1 Introduction

SNOMED International has introduced the Global Patient Set (GPS) to support the sharing of patient health information coded with SNOMED CT without the need for a SNOMED International license. 

The GPS is a managed list of existing SNOMED CT unique concept identifiers and their associated descriptions and will be available to all interested parties at no cost to users. The GPS supports health information interoperability across care settings, systems, organizations and national borders.  

2 Implementation

The SNOMED International GPS Implementation Guide provides information on downloading the GPS and considerations for its use.  A PDF version of the SNOMED International GPS Implementation Guide is included in the GPS release package - however to ensure that the latest version can be accessed, it's also available online:

https://confluence.ihtsdotools.org/display/RMT/SNOMED+International+Global+Patient Set (GPS) package Implementation Guide - July +Set+%28GPS%29+package+Implementation+Guide+-+July+2019

3 Release content

3.1 Frequency of Release

The GPS package contains the content of a number of SNOMED CT reference sets to support a variety of general purposes.  It will be published annually.

3.2 Changes to the July 2019 release GP/FP subset

Changes to the GPS will reflect updates to the underlying terminology, including concept inactivations and additions.  For this reason, details of changes made to this release can be found in the Release Notes for the underlying SNOMED CT reference sets that are used to compile the GPS.

3.3 Technical Notes

The GPS is released in TSV (Tab Separated Values) file format, with the following naming convention:

• SnomedINTL_GPSRelease_PRODUCTION_[date and time stamp].zip

4 Obtaining the GPS package

The GPS is downloadable from the GPS the following page on the SNOMED International website:

http://www.snomed.org/snomed-international/learn-more/global-patient-set

If you would like to obtain the full version of SNOMED CT through membership or an affiliate license, please visit the SNOMED International website. 

https://www.snomed.org/snomed-ct/get-snomed