The ModuleMetadata structure defines the common metadata elements used by quality improvement artifacts. This information includes descriptive and topical metadata to enable repository searches, as well as governance and evidentiary support information.

Captures primary requirements for representing relevant metadata associated with a knowledge module, regardless of the type of module or content it contains.

An absolute URL that is used to identify this module when it is referenced. This SHALL be a URL, SHOULD be globally unique, and SHOULD be an address at which this module definition is (or will be) published.

Allows the module to be referenced by a single globally unique identifier.

A logical identifier for the module such as the CMS or NQF identifiers for a measure artifact.

Allows external business identifiers to be easily associated with the module.

The version of the module, if any. To provide a version consistent with the Decision Support Service specification, use the format Major.Minor.Revision (e.g. 1.0.0). For more information on versioning knowledge modules, refer to the Decision Support Service specification. Note that the version is required for non-experimental published artifact.

Allows for versioning of the content of the module.

A machine-friendly name for the module. This name should be usable as an identifier for the module by machine processing applications such as code generation.

Simplifies machine-processing tasks related to the module such as code-generation or logging.

This identifier for the module should be unique within the intended scope of use, and should conform to the traditional syntactic definition of an identifier within most programming languages. regex: ([A-Za-z][A-Za-z0-9]*).

A short, descriptive, user-friendly title for the module.

Identifies the type of knowledge module, such as a rule, library, documentation template, or measure.

The status of the module.

Enables tracking the life-cycle of the content of the module.

Determines whether the module was developed for testing purposes (or education/evaluation/marketing), and is not intended to be used in production environments.

Enables experimental content to be developed following the same life-cycle as a production-level module would.

A free text natural language description of the module from the consumer's perspective.

This description can be used to capture details such as why the module was built, comments about misuse, instructions for clinical use and interpretation, literature references, examples from the paper world, etc. It is not a rendering of the module as conveyed in the text field of the resource itself. This item SHOULD be populated unless the information is available from context.

A brief description of the purpose of the module.

This description should address the question of why this module was built, though not necessarily in as much detail as the justification, rationale, or clinical recommendation statement of a measure would. That information would typically be provided in the related resource element.

A detailed description of how the module is used from a clinical perspective.

The date on which the module was published.

The date on which the module content was last reviewed.

The period during which the module content is effective.

The effective period for a module determines when the content is applicable for usage and is independent of publication and review dates. For example, a measure intended to be used for the year 2016 would be published in 2015.

Specifies various attributes of the patient population for whom and/or environment of care in which, the knowledge module is applicable.

Consumers of the module must be able to determine the intended applicability for the module. Ideally, this information would be used programmatically to determine when and how it should be incorporated or exposed.

Specifies the focus of the coverage attribute.

Provides a value for the coverage attribute. Different values are appropriate in different focus areas, as specified in the description of values for focus.

Clinical topics related to the content of the module.

Repositories must be able to determine how to categorize the module so that it can be found by topical searches.

A contributor to the content of the module, including authors, editors, reviewers, and endorsers.

Consumers of the content must be able to quickly determine who contributed to the content of the knowledge module.

The type of contributor.

The name of the individual or organization responsible for the contribution.

Contacts to assist a user in finding and communicating with the contributor.

The name of an individual to contact regarding the contribution.

Contact details for the individual (if a name was provided) or the contributor.

The name of the individual or organization that published the module (also known as the steward for the module). This information is required for non-experimental published artifacts.

Consumers of the module must be able to determine where to obtain support in the use of this module, as well as where to direct questions and concerns about the content.

The publisher (or steward) of the module is the organization or individual primarily responsible for the maintenance and upkeep of the module. This is not necessarily the same organization that developed and initially authored the content. The publisher is the primary point of contact for questions or issues with the module.

Contacts to assist a user in finding and communicating with the publisher.

The name of an individual to contact regarding the module.

Contact details for the individual (if a name was provided) or the publisher.

A copyright statement relating to the module and/or its contents. Copyright statements are generally legal restrictions on the use and publishing of the module.

Consumers of the module must be able to determine any legal restrictions on the use of the module and/or its content.

Related resources such as additional documentation, justification, or bibliographic references.

Modules must be able to provide enough information for consumers of the content (and/or interventions or results produced by the content) to be able to determine and understand the justification for and evidence in support of the content.

Each related resource is either an attachment, or a reference to another resource, but not both.

The type of related resource.

The document being referenced, represented as an attachment. This is exclusive with the resource element.

The related resource, such as a library, value set, profile, or other module.

If the type is predecessor, this is a reference to the succeeding module. If the type is successor, this is a reference to the prior module.