Release 5

This page is part of the FHIR Specification (v5.0.0: R5 - STU). This is the current published version. For a full list of available versions, see the Directory of published versions . Page versions: R5 R4B R4 R3 R2

8.3 Resource Group - Content

FHIR Infrastructure icon Work GroupMaturity Level: 3 Trial UseSecurity Category: Business Compartments: Device, Patient, Practitioner

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.

8.3.1 Scope and Usage

8.3.1.1 Use Cases

The Group resource is used in one of two ways:

  1. To define a group of specific people, animals, devices, etc. that is being tracked, examined or otherwise referenced as part of healthcare-related activities
  2. To define a set of possible people, animals, devices, etc. that are of interest for some intended future healthcare-related activities

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.

NOTE: While Specimen does not quite fit with this definition, it is being retained as part of Group to avoid making a breaking change to the Observation resource.

8.3.2 Boundaries and Relationships

There are a number of mechanisms in FHIR for communicating collections of resources:

  • The List resource - enumerates a flat collection of resources and provides features for managing the collection. While a particular List instance may represent a "snapshot", from a business process perspective the notion of "List" is dynamic – items are added and removed over time. The List resource references other resources. Lists may be curated and have specific business meaning. For use cases where Group is suitable (e.g. for a list of Patients to be viewed on a dashboard), the Group resource should be preferred to the List resource. The underlying rationale is that a collection of patients, practitioners, etc. is likely to be of interest as the subject of a measure, observation, communication, etc., which Group is intended to support.
  • This Group resource - defines a group of specific people, animals, devices etc. by enumerating them, or by describing qualities that group members have. The group resource refers to other resources, possibly implicitly. Groups are intended to be acted upon or observed as a whole; e.g. performing therapy on a group, calculating risk for a group, etc. This resource will commonly be used for public health (e.g. describing an at-risk population), clinical trials (e.g. defining a test subject pool) and similar purposes.
  • CareTeam. Group is distinct from CareTeam. Group is patient-independent and identifies an undifferentiated set of individuals who are intended to be the target of one or more clinical activities (e.g. set of clinical trial participants, set of individuals impacted by or at risk of a public health event, a herd or flock, etc.) The CareTeam resource establishes a set of relationships and roles and is specific to a particular Patient. The actors are the individual members or organized group of individuals. CareTeam can be referenced by EpisodeOfCare, Encounter, or CarePlan to identify the set of individuals (and their respective roles) who are intended to be involved in providing the care defined by those resources.
  • The Bundle resource - is an infrastructure container for a group of resources. It does not have narrative and is used to group collections of resources for transmission, persistence or processing (e.g. messages, documents, transactions, query responses, etc.) The content of bundles is typically algorithmically determined for a particular exchange or persistence purpose.
  • The Composition resource - defines a set of healthcare-related information that is assembled together into a single logical document that provides a single coherent statement of meaning, establishes its own context and that has clinical attestation with regard to who is making the statement. The composition resource provides the basic structure of a FHIR document. The full content of the document is expressed using a bundle. Compositions will often reference Lists as the focus of particular sections.
  • The DomainResource.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.
Contained, bundled and remotely referenced resources convey the same meaning.

8.3.3 References to this Resource

8.3.4 Resource Content

Structure

NameFlagsCard.TypeDescription & Constraintsdoco
.. Group TUDomainResourceGroup of multiple entities

Elements defined in Ancestors: id, meta, implicitRules, language, text, contained, extension, modifierExtension
... identifier Σ0..*IdentifierBusiness Identifier for this Group

... active ?!Σ0..1booleanWhether this group's record is in active use
... type Σ1..1codeperson | animal | practitioner | device | careteam | healthcareservice | location | organization | relatedperson | specimen
Binding: Group Type (Required)
... code Σ0..1CodeableConceptKind of Group members
Binding: GroupKind (Example)
... name Σ0..1stringLabel for Group
... description 0..1markdownNatural language description of the group
... quantity Σ0..1unsignedIntNumber of members
... managingEntity Σ0..1Reference(Organization | RelatedPerson | Practitioner | PractitionerRole)Entity that is the custodian of the Group's definition
... characteristic Σ0..*BackboneElementInclude / Exclude group members by Trait

