Path | Short | Definition | Comments |
---|---|---|---|
Group of multiple entities | Represents a defined collection of entities that may be discussed or acted upon collectively but which are not expected to act collectively, and are not formally or legally recognized; i.e. a collection of entities that isn't an Organization. | If both Group.characteristic and Group.member are present, then the members are the individuals who were found who met the characteristic. It's possible that there might be other candidate members who meet the characteristic and aren't (yet) in the list. All members SHALL have the listed characteristics. | |
identifier | Unique id | A unique business identifier for this group. | |
active | Whether this group's record is in active use | Indicates whether the record for the group is available for use or is merely being retained for historical purposes. | |
type | person | animal | practitioner | device | medication | substance | Identifies the broad classification of the kind of resources the group includes. | Group members SHALL be of the appropriate resource type (Patient for person or animal; or Practitioner, Device, Medication or Substance for the other types.). |
actual | Descriptive or actual | If true, indicates that the resource refers to a specific group of real individuals. If false, the group defines a set of intended individuals. | |
code | Kind of Group members | Provides a specific type of resource the group includes; e.g. "cow", "syringe", etc. | This would generally be omitted for Person resources. |
name | Label for Group | A label assigned to the group for human identification and communication. | |
quantity | Number of members | A count of the number of resource instances that are part of the group. | Note that the quantity may be less than the number of members if some of the members are not active. |
managingEntity | Entity that is the custodian of the Group's definition | Entity responsible for defining and maintaining Group characteristics and/or registered members. | This does not strictly align with ownership of a herd or flock, but may suffice to represent that relationship in simple cases. More complex cases will require an extension. |
characteristic | Include / Exclude group members by Trait | Identifies traits whose presence r absence is shared by members of the group. | All the identified characteristics must be true for an entity to a member of the group. |
characteristic.id | Unique id for inter-element referencing | Unique id for the element within a resource (for internal references). This may be any string value that does not contain spaces. | |
characteristic.extension | Additional content defined by implementations | May be used to represent additional information that is not part of the basic definition of the element. To make the use of extensions safe and manageable, there is a strict set of governance applied to the definition and use of extensions. Though any implementer can define an extension, there is a set of requirements that SHALL be met as part of the definition of the extension. | There can be no stigma associated with the use of extensions by any application, project, or standard - regardless of the institution or jurisdiction that uses or defines the extensions. The use of extensions is what allows the FHIR specification to retain a core level of simplicity for everyone. |
characteristic.modifierExtension | Extensions that cannot be ignored even if unrecognized | May be used to represent additional information that is not part of the basic definition of the element and that modifies the understanding of the element in which it is contained and/or the understanding of the containing element's descendants. Usually modifier elements provide negation or qualification. To make the use of extensions safe and manageable, there is a strict set of governance applied to the definition and use of extensions. Though any implementer can define an extension, there is a set of requirements that SHALL be met as part of the definition of the extension. Applications processing a resource are required to check for modifier extensions. Modifier extensions SHALL NOT change the meaning of any elements on Resource or DomainResource (including cannot change the meaning of modifierExtension itself). | There can be no stigma associated with the use of extensions by any application, project, or standard - regardless of the institution or jurisdiction that uses or defines the extensions. The use of extensions is what allows the FHIR specification to retain a core level of simplicity for everyone. |
characteristic.code | Kind of characteristic | A code that identifies the kind of trait being asserted. | |
characteristic.value[x] | Value held by characteristic | The value of the trait that holds (or does not hold - see 'exclude') for members of the group. | For Range, it means members of the group have a value that falls somewhere within the specified range. |
characteristic.exclude | Group includes or excludes | If true, indicates the characteristic is one that is NOT held by members of the group. | This is labeled as "Is Modifier" because applications cannot wrongly include excluded members as included or vice versa. |
characteristic.period | Period over which characteristic is tested | The period over which the characteristic is tested; e.g. the patient had an operation during the month of June. | |
member | Who or what is in group | Identifies the resource instances that are members of the group. | |
member.id | Unique id for inter-element referencing | Unique id for the element within a resource (for internal references). This may be any string value that does not contain spaces. | |
member.extension | Additional content defined by implementations | May be used to represent additional information that is not part of the basic definition of the element. To make the use of extensions safe and manageable, there is a strict set of governance applied to the definition and use of extensions. Though any implementer can define an extension, there is a set of requirements that SHALL be met as part of the definition of the extension. | There can be no stigma associated with the use of extensions by any application, project, or standard - regardless of the institution or jurisdiction that uses or defines the extensions. The use of extensions is what allows the FHIR specification to retain a core level of simplicity for everyone. |
member.modifierExtension | Extensions that cannot be ignored even if unrecognized | May be used to represent additional information that is not part of the basic definition of the element and that modifies the understanding of the element in which it is contained and/or the understanding of the containing element's descendants. Usually modifier elements provide negation or qualification. To make the use of extensions safe and manageable, there is a strict set of governance applied to the definition and use of extensions. Though any implementer can define an extension, there is a set of requirements that SHALL be met as part of the definition of the extension. Applications processing a resource are required to check for modifier extensions. Modifier extensions SHALL NOT change the meaning of any elements on Resource or DomainResource (including cannot change the meaning of modifierExtension itself). | There can be no stigma associated with the use of extensions by any application, project, or standard - regardless of the institution or jurisdiction that uses or defines the extensions. The use of extensions is what allows the FHIR specification to retain a core level of simplicity for everyone. |
member.entity | Reference to the group member | A reference to the entity that is a member of the group. Must be consistent with Group.type. If the entity is another group, then the type must be the same. | |
member.period | Period member belonged to the group | The period that the member was in the group, if known. | |
member.inactive | If member is no longer in group | A flag to indicate that the member is no longer in the group, but previously may have been a member. |
The Group resource is used in one of two ways:
Examples of the former could include group therapy or treatment sessions, exposed entities tracked as part of public health, etc. The latter might be used to define expected subjects for a clinical study.
