This resource allows for the definition of various types of plans as a sharable, consumable, and executable artifact. The resource is general enough to support the description of a broad range of clinical and non-clinical artifacts such as clinical decision support rules, order sets, protocols, and drug quality specifications.

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.

A uri that identifies the source system of the resource. This provides a minimal amount of Provenance information that can be used to track or differentiate the source of information in the resource. The source may identify another FHIR server, document, message, database, etc.

The exact use of the source (and the possible implied Provenance.entity.role and agent.role) is left to implementer discretion. Only one nominated source is allowed; for additional provenance details, a full Provenance resource should be used. The source may correspond to Provenance.entity.what[x] or Provenance.agent.who[x], though it may be a more general or abstract reference.

This element can be used to indicate where the current master source of a resource that has a canonical URL if the resource is no longer hosted at the canonical URL.

A list of profiles (references to StructureDefinition resources) that this resource claims to conform to. The URL is a reference to StructureDefinition.url.

It is up to the server and/or other infrastructure of policy to determine whether/how these claims are verified and/or updated over time. The list of profile URLs is a set.

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 its narrative along with other profiles, value sets, etc.

These resources do not have an independent existence apart from the resource that contains them - they cannot be identified independently, nor can they have their own independent transaction scope. This is allowed to be a Parameters resource if and only if it is referenced by a resource that provides context/meaning.

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.

An Extension

Defines a knowledge capability afforded by this knowledge artifact.

An Extension

Source of the definition for the extension code - a logical name or a URL.

The definition may point directly to a computable or human-readable definition of the extensibility codes, or it may be a logical URI as declared in some other specification. The definition SHALL be a URI for the Structure Definition defining the extension.

Value of extension - must be one of a constrained set of the data types (see Extensibility for a list).

A knowledge capability provided by a knowledge artifact

Defines a knowledge representation level provided by this knowledge artifact.

An Extension

Source of the definition for the extension code - a logical name or a URL.

The definition may point directly to a computable or human-readable definition of the extensibility codes, or it may be a logical URI as declared in some other specification. The definition SHALL be a URI for the Structure Definition defining the extension.

Value of extension - must be one of a constrained set of the data types (see Extensibility for a list).

A level of knowledge representation provided by this artifact

A comment containing additional documentation, a review comment, usage guidance, or other relevant information from a particular user.

Determines whether the artifact on which it appears is Enabled, as opposed to just Known.

Systems that are capable of storing and retrieving knowledge artifacts SHALL use this element to distinguish between a Known and an actively Enabled artifact. Behavior described by the artifact should only be implemented if this element is present and has a value of true.

Specifies the canonical URL of a Pathway or Strategy that this definition is part of.

For enrollment checking, if the computable PlanDefinition is not a Pathway or Strategy, then this extension is followed to attempt to determine a Pathway or Strategy to use for the enrollment check, recursively.

Extension used on PlanDefinition.action to specify a method for combining the actions.

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 managable, 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.

Modifier extensions allow for extensions that cannot be safely ignored to be clearly distinguished from the vast majority of extensions which can be safely ignored. This promotes interoperability by eliminating the need for implementers to prohibit the presence of extensions. For further information, see the definition of modifier extensions.

An absolute URI that is used to identify this plan definition when it is referenced in a specification, model, design or an instance; also called its canonical identifier. This SHOULD be globally unique and SHOULD be a literal address at which an authoritative instance of this plan definition is (or will be) published. This URL can be the target of a canonical reference. It SHALL remain the same when the plan definition is stored on different servers.

Can be a urn:uuid: or a urn:oid: but real http: addresses are preferred. Multiple instances may share the same URL if they have a distinct version.

The determination of when to create a new version of a resource (same url, new version) vs. defining a new artifact is up to the author. Considerations for making this decision are found in Technical and Business Versions.

In some cases, the resource can no longer be found at the stated url, but the url itself cannot change. Implementations can use the meta.source element to indicate where the current master source of the resource can be found.