.... code Σ1..1CodeableConceptKind of characteristic
Binding: GroupCharacteristicKind (Example)
.... value[x] Σ1..1Value held by characteristic
Binding: GroupCharacteristicValue (Example)
..... valueCodeableConceptCodeableConcept
..... valueBooleanboolean
..... valueQuantityQuantity
..... valueRangeRange
..... valueReferenceReference()
.... exclude Σ1..1booleanGroup includes or excludes
.... period 0..1PeriodPeriod over which characteristic is tested
... member 0..*BackboneElementWho or what is in group

.... entity 1..1Reference(CareTeam | Device | Group | HealthcareService | Location | Organization | Patient | Practitioner | PractitionerRole | RelatedPerson | Specimen)Reference to the group member
.... period 0..1PeriodPeriod member belonged to the group
.... inactive 0..1booleanIf member is no longer in group

doco Documentation for this format icon

See the Extensions for this resource

UML Diagram (Legend)

Group (DomainResource)Business identifiers assigned to this participant by one of the applications involved. These identifiers remain constant as the resource is updated and propagates from server to serveridentifier : Identifier [0..*]Indicates whether the record for the group is available for use or is merely being retained for historical purposes (this element modifies the meaning of other elements)active : boolean [0..1]Identifies the broad classification of the kind of resources the group includestype : code [1..1] « null (Strength=Required)GroupType! »Basis for membership in the Group: * 'definitional': The Group.characteristics specified are both necessary and sufficient to determine membership. All entities that meet the criteria are considered to be members of the group, whether referenced by the group or not. If members are present, they are individuals that happen to be known as meeting the Group.characteristics. The list cannot be presumed to be complete. * 'enumerated': The Group.characteristics are necessary but not sufficient to determine membership. Membership is determined by being listed as one of the Group.membermembership : code [1..1] « null (Strength=Required)GroupMembershipBasis! »Provides a specific type of resource the group includes; e.g. "cow", "syringe", etccode : CodeableConcept [0..1] « null (Strength=Example)GroupKind?? »A label assigned to the group for human identification and communicationname : string [0..1]Explanation of what the group represents and how it is intended to be useddescription : markdown [0..1]A count of the number of resource instances that are part of the groupquantity : unsignedInt [0..1]Entity responsible for defining and maintaining Group characteristics and/or registered membersmanagingEntity : Reference [0..1] « Organization|RelatedPerson| Practitioner|PractitionerRole »CharacteristicA code that identifies the kind of trait being assertedcode : CodeableConcept [1..1] « null (Strength=Example)GroupCharacteristicKind?? »The value of the trait that holds (or does not hold - see 'exclude') for members of the groupvalue[x] : DataType [1..1] « CodeableConcept|boolean|Quantity|Range| Reference; null (Strength=Example)GroupCharacteristicValue?? »If true, indicates the characteristic is one that is NOT held by members of the groupexclude : boolean [1..1]The period over which the characteristic is tested; e.g. the patient had an operation during the month of Juneperiod : Period [0..1]MemberA 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 sameentity : Reference [1..1] « CareTeam|Device|Group|HealthcareService| Location|Organization|Patient|Practitioner|PractitionerRole| RelatedPerson|Specimen »The period that the member was in the group, if knownperiod : Period [0..1]A flag to indicate that the member is no longer in the group, but previously may have been a memberinactive : boolean [0..1]Identifies traits whose presence r absence is shared by members of the groupcharacteristic[0..*]Identifies the resource instances that are members of the groupmember[0..*]

