French Healthcare Interoperability: Introduction to the Multi-Terminology Server (SMT)

Details

The Serveur Multi-Terminologies (SMT), provided by France’s ANS (Agence du Numérique en Santé), aims to centralize standardized reference vocabularies for the healthcare and social sectors. This platform covers medical terminology across all aspects—including signs, symptoms, exams, pathologies, and drugs—to facilitate use across various settings like hospitals, out-patient clinics, and medico-social care. The SMT is more than just a vocabulary repository; it offers multi-functional services. It allows users to download semantic resources in multiple formats (RDF/XML, TTL, CSV, FHIR) compliant with the latest international and national standards (SNOMED CT, ICD-11, LOINC, etc.). Access is also provided via APIs and SPARQL query tools. Notably, a direct link to FTS is available where semantic resources are published in FHIR format, creating an accessible environment for developers. The service targets a wide range of users, including the general public, researchers, data analysts, and healthcare system vendors, and access is free. However, using certain 'protected' terminologies requires license agreement and account creation. ANS manages these vocabularies through a collaborative ecosystem involving multiple internal departments and external partners (such as ANSM, ANSES).