Allows the plan definition to be referenced by a single globally unique identifier.

The identifier that is used to identify this version of the plan definition when it is referenced in a specification, model, design or instance. This is an arbitrary value managed by the plan definition author and is not expected to be globally unique. For example, it might be a timestamp (e.g. yyyymmdd) if a managed version is not available. There is also no expectation that versions can be placed in a lexicographical sequence. To provide a version consistent with the Decision Support Service specification, use the format Major.Minor.Revision (e.g. 1.0.0). For more information on versioning knowledge assets, refer to the Decision Support Service specification. Note that a version is required for non-experimental active artifacts.

There may be different plan definition instances that have the same identifier but different versions. The version can be appended to the url in a reference to allow a reference to a particular business version of the plan definition with the format [url]|[version]. The version SHOULD NOT contain a '#' - see Business Version.

Indicates the mechanism used to compare versions to determine which is more current.

If set as a string, this is a FHIRPath expression that has two additional context variables passed in - %version1 and %version2 and will return a negative number if version1 is newer, a positive number if version2 and a 0 if the version ordering can't be successfully be determined.

A natural language name identifying the plan definition. This name should be usable as an identifier for the module by machine processing applications such as code generation.

The name is not expected to be globally unique. The name should be a simple alphanumeric type name to ensure that it is machine-processing friendly.

Support human navigation and code generation.

A short, descriptive, user-friendly title for the plan definition.

This name does not need to be machine-processing friendly and may contain punctuation, white-space, etc.

A high-level category for the plan definition that distinguishes the kinds of systems that would be interested in the plan definition.

The type of PlanDefinition.

The status of this plan definition. Enables tracking the life-cycle of the content.

Allows filtering of plan definitions that are appropriate for use versus not.

See guidance around (not) making local changes to elements here.

The lifecycle status of an artifact.

A Boolean value to indicate that this plan definition is authored for testing purposes (or education/evaluation/marketing) and is not intended to be used for genuine usage.

Allows filtering of plan definitions that are appropriate for use versus not.

Enables experimental content to be developed following the same lifecycle that would be used for a production-level plan definition.

A code, group definition, or canonical reference that describes or identifies the intended subject of the plan definition. Canonical references are allowed to support the definition of protocols for drug and substance quality specifications, and is allowed to reference a MedicinalProductDefinition, SubstanceDefinition, AdministrableProductDefinition, ManufacturedItemDefinition, or PackagedProductDefinition resource.

Note that the choice of canonical for the subject element was introduced in R4B to support pharmaceutical quality use cases. To ensure as much backwards-compatibility as possible, it is recommended to only use the new canonical type with these use cases.

The possible types of subjects for a plan definition (E.g. Patient, Practitioner, Organization, Location, etc.).

The name of the organization or individual responsible for the release and ongoing maintenance of the plan definition.

Usually an organization but may be an individual. The publisher (or steward) of the plan definition is the organization or individual primarily responsible for the maintenance and upkeep of the plan definition. This is not necessarily the same individual or organization that developed and initially authored the content. The publisher is the primary point of contact for questions or issues with the plan definition. This item SHOULD be populated unless the information is available from context.

Helps establish the "authority/credibility" of the plan definition. May also allow for contact.

A free text natural language description of the plan definition from a consumer's perspective.

This description can be used to capture details such as comments about misuse, instructions for clinical use and interpretation, literature references, examples from the paper world, etc. It is not a rendering of the plan definition as conveyed in the 'text' field of the resource itself. This item SHOULD be populated unless the information is available from context (e.g. the language of the plan definition is presumed to be the predominant language in the place the plan definition was created).

Related artifacts such as additional documentation, justification, or bibliographic references.

Each related artifact is either an attachment, or a reference to another resource, but not both.

Plan definitions must be able to provide enough information for consumers of the content (and/or interventions or results produced by the content) to be able to determine and understand the justification for and evidence in support of the content.