XML Template

<Group xmlns="http://hl7.org/fhir"> doco
 <!-- from Resource: id, meta, implicitRules, and language -->
 <!-- from DomainResource: text, contained, extension, and modifierExtension -->
 <identifier><!-- 0..* Identifier Business Identifier for this Group --></identifier>
 <active value="[boolean]"/><!-- 0..1 Whether this group's record is in active use -->
 <type value="[code]"/><!-- 1..1 person | animal | practitioner | device | careteam | healthcareservice | location | organization | relatedperson | specimen -->
 <membership value="[code]"/><!-- 1..1 definitional | enumerated -->
 <code><!-- 0..1 CodeableConcept Kind of Group members --></code>
 <name value="[string]"/><!-- 0..1 Label for Group -->
 <description value="[markdown]"/><!-- 0..1 Natural language description of the group -->
 <quantity value="[unsignedInt]"/><!-- 0..1 Number of members -->
 <managingEntity><!-- 0..1 Reference(Organization|Practitioner|PractitionerRole|
   RelatedPerson) Entity that is the custodian of the Group's definition --></managingEntity>
 <characteristic>  <!-- 0..* Include / Exclude group members by Trait -->
  <code><!-- 1..1 CodeableConcept Kind of characteristic --></code>
  <value[x]><!-- 1..1 CodeableConcept|boolean|Quantity|Range|Reference Value held by characteristic --></value[x]>
  <exclude value="[boolean]"/><!-- 1..1 Group includes or excludes -->
  <period><!-- 0..1 Period Period over which characteristic is tested --></period>
 </characteristic>
 <member>  <!-- 0..* Who or what is in group -->
  <entity><!-- 1..1 Reference(CareTeam|Device|Group|HealthcareService|Location|
    Organization|Patient|Practitioner|PractitionerRole|RelatedPerson|Specimen) Reference to the group member --></entity>
  <period><!-- 0..1 Period Period member belonged to the group --></period>
  <inactive value="[boolean]"/><!-- 0..1 If member is no longer in group -->
 </member>
</Group>

JSON Template

{doco
  "resourceType" : "Group",
  // from Resource: id, meta, implicitRules, and language
  // from DomainResource: text, contained, extension, and modifierExtension
  "identifier" : [{ Identifier }], // Business Identifier for this Group
  "active" : <boolean>, // Whether this group's record is in active use
  "type" : "<code>", // R!  person | animal | practitioner | device | careteam | healthcareservice | location | organization | relatedperson | specimen
  "membership" : "<code>", // R!  definitional | enumerated
  "code" : { CodeableConcept }, // Kind of Group members
  "name" : "<string>", // Label for Group
  "description" : "<markdown>", // Natural language description of the group
  "quantity" : "<unsignedInt>", // Number of members
  "managingEntity" : { Reference(Organization|Practitioner|PractitionerRole|
   RelatedPerson) }, // Entity that is the custodian of the Group's definition
  "characteristic" : [{ // Include / Exclude group members by Trait
    "code" : { CodeableConcept }, // R!  Kind of characteristic
    // value[x]: Value held by characteristic. One of these 5:
    "valueCodeableConcept" : { CodeableConcept },
    "valueBoolean" : <boolean>,
    "valueQuantity" : { Quantity },
    "valueRange" : { Range },
    "valueReference" : { Reference },
    "exclude" : <boolean>, // R!  Group includes or excludes
    "period" : { Period } // Period over which characteristic is tested
  }],
  "member" : [{ // Who or what is in group
    "entity" : { Reference(CareTeam|Device|Group|HealthcareService|Location|
    Organization|Patient|Practitioner|PractitionerRole|RelatedPerson|Specimen) }, // R!  Reference to the group member
    "period" : { Period }, // Period member belonged to the group
    "inactive" : <boolean> // If member is no longer in group
  }]
}

