Auditing complex concepts of SNOMED using a refined hierarchical abstraction network

► Kinds of complex concepts (overlapping concepts) warranting auditing attention are characterized with an abstraction network. ► A methodology (from a companion paper) partitions the collection of overlapping concepts into disjoint, singly-rooted groups. ► An abstraction network (“disjoint partial-area taxonomy”) for the overlapping concepts is derived from the partition. ► The abstraction network is used as the basis for auditing that involves top-down hierarchical review of overlapping concepts. ► Statistical analysis shows that overlapping concepts (and their “roots”) exhibit significantly higher proportions of errors.