Investigating the usage of LOINC Order codes for Canada

Thank you kindly Marion, Andrea and Paul for looking into these codes and all those that have contacted me directly. This feedback is instrumental in helping us make some proposed recommendations. We will advise everyone of the outcome soon.

Hi Linda, I believe you reached out to some of my colleagues in BC already but just to be sure I thought I would add this to the forum. We do have two of the codes included in our terminology spreadsheet as valid LOINC codes in the BC provincial lab information solution. Specifically:
55449-3 Fibrin D-dimer in Platelet poor plasma
55461-8 Protein C in Platelet poor plasma
We couldn't get any further information on usage (either how/or frequency of use) but if they are deprecated we can include a note in our documentation.

Hi Linda,

We don't use those codes en Newfoundland.

Andrea

Hi Linda,

None of these codes are used in New Brunswick.

Marion

Hello all,

We need your help in assessing the usage and continued need of this list of LOINC Order Codes created for Canada in 2009.

At the WInter 2018 Lab LOINC Conference & Committee meeting, the issue of these codes appearing and being transmitted as laboratory result content in the U.S. was brought forward and discussed. The issue is the inadvertent mapping of these LOINC Codes by U.S. mappers. As a result, we have been asked to investigate the use of these codes with the Canadian LOINC Community to determine whether or not deprecating them would be feasible.

We are asking all jurisdictions to help us identify if and how these codes are being used to provide rationale and supporting information to keep these codes if we are indeed using them and cannot find alternate codes.

If you have any helpful information to provide in this investigation and research, we would appreciate it and value your contributions.

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Thank you kindly,

Linda Monico
Product Specialist, Digital Health Engagement & Marketing,
Canada Health Infoway