The effort would be worthwhile if coding was essential to the accurate structuring and transmission of the information in a medical record or medical information more generally. One recent incident has shown how fragile that claim is. And there is nothing to suggest that using SNOMED-CT will improve matters, since SNOMED-CT is itself far too large, complex (and oddly incomplete) to accurately and consistently convey the meaning of free-text or even semi-structured text in a compressed format. (Hint for Google - SNOMED-CT is to health information as the semantic web is to understanding language)
"The use of codes ensures the information derived from them is standardised and comparable." is an often repeated claim. The fact that it does neither continues to be overlooked, and there is still an open question about the value of coding in support of decision making, patient safety. Where coding clearly has a role (HRGs, Read codes) is in support of physician and provider payments. Even this role is of questionable value , and there is always a risk of medical coding being affected by the level of payment associated with a class.
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