Glossary

The Unified Medical Language System® (UMLS®) is a set of files and software bringing together health and biomedical vocabularies and standards to enable interoperability between computer systems. The UMLS integrates and distributes key terminology, classification and coding standards, and associated resources to promote creation of more effective and interoperable biomedical information systems and services, including electronic health records. Software developers can use UMLS to enhance or develop applications, such as electronic health records, classification tools, dictionaries and language translators. Use of UMLS allows end users to view codes, synonyms, and definitions used terminologies such as Common Procedural Terminology and International Classification of Diseases-10th Revision-Clinical Modification and relationships between concepts. Access requires a free UMLS License.

Unified Modeling Language (UML) is a standardized methodology-independent approach to specifying, visualizing, modeling, and documenting the structure and design requirements of business processes, such as software development.

US Core is a set of rules and best practices that help healthcare providers share patient information safely and efficiently across the United States. It uses the FHIR standard to align how data—such as patient records, medications, and lab results—is formatted and exchanged. These rules follow federal requirements, especially the U.S. Core Data for Interoperability (USCDI), ensuring hospitals and clinics share the most critical health data.

The usability and use criteria examine the extent to which potential audiences (e.g., consumers, payors, measured entities, policymakers) are using or could use performance results for accountability and performance improvement to achieve the goal of high-quality, efficient health care for individuals or populations. 

A use case is a unique instance of sharing a specific type of information regarding patients and their health. Each use case has a specific purpose, type of data exchanged, and rules for interactions between people and systems. Examples of use cases include immunization records sent to the state government for public health reporting, and admission notifications sent to doctors and other members of a care team when one of their patients has a hospital admission.

User experience is a person's perceptions and responses resulting from the use and/or anticipated use of a product, system, or service.

A user story is a succinct, plain-language description of a desired software feature written from the viewpoint of the end-user.