Turtle Template

@prefix fhir: <http://hl7.org/fhir/> .doco


[ a fhir:Group;
  fhir:nodeRole fhir:treeRoot; # if this is the parser root

  # from Resource: .id, .meta, .implicitRules, and .language
  # from DomainResource: .text, .contained, .extension, and .modifierExtension
  fhir:identifier  ( [ Identifier ] ... ) ; # 0..* Business Identifier for this Group
  fhir:active [ boolean ] ; # 0..1 Whether this group's record is in active use
  fhir:type [ code ] ; # 1..1 person | animal | practitioner | device | careteam | healthcareservice | location | organization | relatedperson | specimen
  fhir:membership [ code ] ; # 1..1 definitional | enumerated
  fhir:code [ CodeableConcept ] ; # 0..1 Kind of Group members
  fhir:name [ string ] ; # 0..1 Label for Group
  fhir:description [ markdown ] ; # 0..1 Natural language description of the group
  fhir:quantity [ unsignedInt ] ; # 0..1 Number of members
  fhir:managingEntity [ Reference(Organization|Practitioner|PractitionerRole|RelatedPerson) ] ; # 0..1 Entity that is the custodian of the Group's definition
  fhir:characteristic ( [ # 0..* Include / Exclude group members by Trait
    fhir:code [ CodeableConcept ] ; # 1..1 Kind of characteristic
    # value[x] : 1..1 Value held by characteristic. One of these 5
      fhir:value [  a fhir:CodeableConcept ; CodeableConcept ]
      fhir:value [  a fhir:boolean ; boolean ]
      fhir:value [  a fhir:Quantity ; Quantity ]
      fhir:value [  a fhir:Range ; Range ]
      fhir:value [  a fhir:Reference ; Reference ]
    fhir:exclude [ boolean ] ; # 1..1 Group includes or excludes
    fhir:period [ Period ] ; # 0..1 Period over which characteristic is tested
  ] ... ) ;
  fhir:member ( [ # 0..* Who or what is in group
    fhir:entity [ Reference(CareTeam|Device|Group|HealthcareService|Location|Organization|Patient|
  Practitioner|PractitionerRole|RelatedPerson|Specimen) ] ; # 1..1 Reference to the group member
    fhir:period [ Period ] ; # 0..1 Period member belonged to the group
    fhir:inactive [ boolean ] ; # 0..1 If member is no longer in group
  ] ... ) ;
]

Changes from both R4 and R4B

Group
Group.active
  • Now marked as Modifier
Group.type
  • Remove codes medication, substance
  • Add codes careteam, healthcareservice, location, organization, relatedperson, specimen
Group.membership
  • Added Mandatory Element
Group.description
  • Added Element
Group.member.entity
  • Type Reference: Added Target Types CareTeam, HealthcareService, Location, Organization, RelatedPerson, Specimen
  • Type Reference: Removed Target Types Medication, Substance
Group.actual
  • Deleted (-> Group.membership)

See the Full Difference for further information

This analysis is available for R4 as XML or JSON and for R4B as XML or JSON.

See R4 <--> R5 Conversion Maps (status = See Conversions Summary.)

Structure

NameFlagsCard.TypeDescription & Constraintsdoco
.. Group TUDomainResourceGroup of multiple entities

Elements defined in Ancestors: id, meta, implicitRules, language, text, contained, extension, modifierExtension
... identifier Σ0..*IdentifierBusiness Identifier for this Group

... active ?!Σ0..1booleanWhether this group's record is in active use
... type Σ1..1codeperson | animal | practitioner | device | careteam | healthcareservice | location | organization | relatedperson | specimen
Binding: Group Type (Required)
... code Σ0..1CodeableConceptKind of Group members
Binding: GroupKind (Example)
... name Σ0..1stringLabel for Group
... description 0..1markdownNatural language description of the group
... quantity Σ0..1unsignedIntNumber of members
... managingEntity Σ0..1Reference(Organization | RelatedPerson | Practitioner | PractitionerRole)Entity that is the custodian of the Group's definition
... characteristic Σ0..*BackboneElementInclude / Exclude group members by Trait

.... code Σ1..1CodeableConceptKind of characteristic
Binding: GroupCharacteristicKind (Example)
.... value[x] Σ1..1Value held by characteristic
Binding: GroupCharacteristicValue (Example)
..... valueCodeableConceptCodeableConcept
..... valueBooleanboolean
..... valueQuantityQuantity
..... valueRangeRange
..... valueReferenceReference()
.... exclude Σ1..1booleanGroup includes or excludes
.... period 0..1PeriodPeriod over which characteristic is tested
... member 0..*BackboneElementWho or what is in group

.... entity 1..1Reference(CareTeam | Device | Group | HealthcareService | Location | Organization | Patient | Practitioner | PractitionerRole | RelatedPerson | Specimen)Reference to the group member
.... period 0..1PeriodPeriod member belonged to the group
.... inactive 0..1booleanIf member is no longer in group

doco Documentation for this format icon

See the Extensions for this resource

UML Diagram (Legend)

