notified of updates to a subset
Release Types
Infoway has four types of releases: Initial, Maintenance, Inactivation and Deprecation. More information on these release types can be found in Table 1.
Table 1: Release Types
| Release Type | Descriptions | Colour Coding |
|---|---|---|
| Initial | This type of release is used when it is the first release of a subset. | |
| Maintenance | This type of release is used when a previously published release has been updated and republished either through a regular standard release from standards organisation or Request for changes (RFC). | |
| Inactivation | This type of release is used when a subset is no longer in use (inactive) and is being prepared for deprecation. The inactivation period (status) is for one (1) year, followed by a deprecation period (status) for one (1) year. If there are no maintenance requests during the inactivation-deprecation cycle that last two (2) years, the subset is deprecated as a next step. | |
| Deprecation | This type of release is used when a subset is no longer available for use. |
Subset Status
This represents the current status of a subset in the Terminology Gateway. Subsets are either Active, Inactive or Draft.
- Active subsets
- are required for any production environment.
Inactive subsets
- Are those that are not in use and have not been updated. Inactive subsets are represented with a strike-through font on the Terminology Gateway.
Draft subsets
- are subsets that are released for comment and are not meant to be implemented in production systems. These subsets have a high risk of change and are not to be used in production.
Pre-Adopting Codes
Pre-adoption is defined as implementing a new concept and code before it is officially released or published in the next version of the reference terminology. Concepts and codes are pre-released to meet the implementation needs of implementers, and these concepts and codes are subject to change until time of release.
Maintenance and Release Information
The concepts contained in the subsets are expected to evolve on an on-going basis.
Requests for change can be loaded as batch or individual requests and tracked in the InfoRMS tool (Infoway Request Management System). Please note that an InfoCentral account is required and access to InfoRMS.
Information on the process and how to access to the tool can be found on InfoCentral.
Contact the Infodesk to receive additional guidance regarding the potential use, management and pre-adoption of the subsets. In all circumstances the responsibility for evaluating the appropriate use of the subsets is the responsibility of the implementer.
Terms of Use & License Agreements
The subsets use different terminologies to represent their members as indicated in the Terms of Use and Disclaimer tab on the downloadable spreadsheet. Please refer to the InfoCentral Terms of Use page for more details.
Note that the license agreements are available on InfoCentral and the acceptance of the license agreements must be updated annually for continued use.
HL7 Subsets
The description field in the HL7 subsets is optional. It is left empty when adding a description does not add to the understanding of the concept definition.
French Implementers
Where French synonyms exist, the Display (French) column will display the French term.
If a French description is required, follow the instructions on how to make such a request in the section on Maintenance and Release Information.
Infoway has published a General Canadian French Editorial Guidelines, titled, Guide des règles éditoriales et terminologiques.
The French Preferred terms are added to subsets upon request. Please see the Maintenance section on the pCLOCD and SNOMED CT pages for details on requesting the addition of French content.
Editorial Guidelines
Subsets using SNOMED CT codes have associated editorial guidelines. Refer to those before submitting any request for change.
SNOMED CT International, Canadian English and French, Immunization and Microbiology editorial guidelines can be found on the SNOMED CT - Canadian Edition pages.
Questions, concerns, changes and/or corrections
Questions and concerns about the current version of the subsets, or related material are always welcome via Infodesk.