CODEWITHSUNDEEP
hl7-fhir
Rodrigo Sendin
Rodrigo Sendin

Reputation: 39

Which is the HealthcareService Resource purpose?

We are defining in our profile the structure of services/procedures that a health care establishment offers.

Imagine, for example, a clinic that performs Endoscopy.

Should my HealthcareService simply be "Endoscopy" or should it be, for example, "Esophagogastroduodenoscopy" (SNOMED code: 760090000)? And in this second case would I have to have the entire SNOMED Endoscopy procedure list represented as HealthcareServices?

Upvotes: 0

Views: 94

Answers (1)

Lloyd McKenzie
Lloyd McKenzie

Reputation: 6793

The granularity at which you code the HealthcareService instances depends on the granularity with which you want to manage them. You can have a HealthcareService that says "we offer imaging services", "we offer X-ray", "we offer X-ray of the teeth and jaw" down to very narrow procedure codes.

Low granularity is most useful when exposing a list of services such that other systems have an idea of what your site is capable of. ("Yes, we offer psychiatry", "No, we don't offer gynecology"). Fine-grained codes are useful if you're wanting to expose exactly what can be ordered.

SNOMED typically offers a wide range of granularity and other code systems can be used when the granularity offered by SNOMED doesn't fit what you need.

tldr: Use the granularity of coding that meets your business objectives.

Upvotes: 1

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