NLM Value Set Authority Center (VSAC) -- Value Set Authoring: -- Updating Value Sets.
Value sets require periodic updates to:
assure each value set continues to reflect its purpose as the underlying code systems change.
Add or remove codes to better reflect the purpose of the value set.
Align your value sets to the rules and exceptions in the expansion profile you defined
to represent the model that uses your value set.
... and to update name, purpose description, and other metadata to better describe the value set's intent.
This tutorial will explain how to perform such updates in the VSAC Authoring Tool.
In order to author value sets in the VSAC, you will need to obtain the following:
- A free Unified Medical Language System (R) Metathesaurus License
that is required to view and download value sets
You can apply for this license online through the link in the VSAC Sign In box
You will also need VSAC Author and/or Steward permission
These are required to create, edit, maintain and publish value sets
You can request these permissions through the 'Author Registration' link on the VSAC home page
The update process includes the following three steps:
Reviewing and updating metadata such as Name, Purpose, Code system version, etc.
Reviewing the code list which includes -- Removing codes that became inactive in the code system
-- Evaluating and, if necessary, replacing inactive or obsolete codes that have remapped to newer codes,
and adding new codes to the value set if necessary.
... The last step is -- Saving and publishing the value set
Let's go through these steps together.
First, point your browser to the VSAC home page
Click the Sign In link at the right upper corner of the page
... and sign in with your UMLS username
... and password
Note that you now have the Authoring tab showing at the top of page
This indicates that you have permissions to author value sets
If you do not see the Authoring tab, click the Author Registration link at the upper right and
submit your authoring registration request to the VSAC support group.
Now, in the Authoring tab, expand the My Value Sets section
... to display value sets that you have permission to author.
As you see, I have value sets in my list that have different statuses, such as Draft, Proposed, Ready to Publish, and Published.
You can filter this list using filter boxes under the table headings.
To quickly find my published value sets, I will type the word Published into the Status filter box and hit Enter.
As a result, the list reduced to just one value set that we will be updating in this demonstration.
To view this value set, click on the OID link.
A new tab opens that displays the value set's metadata at the upper left,
the code list in the lower left,
and the Search area at the upper right.
You can now review the metadata such as
name,
purpose description,
and code system version,
to see if you need to make any changes.
Our example value set was created based on the version 2.40 of the LOINC code system.
Now, we will validate codes in the code list and also make changes if necessary.
Click the 'Validate' button.
This opens a dialog box that allows to select and view the expansion profile, and to generate the test expansion.
Select 'VSAC Auto Expansion' profile from the profile pull-down.
Let's examine this profile by clicking the View button.
The left part of the profile display lists code system versions included in the profile,
while the right part will contain legacy codes if there are any.
The VSAC Auto Expansion profile will apply the latest version of the code system to the expansion of your value set.
For example, at the time of this recording,
the profile contained version 2.46 of LOINC.
We use this profile in this video as an example.
Your value set might use a program-specific model that would require a custom expansion profile.
Contact VSAC support if you need to create a custom expansion profile.
Close the expansion profile window now
and click the 'Expand' button.
This will display the code validation table.
Retired codes will have their status displayed as Inactive in the Status column,
with their rows highlighted.
You can sort long lists of codes by clicking on the column headers.
If any code has been mapped to or replaced by another code, you will see a 'View Remap Info' button.
If all codes are active and there is no remapping information available,
then review the code list based on your expertise of the value set purpose
to determine if you need to add or remove any codes.
In our case, we have one inactive code, 40844-3.
Note there are also active codes in the list for which remapping information is available.
This indicates you may need to do a research
to determine whether these codes are appropriate to use in your value set
or should be replaced or removed.
Notably, VSAC displays code system-specific guidance notices,
...like this one,
that advises replacement of codes having status 'Active'
and for which remap information is available,
because such codes are considered "discouraged" by the LOINC code system.
Let's click on the Remap Info button
and find out what VSAC reveals as replacement for the listed codes.
For the code 40844-3,
LOINC suggests a replacement code 48378-4
Let's make this replacement !
Close the Remap Info and code validation windows.
Find the code 40844-3 in the code list.
You can either browse through the list
or quickly find the desired code by entering it in the filter box in the Code column
and then hitting Enter.
We will now delete this code from the code list.
To make any changes to the value set, click on the New Version button.
This switches the interface to the editing mode.
Now check the box against the code we want to remove,
and click the Delete button on the toolbar at the top of the code list table.
Clear the filter box
by selecting the code we typed in previously
and hit the Delete key.
Now hit Enter to display all the codes in the list.
We will now add the code 48378-4
suggested as a proper replacement for the code we just deleted.
To add the code,
click on the plus icon in the toolbar at the top of the Code list table.
Enter the new code.
Note that VSAC automatically validated the entered code
and determined that it already exists in the list.
Therefore, we do not need to add that code at this time.
To abort the new code addition,
click the Delete icon in the toolbar.
Now make sure you have the correct code system version.
I will keep the version 2.40.
We have now finished making changes to the value set
A confirmation message appears on the screen
A confirmation message appears on the screen that the value set is saved successfully.
Click the Submit button
to submit the value set for review and approval by the value set Steward.
VSAC will confirm the successful submission.
The value set steward will now be able to log in
review and approve this value set
by clicking the Approve button.
If you have Steward permissions for this value set,
you will see the Approve button right after submitting the value set for review.
Successful approval will also be acknowledged.
Steward then clicks the Publish button,
enters the publication date
and clicks OK to submit the value set to publication.
Successfully submitted for publication value set will now be listed in the My Value Sets table as Ready to Publish.
Stewards will be able to withdraw value sets from the publication before the publication date.
If not withdrawn, the value set will publish at 12AM on the publication date.
The value set will then be listed as Published in the My Value Sets table.
We hope you found this tutorial useful.
Back on the VSAC home page,
you can read more about the VSAC and value set authoring
by reviewing the information
in the Help
and Authoring Guidance tabs.
You can also send us your questions by following the Contact Us link.
Thank you for watching!