Both use cases are handled by a single resource because the data elements captured tend to be similar.
There are a number of mechanisms in FHIR for communicating collections of resources:
contained
element - allows multiple resources to be nested
inside any DomainResource. This is a special type of grouping where the grouped resources lose independent existence - they
no longer have their own identifiers, can't easily be queried independently, etc. Use of this grouping is a technical
mechanism for managing the independence of resources and has no impact on meaning.
If both Group.characteristic
and Group.member
are present, then the
members are the individuals who were found who met the characteristic. It's possible that
there might be other candidate members who meet the characteristic and aren't (yet) in the list.
All members SHALL have the listed characteristics.
actual | Descriptive or actual | Group.actual |
characteristic | Kind of characteristic | Group.characteristic.code |
code | The kind of resources contained | Group.code |
exclude | Group includes or excludes | Group.characteristic.exclude |
identifier | Unique id | Group.identifier |
managing-entity | Entity that is the custodian of the Group's definition | Group.managingEntity |
member | Reference to the group member | Group.member.entity |
type | The type of resources the group contains | Group.type |
value | Value held by characteristic | Group.characteristic.value as CodeableConcept | Group.characteristic.value as boolean |
characteristic-value | A composite of both characteristic and value | Group.characteristic |
Enforces a descriptive group that can be used in definitional resources
Path | Short | Definition | Comments |
---|---|---|---|
Group of multiple entities | Represents a defined collection of entities that may be discussed or acted upon collectively but which are not expected to act collectively, and are not formally or legally recognized; i.e. a collection of entities that isn't an Organization. | If both Group.characteristic and Group.member are present, then the members are the individuals who were found who met the characteristic. It's possible that there might be other candidate members who meet the characteristic and aren't (yet) in the list. All members SHALL have the listed characteristics. | |
identifier | Unique id | A unique business identifier for this group. | |
active | Whether this group's record is in active use | Indicates whether the record for the group is available for use or is merely being retained for historical purposes. | |
type | person | animal | practitioner | device | medication | substance | Identifies the broad classification of the kind of resources the group includes. | Group members SHALL be of the appropriate resource type (Patient for person or animal; or Practitioner, Device, Medication or Substance for the other types.). |
actual | Descriptive or actual | If true, indicates that the resource refers to a specific group of real individuals. If false, the group defines a set of intended individuals. | |
code | Kind of Group members | Provides a specific type of resource the group includes; e.g. "cow", "syringe", etc. | This would generally be omitted for Person resources. |
name | Label for Group | A label assigned to the group for human identification and communication. | |
quantity | Number of members | A count of the number of resource instances that are part of the group. | Note that the quantity may be less than the number of members if some of the members are not active. |
managingEntity | Entity that is the custodian of the Group's definition | Entity responsible for defining and maintaining Group characteristics and/or registered members. | This does not strictly align with ownership of a herd or flock, but may suffice to represent that relationship in simple cases. More complex cases will require an extension. |
characteristic | Include / Exclude group members by Trait | Identifies traits whose presence r absence is shared by members of the group. | All the identified characteristics must be true for an entity to a member of the group. |
characteristic.id | Unique id for inter-element referencing | Unique id for the element within a resource (for internal references). This may be any string value that does not contain spaces. | |
characteristic.extension | Additional content defined by implementations | May be used to represent additional information that is not part of the basic definition of the element. To make the use of extensions safe and manageable, there is a strict set of governance applied to the definition and use of extensions. Though any implementer can define an extension, there is a set of requirements that SHALL be met as part of the definition of the extension. | There can be no stigma associated with the use of extensions by any application, project, or standard - regardless of the institution or jurisdiction that uses or defines the extensions. The use of extensions is what allows the FHIR specification to retain a core level of simplicity for everyone. |
characteristic.modifierExtension | Extensions that cannot be ignored even if unrecognized | May be used to represent additional information that is not part of the basic definition of the element and that modifies the understanding of the element in which it is contained and/or the understanding of the containing element's descendants. Usually modifier elements provide negation or qualification. To make the use of extensions safe and manageable, there is a strict set of governance applied to the definition and use of extensions. Though any implementer can define an extension, there is a set of requirements that SHALL be met as part of the definition of the extension. Applications processing a resource are required to check for modifier extensions. Modifier extensions SHALL NOT change the meaning of any elements on Resource or DomainResource (including cannot change the meaning of modifierExtension itself). | There can be no stigma associated with the use of extensions by any application, project, or standard - regardless of the institution or jurisdiction that uses or defines the extensions. The use of extensions is what allows the FHIR specification to retain a core level of simplicity for everyone. |
