Simply put, Clem is the father of LOINC but his accomplishments and influence are even more immense.
Clement J. McDonald, MD, a pioneer in the use of health information technology to improve healthcare. He developed one of the world’s first operational electronic medical record systems and conceived LOINC, a common language for the exchange of health information that’s operational in nearly every country in the world.
Arriving at Regenstrief Institute in the early 1970s, Dr. McDonald brought with him the then novel idea that creating electronic medical records could eliminate the logistic problems of paper medical records. His development of the Regenstrief Medical Record System improved physicians’ decision-making processes, eliminated costly and potentially harmful test duplications and empowered collaborative healthcare—ultimately benefiting patients, their families and the healthcare system.
Based on the Regenstrief Medical Record System, he and Regenstrief colleagues created what has become one of the largest and most comprehensive clinical information systems in the world, the Indiana Network for Patient Care (INPC). Now operated by the Indiana Health Information Exchange, the INPC, with data from healthcare systems, laboratories and public health offices throughout Indiana, serves as a living model for health information exchange throughout the world—ensuring patient data is available when and where needed. In the present era when patients see clinicians in multiple healthcare systems and locations, Dr. McDonald’s concept of having health information securely available instantly—and his implementation of the concept—are essential. Research access to the vast data trove is managed by Regenstrief Institute.
To facilitate interoperability in healthcare, in 1994, Dr. McDonald created LOINC at Regenstrief Institute, the ever-expanding open access terminology system. Short for Logical Observation Identifiers Names and Codes, LOINC provides standard identification of health measurements, observations, and documents. Today, LOINC, which continues to be managed by Regenstrief Institute, is used in nearly all countries and is available in over 20 languages. Dr. McDonald remains an active member of the LOINC community.
Dr. McDonald has mentored several generations of individuals working at the intersection of health information and healthcare delivery. His mentees include a past or current Regenstrief Institute president, Regenstrief Institute vice president for data and analytics, Indiana State Health Commissioner, HL7 International Chief Standards Development Officer and the Northwestern University Institute for Augmented Intelligence in Medicine Founding Director, the Western Michigan School of Medicine Department of Biomedical Informatics Founding Chair, and a number of Regenstrief Institute research scientists.
Dr. McDonald served as co-director and then director of Regenstrief Institute from 1990-2006. In 2013 Regenstrief Institute and Indiana University School of Medicine established an endowed chair to honor his pioneering innovations in health information technology. Regenstrief Institute’s Center for Biomedical Informatics was renamed the Clem McDonald Center for Biomedical Informatics.
Dr. McDonald continued his work in medical informatics at the National Institutes of Health’s National Library of Medicine. He held the titles of director emeritus of Regenstrief Institute and distinguished professor of medicine emeritus and Regenstrief professor emeritus of medical informatics at Indiana University School of Medicine.