SNOMED CT® Release Format 1 (RF1) Guide - ihtsdo

The information provided includes details of creation of new components and changes to the status of
components. When a component is made inactive, relationships or references are provided to indicate the
active component that replaces or may be equivalent to the inactivated component.
3.2.9.6.2. Active Concepts
3.2.9.6.2.1. Current Concepts
SNOMED CT Concepts that are intended for active use are referred to as Active Concepts.
Most Active Concepts are suitable for general use and have the ConceptStatus"current."
Other Active Concepts are intended for active use in particular circumstances. These Concepts have the
ConceptStatusvalue "Pending move." The significance of this status value is described in the following
sections.
3.2.9.6.2.2. Concepts Pending Movement to other namespaces
Concepts with the ConceptStatus" Pending move" are released as Active Concepts while waiting for a
transitional period after which they are expected to be released in another namespace.
SNOMED CT supports the inclusion of Extensions to the terminology managed by different organizations .
Concepts released by different organizations have ConceptIds allocated within different namespaces. In
some situations it is appropriate to transfer maintenance of one or more Concepts between separately
managed namespaces.
After a transfer the original Concept becomes inactive with the ConceptStatus "Moved elsewhere." However,
the process of release and installation of updates from different extensions will typically be asynchronous.
Thus a Concept move may be initiated in the original namespace but not yet completed in the target
namespace. In this situation, the Concept is released with the ConceptStatus" Pending move." In addition to
their active Descriptions and Relationships, these Concepts have a | Moved to |Relationship indicating the
target namespace for the future maintenance of the Concept.
If the implementer or user has access to the replacement Concept in the target namespace then a Concept
with this status may be treated as inactivated. However, unless and until such Concept is available, a "Pending
move" Concept should be treated as an Active Concept.
3.2.9.6.3. Inactive Concepts
Many Concepts released in SNOMED CT are, for one reason or another, not recommended for active use.
These Concepts are released as part of SNOMED CT to support legacy data.
The ConceptStatus indicates the reason for inactivation of a Concept. These include the following:
• Retired: The Concept has been withdrawn without a specified reason.
• Duplicate: The Concept has been withdrawn from active use because it duplicates another Concept.
• Outdated: The Concept has been withdrawn from active use because it is no longer recognized as a valid
clinical Concept.
• Ambiguous: The Concept has been withdrawn from active use because it is inherently ambiguous.
• Erroneous: The Concept has been withdrawn from active use because it contains an error. A corrected,
but otherwise similar, Concept has been added to replace it.
• Moved elsewhere:The Concept is no longer maintained by the organization responsible for the namespace
of this ConceptId. The Concept has been moved to another namespace indicated by an associated |
Moved to |Relationship.
All Inactive Concepts are subtypes of an appropriate subtype of the Special Concept "Inactive concept." They
do no participate in any other subtype Relationships and have no defining characteristic.
3.2.9.6.3.1. Limited Concepts
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Until the January 2010 release of SNOMED CT, Concepts with the ConceptStatus "Limited" were considered
to be Active Concepts on the basis that they existed in classifications or administrative groupings, and might
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