Path | Short | Definition | Comments |
---|---|---|---|
Links records for 'same' item | Identifies two or more records (resource instances) that are referring to the same real-world "occurrence". | ||
active | Whether this linkage assertion is active or not | Indicates whether the asserted set of linkages are considered to be "in effect". | If false, any asserted linkages should not be considered current/relevant/applicable. |
author | Who is responsible for linkages | Identifies the user or organization responsible for asserting the linkages and who establishes the context for evaluating the nature of each linkage. | |
item | Item to be linked | Identifies one of the records that is considered to refer to the same real-world occurrence as well as how the items should be evaluated within the collection of linked items. | |
item.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. | |
item.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. |
item.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. |
item.type | source | alternate | historical | Distinguishes which item is "source of truth" (if any) and which items are no longer considered to be current representations. | |
item.resource | Resource being linked | The resource instance being linked as part of the group. |
This resource allows the assertion of linkages between multiple resource instances (generally of the same type) that are referring to the same underlying business objects. For example, multiple Condition records that refer to the same underlying problem/issue for a Patient; multiple AllergyIntolerance records that refer to the same reaction susceptibility; multiple Patient, Practitioner and/or RelatedPerson records that refer to the same human being or animal.
FHIR supports a process for sharing electronic records. It is common for multiple records to exist that deal with the same real-world phenomenon. This can result from information being captured by different systems, information being captured within a single system by different users (either deliberately to represent distinct perspectives or accidentally when a new record is created rather than updating an existing record). These multiple records may be referred to as "duplicate" records, but in practice they aren't often actually "duplicate" in that the data represented (and the history of the records) will be at least somewhat distinct.
In some cases, the solution upon identifying duplicates is to deprecate one of the records (e.g. by changing the status to "entered in error") and move all relevant information to the surviving record. In other cases, the resource may support the ability to establish a linkage directly between the resources. However, in some cases, both records may need to survive or there's a desire to have both resources continue to be maintained, perhaps because the resources live on different servers or have different 'owners'. The Linkage resource is intended to satisfy this use-case.
The Person resource should be used to link a person independent of a specific health-related context. Linkage can be used for all other use cases.
author | Author of the Linkage | Linkage.author |
item | Matches on any item in the Linkage | Linkage.item.resource |
source | Matches on any item in the Linkage with a type of 'source' | Linkage.item.resource |