Group (DomainResource)Business identifiers assigned to this participant by one of the applications involved. These identifiers remain constant as the resource is updated and propagates from server to serveridentifier : Identifier [0..*]Indicates whether the record for the group is available for use or is merely being retained for historical purposes (this element modifies the meaning of other elements)active : boolean [0..1]Identifies the broad classification of the kind of resources the group includestype : code [1..1] « null (Strength=Required)GroupType! »Basis for membership in the Group: * 'definitional': The Group.characteristics specified are both necessary and sufficient to determine membership. All entities that meet the criteria are considered to be members of the group, whether referenced by the group or not. If members are present, they are individuals that happen to be known as meeting the Group.characteristics. The list cannot be presumed to be complete. * 'enumerated': The Group.characteristics are necessary but not sufficient to determine membership. Membership is determined by being listed as one of the Group.membermembership : code [1..1] « null (Strength=Required)GroupMembershipBasis! »Provides a specific type of resource the group includes; e.g. "cow", "syringe", etccode : CodeableConcept [0..1] « null (Strength=Example)GroupKind?? »A label assigned to the group for human identification and communicationname : string [0..1]Explanation of what the group represents and how it is intended to be useddescription : markdown [0..1]A count of the number of resource instances that are part of the groupquantity : unsignedInt [0..1]Entity responsible for defining and maintaining Group characteristics and/or registered membersmanagingEntity : Reference [0..1] « Organization|RelatedPerson| Practitioner|PractitionerRole »CharacteristicA code that identifies the kind of trait being assertedcode : CodeableConcept [1..1] « null (Strength=Example)GroupCharacteristicKind?? »The value of the trait that holds (or does not hold - see 'exclude') for members of the groupvalue[x] : DataType [1..1] « CodeableConcept|boolean|Quantity|Range| Reference; null (Strength=Example)GroupCharacteristicValue?? »If true, indicates the characteristic is one that is NOT held by members of the groupexclude : boolean [1..1]The period over which the characteristic is tested; e.g. the patient had an operation during the month of Juneperiod : Period [0..1]MemberA 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 sameentity : Reference [1..1] « CareTeam|Device|Group|HealthcareService| Location|Organization|Patient|Practitioner|PractitionerRole| RelatedPerson|Specimen »The period that the member was in the group, if knownperiod : Period [0..1]A flag to indicate that the member is no longer in the group, but previously may have been a memberinactive : boolean [0..1]Identifies traits whose presence r absence is shared by members of the groupcharacteristic[0..*]Identifies the resource instances that are members of the groupmember[0..*]

XML Template

<Group xmlns="http://hl7.org/fhir"> doco
 <!-- from Resource: id, meta, implicitRules, and language -->
 <!-- from DomainResource: text, contained, extension, and modifierExtension -->
 <identifier><!-- 0..* Identifier Business Identifier for this Group --></identifier>
 <active value="[boolean]"/><!-- 0..1 Whether this group's record is in active use -->
 <type value="[code]"/><!-- 1..1 person | animal | practitioner | device | careteam | healthcareservice | location | organization | relatedperson | specimen -->
 <membership value="[code]"/><!-- 1..1 definitional | enumerated -->
 <code><!-- 0..1 CodeableConcept Kind of Group members --></code>
 <name value="[string]"/><!-- 0..1 Label for Group -->
 <description value="[markdown]"/><!-- 0..1 Natural language description of the group -->
 <quantity value="[unsignedInt]"/><!-- 0..1 Number of members -->
 <managingEntity><!-- 0..1 Reference(Organization|Practitioner|PractitionerRole|
   RelatedPerson) Entity that is the custodian of the Group's definition --></managingEntity>
 <characteristic>  <!-- 0..* Include / Exclude group members by Trait -->
  <code><!-- 1..1 CodeableConcept Kind of characteristic --></code>
  <value[x]><!-- 1..1 CodeableConcept|boolean|Quantity|Range|Reference Value held by characteristic --></value[x]>
  <exclude value="[boolean]"/><!-- 1..1 Group includes or excludes -->
  <period><!-- 0..1 Period Period over which characteristic is tested --></period>
 </characteristic>
 <member>  <!-- 0..* Who or what is in group -->
  <entity><!-- 1..1 Reference(CareTeam|Device|Group|HealthcareService|Location|
    Organization|Patient|Practitioner|PractitionerRole|RelatedPerson|Specimen) Reference to the group member --></entity>
  <period><!-- 0..1 Period Period member belonged to the group --></period>
  <inactive value="[boolean]"/><!-- 0..1 If member is no longer in group -->
 </member>
</Group>

