International Health Terminology Standards Development Organisation - Governance

Governance

The IHTSDO is based in Denmark and constituted as an association under Danish Law. The founding of the organisation was carried out by nine charter countries in 2007. Currently (April 2012) 19 countries are IHTSDO Members (Australia, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Canada, Iceland, Israel, Lithuania, Malta, New Zealand, Poland, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, The Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the United States). The countries largely finance the institution; they constitute the General Assembly, which nominates the Management Board. Member countries commit themselves to the dissemination of terminologies at a national level, including the creation of local translations, extensions, and mappings as well as contributing to the body of knowledge around its use and application. Members of IHTSDO can be either an agency of a national government or other bodies (such as corporations or regional government agencies) endorsed by an appropriate national government authority within the country it represents. The IHTSDO welcomes new members.

The IHTSDO General Assembly (GA) is the highest authority of the Association and composed of representatives from all member countries with equal representation. The GA is collectively charged with assuring that the purpose, objects and principles of the Association are pursued and that the interests of the IHTSDO are safeguarded. Arrangements for Governance of the IHTSDO and SNOMED CT are set out in the IHTSDO Articles of Association. The GA appoints the Management Board (MB), who has overall responsibility for the management and direction of the IHTSDO and a duty to act in a manner so the best interests of the IHTSDO is ensured. The management of IHTSDO as well as the professional lead in content development and maintenance, technical issues, quality assurance and implementation is currently in the hands of a Chief Executive Officer (CEO), a Chief Terminologist, a Chief Technical Architect, a Chief Quality Officer, and a Chief Implementation and Innovation Officer. Four Standing Committees provide advice for the Management Board: Content Committee, Technical Committee, Quality Assurance Committee and Implementation & Innovation Committee. Furthermore there are topic-specific project groups (PGs) and special interest groups (SIGs) which report to the standing committees. All interested persons are invited to bring in their expertise into these groups. IHTSDO PGs and SIGs include:

IHTSDO’s work is documented on their Website. The internal communication is supported by a Collaborative content management system.