characteristic.code | Kind of characteristic | A code that identifies the kind of trait being asserted. | |
characteristic.value[x] | Value held by characteristic | The value of the trait that holds (or does not hold - see 'exclude') for members of the group. | For Range, it means members of the group have a value that falls somewhere within the specified range. |
characteristic.exclude | Group includes or excludes | If true, indicates the characteristic is one that is NOT held by members of the group. | This is labeled as "Is Modifier" because applications cannot wrongly include excluded members as included or vice versa. |
characteristic.period | Period over which characteristic is tested | The period over which the characteristic is tested; e.g. the patient had an operation during the month of June. | |
member | Who or what is in group | Identifies the resource instances that are members of the group. | |
member.id | Unique id for inter-element referencing | Unique id for the element within a resource (for internal references). This may be any string value that does not contain spaces. | |
member.extension | Additional content defined by implementations | May be used to represent additional information that is not part of the basic definition of the element. To make the use of extensions safe and manageable, there is a strict set of governance applied to the definition and use of extensions. Though any implementer can define an extension, there is a set of requirements that SHALL be met as part of the definition of the extension. | There can be no stigma associated with the use of extensions by any application, project, or standard - regardless of the institution or jurisdiction that uses or defines the extensions. The use of extensions is what allows the FHIR specification to retain a core level of simplicity for everyone. |
member.modifierExtension | Extensions that cannot be ignored even if unrecognized | May be used to represent additional information that is not part of the basic definition of the element and that modifies the understanding of the element in which it is contained and/or the understanding of the containing element's descendants. Usually modifier elements provide negation or qualification. To make the use of extensions safe and manageable, there is a strict set of governance applied to the definition and use of extensions. Though any implementer can define an extension, there is a set of requirements that SHALL be met as part of the definition of the extension. Applications processing a resource are required to check for modifier extensions. Modifier extensions SHALL NOT change the meaning of any elements on Resource or DomainResource (including cannot change the meaning of modifierExtension itself). | There can be no stigma associated with the use of extensions by any application, project, or standard - regardless of the institution or jurisdiction that uses or defines the extensions. The use of extensions is what allows the FHIR specification to retain a core level of simplicity for everyone. |
member.entity | Reference to the group member | A reference to the entity that is a member of the group. Must be consistent with Group.type. If the entity is another group, then the type must be the same. | |
member.period | Period member belonged to the group | The period that the member was in the group, if known. | |
member.inactive | If member is no longer in group | A flag to indicate that the member is no longer in the group, but previously may have been a member. |
Enforces an actual group, rather than a definitional group
Path | Short | Definition | Comments |
---|---|---|---|
Group of multiple entities | Represents a defined collection of entities that may be discussed or acted upon collectively but which are not expected to act collectively, and are not formally or legally recognized; i.e. a collection of entities that isn't an Organization. | If both Group.characteristic and Group.member are present, then the members are the individuals who were found who met the characteristic. It's possible that there might be other candidate members who meet the characteristic and aren't (yet) in the list. All members SHALL have the listed characteristics. | |
identifier | Unique id | A unique business identifier for this group. | |
active | Whether this group's record is in active use | Indicates whether the record for the group is available for use or is merely being retained for historical purposes. | |
type | person | animal | practitioner | device | medication | substance | Identifies the broad classification of the kind of resources the group includes. | Group members SHALL be of the appropriate resource type (Patient for person or animal; or Practitioner, Device, Medication or Substance for the other types.). |
actual | Descriptive or actual | If true, indicates that the resource refers to a specific group of real individuals. If false, the group defines a set of intended individuals. | |
code | Kind of Group members | Provides a specific type of resource the group includes; e.g. "cow", "syringe", etc. | This would generally be omitted for Person resources. |
name | Label for Group | A label assigned to the group for human identification and communication. | |
quantity | Number of members | A count of the number of resource instances that are part of the group. | Note that the quantity may be less than the number of members if some of the members are not active. |
managingEntity | Entity that is the custodian of the Group's definition | Entity responsible for defining and maintaining Group characteristics and/or registered members. | This does not strictly align with ownership of a herd or flock, but may suffice to represent that relationship in simple cases. More complex cases will require an extension. |
