This page is part of the FHIR Specification (v0.0.82: DSTU 1). The current version which supercedes this version is 5.0.0. For a full list of available versions, see the Directory of published versions . Page versions: R5 R4B R4 R3 R2

5.3 Resource Person - Content

This resource maintained by the Patient Administration Work Group

Demographics and administrative information about a person independent of a specific health-related context.

5.3.1 Scope and Usage

An individual has identity outside of a healthcare setting. The Person resource is used to capture this information and to relate the person as an individual to other resources that do have a health-related context.

For example, while a patient resource may be created and maintained by each organization providing care for that person as a patient, a person resource provides a mechanism for linking patient resources across different organizations and their unique patient identity domains.

This resource is not referenced by any other resources.

5.3.2 Resource Content

Structure

NameFlagsCard.TypeDescription & Constraintsdoco
.. Person DomainResourceA generic person record
... identifier 0..*IdentifierA Human identifier for this person
... name Σ0..*HumanNameA name associated with the person
... telecom Σ0..*ContactPointA contact detail for the person
... gender Σ0..1codemale | female | other | unknown
AdministrativeGender (Required)
... birthDate Σ0..1dateTimeThe birth date for the person
... address 0..*AddressOne or more addresses for the person
... photo 0..1AttachmentImage of the Person
... managingOrganization Σ0..1OrganizationThe Organization that is the custodian of the person record
... active ?! Σ0..1booleanThis person's record is in active use
... link 0..*ElementLink to a resource that concerns the same actual person
.... target 1..1Patient | Practitioner | RelatedPerson | PersonThe resource to which this actual person is associated
.... assurance 0..1codelevel1 | level2 | level3 | level4
IdentityAssuranceLevel (Required)

XML Template

<Person xmlns="http://hl7.org/fhir"> doco
 <!-- from Resource: id, meta, implicitRules, and language -->
 <!-- from DomainResource: text, contained, extension, and modifierExtension -->
 <identifier><!-- 0..* Identifier A Human identifier for this person --></identifier>
 <name><!-- 0..* HumanName A name associated with the person --></name>
 <telecom><!-- 0..* ContactPoint A contact detail for the person --></telecom>
 <gender value="[code]"/><!-- 0..1 male | female | other | unknown -->
 <birthDate value="[dateTime]"/><!-- 0..1 The birth date for the person -->
 <address><!-- 0..* Address One or more addresses for the person --></address>
 <photo><!-- 0..1 Attachment Image of the Person --></photo>
 <managingOrganization><!-- 0..1 Reference(Organization) 
     The Organization that is the custodian of the person record --></managingOrganization>
 <active value="[boolean]"/><!-- 0..1 This person's record is in active use -->
 <link>  <!-- 0..* Link to a resource that concerns the same actual person -->
  <target><!-- 1..1 Reference(Patient|Practitioner|RelatedPerson|Person) 
      The resource to which this actual person is associated --></target>
  <assurance value="[code]"/><!-- 0..1 level1 | level2 | level3 | level4 -->
 </link>
</Person>

JSON Template

{doco
  "resourceType" : "Person",
  // from Resource: id, meta, implicitRules, and language
  // from DomainResource: text, contained, extension, and modifierExtension
  "identifier" : [{ Identifier }], // A Human identifier for this person
  "name" : [{ HumanName }], // A name associated with the person
  "telecom" : [{ ContactPoint }], // A contact detail for the person
  "gender" : "<code>", // male | female | other | unknown
  "birthDate" : "<dateTime>", // The birth date for the person
  "address" : [{ Address }], // One or more addresses for the person
  "photo" : { Attachment }, // Image of the Person
  "managingOrganization" : { Reference(Organization) }, // 
     The Organization that is the custodian of the person record
  "active" : <boolean>, // This person's record is in active use
  "link" : [{ // Link to a resource that concerns the same actual person
    "target" : { Reference(Patient|Practitioner|RelatedPerson|Person) }, // R!  
      The resource to which this actual person is associated
    "assurance" : "<code>" // level1 | level2 | level3 | level4
  }]
}

Structure

NameFlagsCard.TypeDescription & Constraintsdoco
.. Person DomainResourceA generic person record
... identifier 0..*IdentifierA Human identifier for this person
... name Σ0..*HumanNameA name associated with the person
... telecom Σ0..*ContactPointA contact detail for the person
... gender Σ0..1codemale | female | other | unknown
AdministrativeGender (Required)
... birthDate Σ0..1dateTimeThe birth date for the person
... address 0..*AddressOne or more addresses for the person
... photo 0..1AttachmentImage of the Person
... managingOrganization Σ0..1OrganizationThe Organization that is the custodian of the person record
... active ?! Σ0..1booleanThis person's record is in active use
... link 0..*ElementLink to a resource that concerns the same actual person
.... target 1..1Patient | Practitioner | RelatedPerson | PersonThe resource to which this actual person is associated
.... assurance 0..1codelevel1 | level2 | level3 | level4
IdentityAssuranceLevel (Required)

