SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR OPTIMIZING ELECTRONIC MEDICAL TERMINOLOGY POST-COORDINATION CODING

A computer-implemented system and method for post-coordination of clinically relevant searches with respect to an electronic medical ontology includes mapping the searches to elements of the ontology, determining whether the mapped elements support post-coordination and, if not, relying on a hierarchy established by a second electronic medical ontology to which the first electronic medical ontology is mapped to determine whether one or more broader elements support post-coordination. Upon identifying one or more such broader elements, the system then may present the user with attribute selections associated with each element in order to obtain the desired post-coordination terms. The resulting combination of a broader element with its relevant attributes maps to a concept in the electronic medical ontology that is fully pre-coordinated with respect to a third electronic medical ontology.