JSON Template

{doco
  "resourceType" : "Group",
  // from Resource: id, meta, implicitRules, and language
  // from DomainResource: text, contained, extension, and modifierExtension
  "identifier" : [{ Identifier }], // Business Identifier for this Group
  "active" : <boolean>, // Whether this group's record is in active use
  "type" : "<code>", // R!  person | animal | practitioner | device | careteam | healthcareservice | location | organization | relatedperson | specimen
  "membership" : "<code>", // R!  definitional | enumerated
  "code" : { CodeableConcept }, // Kind of Group members
  "name" : "<string>", // Label for Group
  "description" : "<markdown>", // Natural language description of the group
  "quantity" : "<unsignedInt>", // Number of members
  "managingEntity" : { Reference(Organization|Practitioner|PractitionerRole|
   RelatedPerson) }, // Entity that is the custodian of the Group's definition
  "characteristic" : [{ // Include / Exclude group members by Trait
    "code" : { CodeableConcept }, // R!  Kind of characteristic
    // value[x]: Value held by characteristic. One of these 5:
    "valueCodeableConcept" : { CodeableConcept },
    "valueBoolean" : <boolean>,
    "valueQuantity" : { Quantity },
    "valueRange" : { Range },
    "valueReference" : { Reference },
    "exclude" : <boolean>, // R!  Group includes or excludes
    "period" : { Period } // Period over which characteristic is tested
  }],
  "member" : [{ // Who or what is in group
    "entity" : { Reference(CareTeam|Device|Group|HealthcareService|Location|
    Organization|Patient|Practitioner|PractitionerRole|RelatedPerson|Specimen) }, // R!  Reference to the group member
    "period" : { Period }, // Period member belonged to the group
    "inactive" : <boolean> // If member is no longer in group
  }]
}

Turtle Template

@prefix fhir: <http://hl7.org/fhir/> .doco


[ a fhir:Group;
  fhir:nodeRole fhir:treeRoot; # if this is the parser root

  # from Resource: .id, .meta, .implicitRules, and .language
  # from DomainResource: .text, .contained, .extension, and .modifierExtension
  fhir:identifier  ( [ Identifier ] ... ) ; # 0..* Business Identifier for this Group
  fhir:active [ boolean ] ; # 0..1 Whether this group's record is in active use
  fhir:type [ code ] ; # 1..1 person | animal | practitioner | device | careteam | healthcareservice | location | organization | relatedperson | specimen
  fhir:membership [ code ] ; # 1..1 definitional | enumerated
  fhir:code [ CodeableConcept ] ; # 0..1 Kind of Group members
  fhir:name [ string ] ; # 0..1 Label for Group
  fhir:description [ markdown ] ; # 0..1 Natural language description of the group
  fhir:quantity [ unsignedInt ] ; # 0..1 Number of members
  fhir:managingEntity [ Reference(Organization|Practitioner|PractitionerRole|RelatedPerson) ] ; # 0..1 Entity that is the custodian of the Group's definition
  fhir:characteristic ( [ # 0..* Include / Exclude group members by Trait
    fhir:code [ CodeableConcept ] ; # 1..1 Kind of characteristic
    # value[x] : 1..1 Value held by characteristic. One of these 5
      fhir:value [  a fhir:CodeableConcept ; CodeableConcept ]
      fhir:value [  a fhir:boolean ; boolean ]
      fhir:value [  a fhir:Quantity ; Quantity ]
      fhir:value [  a fhir:Range ; Range ]
      fhir:value [  a fhir:Reference ; Reference ]
    fhir:exclude [ boolean ] ; # 1..1 Group includes or excludes
    fhir:period [ Period ] ; # 0..1 Period over which characteristic is tested
  ] ... ) ;
  fhir:member ( [ # 0..* Who or what is in group
    fhir:entity [ Reference(CareTeam|Device|Group|HealthcareService|Location|Organization|Patient|
  Practitioner|PractitionerRole|RelatedPerson|Specimen) ] ; # 1..1 Reference to the group member
    fhir:period [ Period ] ; # 0..1 Period member belonged to the group
    fhir:inactive [ boolean ] ; # 0..1 If member is no longer in group
  ] ... ) ;
]

