A record of a request for service such as diagnostic investigations, treatments, or operations to be performed.

Identifiers assigned to this order instance by the orderer and/or the receiver and/or order fulfiller.

The identifier.type element is used to distinguish between the identifiers assigned by the orderer (known as the 'Placer' in HL7 v2) and the producer of the observations in response to the order (known as the 'Filler' in HL7 v2). For further discussion and examples see the resource notes section below.

The URL pointing to a FHIR-defined protocol, guideline, orderset or other definition that is adhered to in whole or in part by this ServiceRequest.

Note: This is a business identifier, not a resource identifier (see discussion). It is best practice for the identifier to only appear on a single resource instance, however business practices may occasionally dictate that multiple resource instances with the same identifier can exist - possibly even with different resource types. For example, multiple Patient and a Person resource instance might share the same social insurance number.

The URL pointing to an externally maintained protocol, guideline, orderset or other definition that is adhered to in whole or in part by this ServiceRequest.

This might be an HTML page, PDF, etc. or could just be a non-resolvable URI identifier.

Plan/proposal/order fulfilled by this request.

The request takes the place of the referenced completed or terminated request(s).

A shared identifier common to all service requests that were authorized more or less simultaneously by a single author, representing the composite or group identifier.

Some business processes need to know if multiple items were ordered as part of the same "requisition" for billing or other purposes.

Requests are linked either by a "basedOn" relationship (i.e. one request is fulfilling another) or by having a common requisition. Requests that are part of the same requisition are generally treated independently from the perspective of changing their state or maintaining them after initial creation.

The status of the order.

The status is generally fully in the control of the requester - they determine whether the order is draft or active and, after it has been activated, competed, cancelled or suspended. States relating to the activities of the performer are reflected on either the corresponding event (see Event Pattern for general discussion) or using the Task resource.

Whether the request is a proposal, plan, an original order or a reflex order.

This element is labeled as a modifier because the intent alters when and how the resource is actually applicable.

A code that classifies the service for searching, sorting and display purposes (e.g. "Surgical Procedure").

Used for filtering what service request are retrieved and displayed.

There may be multiple axis of categorization depending on the context or use case for retrieving or displaying the resource. The level of granularity is defined by the category concepts in the value set.

Indicates how quickly the ServiceRequest should be addressed with respect to other requests.

Set this to true if the record is saying that the service/procedure should NOT be performed.

Used for do not ambulate, do not elevate head of bed, do not flush NG tube, do not take blood pressure on a certain arm, etc.

In general, only the code and timeframe will be present, though occasional additional qualifiers such as body site or even performer could be included to narrow the scope of the prohibition. If the ServiceRequest.code and ServiceRequest.doNotPerform both contain negation, that will reinforce prohibition and should not have a double negative interpretation.

A code or reference that identifies a particular service (i.e., procedure, diagnostic investigation, or panel of investigations) that have been requested.

Many laboratory and radiology procedure codes embed the specimen/organ system in the test order name, for example, serum or serum/plasma glucose, or a chest x-ray. The specimen might not be recorded separately from the test code.

Additional details and instructions about the how the services are to be delivered. For example, and order for a urinary catheter may have an order detail for an external or indwelling catheter, or an order for a bandage may require additional instructions specifying how the bandage should be applied.

For information from the medical record intended to support the delivery of the requested services, use the supportingInformation element.

An amount of service being requested which can be a quantity ( for example $1,500 home modification), a ratio ( for example, 20 half day visits per month), or a range (2.0 to 1.8 Gy per fraction).

When ordering a service the number of service items may need to be specified separately from the the service item.

On whom or what the service is to be performed. This is usually a human patient, but can also be requested on animals, groups of humans or animals, devices such as dialysis machines, or even locations (typically for environmental scans).

The actual focus of a service request when it is not the subject of record representing something or someone associated with the subject such as a spouse, parent, fetus, or donor. The focus of a service request could also be an existing condition, an intervention, the subject's diet, another service request on the subject, or a body structure such as tumor or implanted device.

An encounter that provides additional information about the healthcare context in which this request is made.

The date/time at which the requested service should occur.

If a CodeableConcept is present, it indicates the pre-condition for performing the service. For example "pain", "on flare-up", etc.

When the request transitioned to being actionable.

The individual who initiated the request and has responsibility for its activation.

This not the dispatcher, but rather who is the authorizer. This element is not intended to handle delegation which would generally be managed through the Provenance resource.

Desired type of performer for doing the requested service.

This is a role, not a participation type. In other words, does not describe the task but describes the capacity. For example, “compounding pharmacy”, “psychiatrist” or “internal referral”.

The desired performer for doing the requested service. For example, the surgeon, dermatopathologist, endoscopist, etc.

If multiple performers are present, it is interpreted as a list of alternative performers without any preference regardless of order. If order of preference is needed use the request-performerOrder extension. Use CareTeam to represent a group of performers (for example, Practitioner A and Practitioner B).

The preferred location(s) where the procedure should actually happen in coded or free text form. E.g. at home or nursing day care center.

An explanation or justification for why this service is being requested in coded or textual form. This is often for billing purposes. May relate to the resources referred to in supportingInfo.

This element represents why the referral is being made and may be used to decide how the service will be performed, or even if it will be performed at all. To be as specific as possible, a reference to Observation or Condition should be used if available. Otherwise, use concept.text element if the data is free (uncoded) text as shown in the CT Scan example.

Insurance plans, coverage extensions, pre-authorizations and/or pre-determinations that may be needed for delivering the requested service.

Additional clinical information about the patient or specimen that may influence the services or their interpretations. This information includes diagnosis, clinical findings and other observations. In laboratory ordering these are typically referred to as "ask at order entry questions (AOEs)". This includes observations explicitly requested by the producer (filler) to provide context or supporting information needed to complete the order. For example, reporting the amount of inspired oxygen for blood gas measurements.

To represent information about how the services are to be delivered use the instructions element.

One or more specimens that the laboratory procedure will use.

The purpose of the ServiceRequest.specimen is to reflect the actual specimen that the requested test/procedure is asked to be performed on, whether the lab already has it or not. References to specimens for purposes other than to perform a test/procedure on should be made using the ServiceRequest.supportingInfo or the Specimen.parent where the Specimen.parent would enable descendency and ServiceRequest.supportingInfo a general reference for context.

Anatomic location where the procedure should be performed. This is the target site.

Knowing where the procedure is performed is important for tracking if multiple sites are possible.

Only used if not implicit in the code found in ServiceRequest.code. If the use case requires BodySite to be handled as a separate resource instead of an inline coded element (e.g. to identify and track separately) then use the standard extension procedure-targetBodyStructure.

Anatomic location where the procedure should be performed. This is the target site.

Knowing where the procedure is performed is important for tracking if multiple sites are possible.

Any other notes and comments made about the service request. For example, internal billing notes.

Instructions in terms that are understood by the patient or consumer.

Key events in the history of the request.

This might not include provenances for all versions of the request – only those deemed “relevant” or important. This SHALL NOT include the Provenance associated with this current version of the resource. (If that provenance is deemed to be a “relevant” change, it will need to be added as part of a later update. Until then, it can be queried directly as the Provenance that points to this version using _revinclude All Provenances should have some historical version of this Request as their subject.