Kaylee Gibbs

Intro to HIT
Professor Lankisch
26 September 2017

SNOMED CT vs CPT
SNOMED CT stands for Systematized Nomenclature of Medicine Clinical Terms, and is

a standardized, multilingual vocabulary of clinical terminology that is used by physicians and

other health care providers for the electronic exchange of clinical health information (1). There

are more than 300,000 medical terms within SNOMED CT and each term has their own

individual number, that can be categorized into more specific groups. Each term having an

individual number allows for more understanding throughout the medical field, and makes it

easier to share information throughout health care providers and insurance companies.

CPT stands for Current Procedural Terminology, and are codes the United States

standard for how medical professionals document and report medical, surgical, radiology,

laboratory, anesthesiology, and evaluation and management (E/M) services (2). All CPT codes

fall into one of three categories, and are all five-digit codes.

There are many similarities between CPT and SNOMED CT codes, like their individual

digits and all the different categories they have. But, they also have some very important

similarities. SNOMED CT terms are used in healthcare for diagnoses, which CPT codes are used

for identifying the services provided. Another difference between the two types of codes are

were the codes end up. CPT codes are sent to insurance companies to identify the amount of

reimbursement needed, while SNOMED CT are shared throughout healthcare facilities so all

diagnoses and procedures are known from doctors office to hospital.

 References

What Is SNOMED CT (Systematized Nomenclature of Medicine -- Clinical Terms) ? -

Definition from WhatIs.com. SearchHealthIT,

searchhealthit.techtarget.com/definition/SNOMED-CT

AAPC. AAPC - Advancing the Business of Healthcare,

www.aapc.com/resources/medical-coding/cpt.aspx

Coding Standards: What's the Difference between ICD, CPT, LOINC and SNOMED

CT?What's the Difference between ICD-9, CPT, LOINC and SNOMED CT Codes? -

HealthFusion, 16 Nov. 2016, www.healthfusion.com/blog/2014/health-topics/medical-

coding/whats-difference-icd-cpt-loinc-snomed-ct/.