XML Template

<Person xmlns="http://hl7.org/fhir"> doco
 <!-- from Resource: id, meta, implicitRules, and language -->
 <!-- from DomainResource: text, contained, extension, and modifierExtension -->
 <identifier><!-- 0..* Identifier A Human identifier for this person --></identifier>
 <name><!-- 0..* HumanName A name associated with the person --></name>
 <telecom><!-- 0..* ContactPoint A contact detail for the person --></telecom>
 <gender value="[code]"/><!-- 0..1 male | female | other | unknown -->
 <birthDate value="[dateTime]"/><!-- 0..1 The birth date for the person -->
 <address><!-- 0..* Address One or more addresses for the person --></address>
 <photo><!-- 0..1 Attachment Image of the Person --></photo>
 <managingOrganization><!-- 0..1 Reference(Organization) 
     The Organization that is the custodian of the person record --></managingOrganization>
 <active value="[boolean]"/><!-- 0..1 This person's record is in active use -->
 <link>  <!-- 0..* Link to a resource that concerns the same actual person -->
  <target><!-- 1..1 Reference(Patient|Practitioner|RelatedPerson|Person) 
      The resource to which this actual person is associated --></target>
  <assurance value="[code]"/><!-- 0..1 level1 | level2 | level3 | level4 -->
 </link>
</Person>

JSON Template

{doco
  "resourceType" : "Person",
  // from Resource: id, meta, implicitRules, and language
  // from DomainResource: text, contained, extension, and modifierExtension
  "identifier" : [{ Identifier }], // A Human identifier for this person
  "name" : [{ HumanName }], // A name associated with the person
  "telecom" : [{ ContactPoint }], // A contact detail for the person
  "gender" : "<code>", // male | female | other | unknown
  "birthDate" : "<dateTime>", // The birth date for the person
  "address" : [{ Address }], // One or more addresses for the person
  "photo" : { Attachment }, // Image of the Person
  "managingOrganization" : { Reference(Organization) }, // 
     The Organization that is the custodian of the person record
  "active" : <boolean>, // This person's record is in active use
  "link" : [{ // Link to a resource that concerns the same actual person
    "target" : { Reference(Patient|Practitioner|RelatedPerson|Person) }, // R!  
      The resource to which this actual person is associated
    "assurance" : "<code>" // level1 | level2 | level3 | level4
  }]
}

 

Alternate definitions: Schema/Schematron, Resource Profile (XML, JSON), Questionnaire

5.3.2.1 Terminology Bindings

PathDefinitionTypeReference
Person.gender The gender of a person used for administrative purposesRequiredhttp://hl7.org/fhir/administrative-gender
Person.link.assurance The level of confidence that this link represents the same actual person, based on NIST Authentication LevelsRequiredhttp://hl7.org/fhir/identity-assuranceLevel

5.3.3 De-normalized Data

Most of the properties of the Person resource are replicated within the other resources that they are shared with. This is intentional and highlights that the "disconnectedness" of the resources.

Not many systems actually implement a shared Person record, and as such the values DO become out of sync with each other. The inclusion of this resource does permit a capability for systems to identify other instances of this actual person's data via a centralized registry that can assist in keeping things up to date.

5.3.4 Person and Linking

The link element is used to relate resources under a common person record. This element supports two primary scenarios where other resources refer to the same person resource.

The link element cannot be used to link to RelatedPerson entries. So we can utilize a Person resource to relate these elements together identifying them as the same individual.

5.3.5 Cross-Domain Patient Directory

In a data sharing network, finding the location of patient records across different systems is a necessary pre-requisite for accessing external patient data. Using the link element, systems associate patient resources from different organizations. The assuranceLevel associated with the link provides a way for a system to qualify its confidence in the asserted link. For example, a relationship from the person to a patient using a probabilistic matching algorithm may be represented using a link with an assurance level of level1, while a relationship established using a government-issued photo ID may be created with an assurance level of level3.

5.3.6 Cross-Domain Provider Directory

Similarly, providers working in multiple healthcare service settings may be linked across different organizations using the link element. The various practitioner resources can be related using a common person resource with a link for each of the practitioner resources located in other organizations.

5.3.7 Client Portal

Client Portals provide consumer access to a window of their data locked up in healthcare systems. In many cases these sytems are externally integrated and do not have access to the legacy CIS/PAS systems.

In contrast to most systems where a user has access to multiple patients depending on their roles and permissions, a client portal provides a consumer with direct access to their data (with permissions applied). This can also include not just their data (via the Person.link Patient entries), but also to information that they have entered, or were involved with (via the Person.link RelatedPerson entries), such as observations that they entered.
With appropriate permissions/consent applied, the user could have access to other Patient records linked via a RelatedPerson.

5.3.8 Search Parameters

Search parameters for this resource. The common parameters also apply. See Searching for more information about searching in REST, messaging, and services.

NameTypeDescriptionPaths
addressstringAn address in any kind of address/partPerson.address
birthdatedateThe person's date of birthPerson.birthDate
gendertokenThe gender of the personPerson.gender
identifiertokenA person IdentifierPerson.identifier
linkreferenceAny link has this Patient, Person, RelatedPerson or Practitioner referencePerson.link.target
(Patient, Practitioner, Person, RelatedPerson)
namestringA portion of name in any name partPerson.name
organizationreferenceThe organization at which this person record is being managedPerson.managingOrganization
(Organization)
patientreferenceThe Person links to this PatientPerson.link.target
(Patient)
phoneticstringA portion of name using some kind of phonetic matching algorithm
practitionerreferenceThe Person links to this PractitionerPerson.link.target
(Practitioner)
relatedpersonreferenceThe Person links to this RelatedPersonPerson.link.target
(RelatedPerson)
telecomtokenThe value in any kind of contactPerson.telecom