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Subscription

The subscription resource is used to define a push-based subscription from a server to another system. Once a subscription is registered with the server, the server checks every resource that is created or updated, and if the resource matches the given criteria, it sends a message on the defined "channel" so that another system can take an appropriate action.

Properties

NameRequiredTypeDescription
statuscode

requested | active | error | off

Details

The status of the subscription, which marks the server state for managing the subscription.

A client can only submit subscription resources in the requested or off state. Only the server can move a subscription from requested to active, and then to error. Either the server or the client can turn a subscription off. This element is labeled as a modifier because the status contains codes that mark the resource as not currently valid.

contactContactPoint[]

Contact details for source (e.g. troubleshooting)

Details

Contact details for a human to contact about the subscription. The primary use of this for system administrator troubleshooting.

endinstant

When to automatically delete the subscription

Details

The time for the server to turn the subscription off.

The server is permitted to deviate from this time but should observe it.

reasonstring

Description of why this subscription was created

Details

A description of why this subscription is defined.

criteriastring

Rule for server push

Details

The rules that the server should use to determine when to generate notifications for this subscription.

The rules are search criteria (without the [base] part). Like Bundle.entry.request.url, it has no leading "/".

errorstring

Latest error note

Details

A record of the last error that occurred when the server processed a notification.

channelSubscriptionChannel

The channel on which to report matches to the criteria

Details

Details where to send notifications when resources are received that meet the criteria.

idstring

Unique id for inter-element referencing

Details

Unique id for the element within a resource (for internal references). This may be any string value that does not contain spaces.

extensionExtension[]

Additional content defined by implementations

Details

May be used to represent additional information that is not part of the basic definition of the element. To make the use of extensions safe and manageable, there is a strict set of governance applied to the definition and use of extensions. Though any implementer can define an extension, there is a set of requirements that SHALL be met as part of the definition of the extension.

There can be no stigma associated with the use of extensions by any application, project, or standard - regardless of the institution or jurisdiction that uses or defines the extensions. The use of extensions is what allows the FHIR specification to retain a core level of simplicity for everyone.

modifierExtensionExtension[]

Extensions that cannot be ignored even if unrecognized

Details

May be used to represent additional information that is not part of the basic definition of the element and that modifies the understanding of the element in which it is contained and/or the understanding of the containing element's descendants. Usually modifier elements provide negation or qualification. To make the use of extensions safe and manageable, there is a strict set of governance applied to the definition and use of extensions. Though any implementer can define an extension, there is a set of requirements that SHALL be met as part of the definition of the extension. Applications processing a resource are required to check for modifier extensions. Modifier extensions SHALL NOT change the meaning of any elements on Resource or DomainResource (including cannot change the meaning of modifierExtension itself).

There can be no stigma associated with the use of extensions by any application, project, or standard - regardless of the institution or jurisdiction that uses or defines the extensions. The use of extensions is what allows the FHIR specification to retain a core level of simplicity for everyone.

typecode

rest-hook | websocket | email | sms | message

Details

The type of channel to send notifications on.

endpointurl

Where the channel points to

Details

The url that describes the actual end-point to send messages to.

For rest-hook, and websocket, the end-point must be an http: or https: URL; for email, a mailto: url, for sms, a tel: url, and for message the endpoint can be in any form of url the server understands (usually, http: or mllp:). The URI is allowed to be relative; in which case, it is relative to the server end-point (since there may be more than one, clients should avoid using relative URIs).

payloadcode

MIME type to send, or omit for no payload

Details

The mime type to send the payload in - either application/fhir+xml, or application/fhir+json. If the payload is not present, then there is no payload in the notification, just a notification. The mime type "text/plain" may also be used for Email and SMS subscriptions.

Sending the payload has obvious security implications. The server is responsible for ensuring that the content is appropriately secured.

headerstring[]

Usage depends on the channel type

Details

Additional headers / information to send as part of the notification.

Exactly what these mean depend on the channel type. They can convey additional information to the recipient and/or meet security requirements; for example, support of multiple headers in the outgoing notifications for rest-hook type subscriptions.