characteristic | Include / Exclude group members by Trait | Identifies traits whose presence r absence is shared by members of the group. | All the identified characteristics must be true for an entity to a member of the group. |
characteristic.id | Unique id for inter-element referencing | Unique id for the element within a resource (for internal references). This may be any string value that does not contain spaces. | |
characteristic.extension | Additional content defined by implementations | May be used to represent additional information that is not part of the basic definition of the element. To make the use of extensions safe and manageable, there is a strict set of governance applied to the definition and use of extensions. Though any implementer can define an extension, there is a set of requirements that SHALL be met as part of the definition of the extension. | There can be no stigma associated with the use of extensions by any application, project, or standard - regardless of the institution or jurisdiction that uses or defines the extensions. The use of extensions is what allows the FHIR specification to retain a core level of simplicity for everyone. |
characteristic.modifierExtension | Extensions that cannot be ignored even if unrecognized | May be used to represent additional information that is not part of the basic definition of the element and that modifies the understanding of the element in which it is contained and/or the understanding of the containing element's descendants. Usually modifier elements provide negation or qualification. To make the use of extensions safe and manageable, there is a strict set of governance applied to the definition and use of extensions. Though any implementer can define an extension, there is a set of requirements that SHALL be met as part of the definition of the extension. Applications processing a resource are required to check for modifier extensions. Modifier extensions SHALL NOT change the meaning of any elements on Resource or DomainResource (including cannot change the meaning of modifierExtension itself). | There can be no stigma associated with the use of extensions by any application, project, or standard - regardless of the institution or jurisdiction that uses or defines the extensions. The use of extensions is what allows the FHIR specification to retain a core level of simplicity for everyone. |
characteristic.code | Kind of characteristic | A code that identifies the kind of trait being asserted. | |
characteristic.value[x] | Value held by characteristic | The value of the trait that holds (or does not hold - see 'exclude') for members of the group. | For Range, it means members of the group have a value that falls somewhere within the specified range. |
characteristic.exclude | Group includes or excludes | If true, indicates the characteristic is one that is NOT held by members of the group. | This is labeled as "Is Modifier" because applications cannot wrongly include excluded members as included or vice versa. |
characteristic.period | Period over which characteristic is tested | The period over which the characteristic is tested; e.g. the patient had an operation during the month of June. | |
member | Who or what is in group | Identifies the resource instances that are members of the group. | |
member.id | Unique id for inter-element referencing | Unique id for the element within a resource (for internal references). This may be any string value that does not contain spaces. | |
member.extension | Additional content defined by implementations | May be used to represent additional information that is not part of the basic definition of the element. To make the use of extensions safe and manageable, there is a strict set of governance applied to the definition and use of extensions. Though any implementer can define an extension, there is a set of requirements that SHALL be met as part of the definition of the extension. | There can be no stigma associated with the use of extensions by any application, project, or standard - regardless of the institution or jurisdiction that uses or defines the extensions. The use of extensions is what allows the FHIR specification to retain a core level of simplicity for everyone. |
member.modifierExtension | Extensions that cannot be ignored even if unrecognized | May be used to represent additional information that is not part of the basic definition of the element and that modifies the understanding of the element in which it is contained and/or the understanding of the containing element's descendants. Usually modifier elements provide negation or qualification. To make the use of extensions safe and manageable, there is a strict set of governance applied to the definition and use of extensions. Though any implementer can define an extension, there is a set of requirements that SHALL be met as part of the definition of the extension. Applications processing a resource are required to check for modifier extensions. Modifier extensions SHALL NOT change the meaning of any elements on Resource or DomainResource (including cannot change the meaning of modifierExtension itself). | There can be no stigma associated with the use of extensions by any application, project, or standard - regardless of the institution or jurisdiction that uses or defines the extensions. The use of extensions is what allows the FHIR specification to retain a core level of simplicity for everyone. |
member.entity | Reference to the group member | A reference to the entity that is a member of the group. Must be consistent with Group.type. If the entity is another group, then the type must be the same. | |
member.period | Period member belonged to the group | The period that the member was in the group, if known. | |
member.inactive | If member is no longer in group | A flag to indicate that the member is no longer in the group, but previously may have been a member. |