LOINC: Origin, development of and perspectives for medical research and biobanking – 20 years on the way to implementation in Germany

Abstract Twenty-five years of LOINC (LogicalObservationIdentifierNames andCodes) and almost 20 years of experience with the implementation of LOINC in Germany – without having so far achieved a binding national definition of or a relevant routine use of LOINC in laboratory data communication. This article sketches the development of LOINC use in Germany since the year 2000 on the basis of grey literature. For the first time, the use of LOINC in Germany is experiencing a significant impetus at the national level: On the one hand, the current health legislation with its stipulations for a legally defined electronic patient record provides the necessary framework for nationwide stipulations; on the other hand, there is a significant impulse from the German Medical Informatics Initiative (MII) out of the medical research field for implementing a uniform LOINC subset. In recognition of the 25thanniversary of the LOINC nomenclature (1995–2019), the article traces the emergence of LOINC – which is characterized by interactions between European (EUCLIDES, READ, NPU) and US (HL7, LOINC, SNOMED CT) developments and the interplay of various standardization initiatives. Different national definitions and e-health strategies resulting from this history will be a challenge for the future e-health harmonization in the EU. The concerns of medical research and biobanking must be taken into account here, since the standardization of lab data according to international nomenclatures is of utmost importance for them.