The 2021 promotions from the Global Digital Health Partnership (GDHP) and the G7 have prompted a global effort in the adoption and implementation of the International Patient Summary (IPS). The IPS itself is an extract of an electronic health record containing essential healthcare information to support cross-border and unscheduled patient care. The IPS also has the potential to be used in many other scenarios where a patient crosses health information systems, like travel between provinces/states, cities or organizations that use a different Health Information System. From a technical perspective, the IPS is a minimal, non-exhaustive set of data elements defined by ISO/EN 17269 and delivered by HL7 in both CDA and FHIR using a curated set of SNOMED CT terms. Since 2019, predating the organization’s IPS Terminology initiative, SNOMED International has made a free set of SNOMED CT codes available (the HL7 IPS free set), as part of its  Global Patient Set (GPS) to support the implementation of the HL7 FHIR IPS specification. The GPS is a ‘flat list’ of SNOMED CT codes and terms without hierarchy or relationships, whereas the IPS Terminology brings all the benefits of the SNOMED CT structure. 

The further development of the IPS internationally through ISO and other standards bodies has gained traction internationally, both in developed and developing countries. The use of the freely available SNOMED supported subset of terms, has removed barriers to cross-border care, with its success shaping future discussions in the expansion of scope.

The presentation will provide details of it history and development, along with a review of current usgae and a discussion on its future developmental .