About

History

Open Concept Lab (OCL) began in 2012, as a proof of concept to show metadata can be stored and subscribed from a central repository.

OCL helps to streamline and standardize data across entities. This includes mapping similar definitions across entities.

Vision

OCL imagines a world where an inclusive and interoperable platform for creating and accessing standardized healthcare terminology radically improves the efficiency and equity of healthcare services.

Mission

Open Concept Lab sees terminology as core to an effective healthcare system. Its mission is to provide a platform and encode best practices that support the deployment and implementation of health terminology.

within a cloud is the OCL Community Ecosystem of the OCL Terminology Service which feeds into the OCL TermBrowser. Key stakeholders of Dictionary Administrators and health system / public both contribute and receive with and from this ecosystem.

Supporting a Collaborative Ecosystem

The Open Concept Lab community consists of software developers, terminology experts and process engineers who help create and sustain the terminology platform.

This community serves and works with a broader group of stakeholders including:

  • Terminologists and dictionary administrators who help develop and maintain the healthcare terminology, whether for international standards or local dictionaries
  • Terminology consumers who use OCL resources in the provision and management of local healthcare services

Values

Accessible and standard driven
  • Provide industry leading terminology tooling and databases in both emerging and mature health settings.
  • Increase accessibility to healthcare terminology by meeting the needs of even the most challenging health care delivery environments.
Interoperable and sustainable
  • Empower contributors to create their own metadata and support localization, while promoting the best practice regarding standardized content from reference terminologies.
  • Provide a centralized cloud-based platform that supports high-level, reusable healthcare functionality to enable global contribution.
Community-Driven and Inclusive
  • Open, transparent, and trustworthy in our processes.
  • Builds and content can come from diverse contributors.
  • Balance the engagement and inclusion of stakeholders with our obligations to preserve the integrity, interoperability, and comparability of the data deployed.
  • Build capacity and support the professional growth of all community members.