Changes from both R4 and R4B

Group
Group.active
  • Now marked as Modifier
Group.type
  • Remove codes medication, substance
  • Add codes careteam, healthcareservice, location, organization, relatedperson, specimen
Group.membership
  • Added Mandatory Element
Group.description
  • Added Element
Group.member.entity
  • Type Reference: Added Target Types CareTeam, HealthcareService, Location, Organization, RelatedPerson, Specimen
  • Type Reference: Removed Target Types Medication, Substance
Group.actual
  • Deleted (-> Group.membership)

See the Full Difference for further information

This analysis is available for R4 as XML or JSON and for R4B as XML or JSON.

See R4 <--> R5 Conversion Maps (status = See Conversions Summary.)

 

Additional definitions: Master Definition XML + JSON, XML Schema/Schematron + JSON Schema, ShEx (for Turtle) + see the extensions, the spreadsheet version & the dependency analysis

8.3.4.1 Terminology Bindings

PathValueSetTypeDocumentation
Group.type GroupType Required

Types of resources that are part of group.
Group.membership GroupMembershipBasis Required

Basis for membership in a group
Group.code ??Example
Group.characteristic.code ??Example
Group.characteristic.value[x] ??Example

8.3.4.2 Mixing Characteristics and Members

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.

8.3.4.3 Managing large Groups

For operations to assist in adding to, removing from, or filtering contents of large Groups, see Operations for Large Resources.

8.3.4.4 Membership

Membership testing is used to test for active members of a Group. At a minimum, servers supporting membership testing on Group resources SHALL be able to correctly identify active enumerated entities. Active enumerated entities in a group are entities:

  • listed in Group.member.entity,
  • that do not have Group.member.inactive with a value of true, and
  • do not have an expired Group.member.period (e.g., either the element is not present or has a period covering 'now').

Membership testing MAY also be applied to characteristic-defined Groups. If supported, membership testing is based on the characteristic testing of the Group. Any entity meeting the required characteristics is considered to be active.

Servers SHOULD declare whether they support only the enumerated or characteristic group filters. Servers MAY impose additional membership constraints (e.g. based on modifier extensions).

8.3.5 Search Parameters

Search parameters for this resource. See also the full list of search parameters for this resource, and check the Extensions registry for search parameters on extensions related to this resource. The common parameters also apply. See Searching for more information about searching in REST, messaging, and services.

NameTypeDescriptionExpressionIn Common
characteristictokenKind of characteristicGroup.characteristic.code
characteristic-referencereferenceAn entity referenced in a characteristic(Group.characteristic.value.ofType(Reference))
characteristic-valuecompositeA composite of both characteristic and valueOn Group.characteristic:
  characteristic: code
  value: (value.ofType(CodeableConcept)) | (value.ofType(boolean))
codetokenThe kind of resources containedGroup.code
excludetokenGroup includes or excludesGroup.characteristic.exclude
identifiertokenUnique idGroup.identifier
managing-entityreferenceEntity that is the custodian of the Group's definitionGroup.managingEntity
(Practitioner, Organization, PractitionerRole, RelatedPerson)
memberreferenceReference to the group memberGroup.member.entity
(Practitioner, Group, Specimen, Organization, CareTeam, Device, Patient, HealthcareService, PractitionerRole, RelatedPerson, Location)
membershiptokenDefinitional or enumerated groupGroup.membership
namestringA portion of the Group's nameGroup.name
typetokenThe type of resources the group containsGroup.type
valuetokenValue held by characteristic(Group.characteristic.value.ofType(CodeableConcept)) | (Group.characteristic.value.ofType(boolean))