Search Parameters

NameTypeDescriptionExpression
contacttokenContact details for the subscriptionSubscription.contact
criteriastringThe search rules used to determine when to send a notificationSubscription.criteria
payloadtokenThe mime-type of the notification payloadSubscription.channel.payload
statustokenThe current state of the subscriptionSubscription.status
typetokenThe type of channel for the sent notificationsSubscription.channel.type
urluriThe uri that will receive the notificationsSubscription.channel.endpoint

Inherited Properties

NameRequiredTypeDescription
idstring

Logical id of this artifact

Details

The logical id of the resource, as used in the URL for the resource. Once assigned, this value never changes.

The only time that a resource does not have an id is when it is being submitted to the server using a create operation.

metaMeta

Metadata about the resource

Details

The metadata about the resource. This is content that is maintained by the infrastructure. Changes to the content might not always be associated with version changes to the resource.

implicitRulesuri

A set of rules under which this content was created

Details

A reference to a set of rules that were followed when the resource was constructed, and which must be understood when processing the content. Often, this is a reference to an implementation guide that defines the special rules along with other profiles etc.

Asserting this rule set restricts the content to be only understood by a limited set of trading partners. This inherently limits the usefulness of the data in the long term. However, the existing health eco-system is highly fractured, and not yet ready to define, collect, and exchange data in a generally computable sense. Wherever possible, implementers and/or specification writers should avoid using this element. Often, when used, the URL is a reference to an implementation guide that defines these special rules as part of it's narrative along with other profiles, value sets, etc.

languagecode

Language of the resource content

Details

The base language in which the resource is written.

Language is provided to support indexing and accessibility (typically, services such as text to speech use the language tag). The html language tag in the narrative applies to the narrative. The language tag on the resource may be used to specify the language of other presentations generated from the data in the resource. Not all the content has to be in the base language. The Resource.language should not be assumed to apply to the narrative automatically. If a language is specified, it should it also be specified on the div element in the html (see rules in HTML5 for information about the relationship between xml:lang and the html lang attribute).

textNarrative

Text summary of the resource, for human interpretation

Details

A human-readable narrative that contains a summary of the resource and can be used to represent the content of the resource to a human. The narrative need not encode all the structured data, but is required to contain sufficient detail to make it "clinically safe" for a human to just read the narrative. Resource definitions may define what content should be represented in the narrative to ensure clinical safety.

Contained resources do not have narrative. Resources that are not contained SHOULD have a narrative. In some cases, a resource may only have text with little or no additional discrete data (as long as all minOccurs=1 elements are satisfied). This may be necessary for data from legacy systems where information is captured as a "text blob" or where text is additionally entered raw or narrated and encoded information is added later.

containedResource[]

Contained, inline Resources

Details

These resources do not have an independent existence apart from the resource that contains them - they cannot be identified independently, and nor can they have their own independent transaction scope.

This should never be done when the content can be identified properly, as once identification is lost, it is extremely difficult (and context dependent) to restore it again. Contained resources may have profiles and tags In their meta elements, but SHALL NOT have security labels.

extensionExtension[]

Additional content defined by implementations

Details

May be used to represent additional information that is not part of the basic definition of the resource. To make the use of extensions safe and manageable, there is a strict set of governance applied to the definition and use of extensions. Though any implementer can define an extension, there is a set of requirements that SHALL be met as part of the definition of the extension.

There can be no stigma associated with the use of extensions by any application, project, or standard - regardless of the institution or jurisdiction that uses or defines the extensions. The use of extensions is what allows the FHIR specification to retain a core level of simplicity for everyone.

modifierExtensionExtension[]

Extensions that cannot be ignored

Details

May be used to represent additional information that is not part of the basic definition of the resource and that modifies the understanding of the element that contains it and/or the understanding of the containing element's descendants. Usually modifier elements provide negation or qualification. To make the use of extensions safe and manageable, there is a strict set of governance applied to the definition and use of extensions. Though any implementer is allowed to define an extension, there is a set of requirements that SHALL be met as part of the definition of the extension. Applications processing a resource are required to check for modifier extensions. Modifier extensions SHALL NOT change the meaning of any elements on Resource or DomainResource (including cannot change the meaning of modifierExtension itself).

There can be no stigma associated with the use of extensions by any application, project, or standard - regardless of the institution or jurisdiction that uses or defines the extensions. The use of extensions is what allows the FHIR specification to retain a core level of simplicity for everyone.