Related artifacts such as additional documentation, justification, or bibliographic references.

Each related artifact is either an attachment, or a reference to another resource, but not both.

Plan definitions must be able to provide enough information for consumers of the content (and/or interventions or results produced by the content) to be able to determine and understand the justification for and evidence in support of the content.

The type of relationship to the related artifact.

The presence of both sides of a relationship type (e.g. successor and predecessor) is required to support use cases where one side of a relationship is not represented in FHIR. However, this feature SHALL NOT be used to create bi-directional resource links in FHIR instances. Specifically, following the methodology of "new points to old" and "many points to one", when using related artifact elements to describe and reference FHIR resources, the type element SHALL be drawn from the fhir-related-artifact-type ValueSet.

The type of relationship to the related artifact.

Provides additional classifiers of the related artifact.

Additional classifiers for the related artifact.

The related artifact, if the artifact is not a canonical resource, or a resource reference to a canonical resource.

If both resource and resourceReference are present, they SHOULD be consistent and reference the same resource. Although relatedArtifact is intended to support references to definitional resources, there are cases where non-definitional resources can be definitional (such as Location where the kind is mode). Related artifacts SHOULD be used to reference definitional resources, and profiles SHOULD be used to make that explicit for particular use cases.

Related artifacts such as additional documentation, justification, or bibliographic references.

Each related artifact is either an attachment, or a reference to another resource, but not both.

Plan definitions must be able to provide enough information for consumers of the content (and/or interventions or results produced by the content) to be able to determine and understand the justification for and evidence in support of the content.

The type of relationship to the related artifact.

The presence of both sides of a relationship type (e.g. successor and predecessor) is required to support use cases where one side of a relationship is not represented in FHIR. However, this feature SHALL NOT be used to create bi-directional resource links in FHIR instances. Specifically, following the methodology of "new points to old" and "many points to one", when using related artifact elements to describe and reference FHIR resources, the type element SHALL be drawn from the fhir-related-artifact-type ValueSet.

The type of relationship to the related artifact.

Provides additional classifiers of the related artifact.

Additional classifiers for the related artifact.

The related artifact, if the artifact is not a canonical resource, or a resource reference to a canonical resource.

If both resource and resourceReference are present, they SHOULD be consistent and reference the same resource. Although relatedArtifact is intended to support references to definitional resources, there are cases where non-definitional resources can be definitional (such as Location where the kind is mode). Related artifacts SHOULD be used to reference definitional resources, and profiles SHOULD be used to make that explicit for particular use cases.

Related artifacts such as additional documentation, justification, or bibliographic references.

Each related artifact is either an attachment, or a reference to another resource, but not both.

Plan definitions must be able to provide enough information for consumers of the content (and/or interventions or results produced by the content) to be able to determine and understand the justification for and evidence in support of the content.

The type of relationship to the related artifact.

The presence of both sides of a relationship type (e.g. successor and predecessor) is required to support use cases where one side of a relationship is not represented in FHIR. However, this feature SHALL NOT be used to create bi-directional resource links in FHIR instances. Specifically, following the methodology of "new points to old" and "many points to one", when using related artifact elements to describe and reference FHIR resources, the type element SHALL be drawn from the fhir-related-artifact-type ValueSet.

The type of relationship to the related artifact.

Provides additional classifiers of the related artifact.

Additional classifiers for the related artifact.

The related artifact, if the artifact is not a canonical resource, or a resource reference to a canonical resource.

If both resource and resourceReference are present, they SHOULD be consistent and reference the same resource. Although relatedArtifact is intended to support references to definitional resources, there are cases where non-definitional resources can be definitional (such as Location where the kind is mode). Related artifacts SHOULD be used to reference definitional resources, and profiles SHOULD be used to make that explicit for particular use cases.

A reference to a Library resource containing any formal logic used by the plan definition.

An action or group of actions to be taken as part of the plan. For example, in clinical care, an action would be to prescribe a particular indicated medication, or perform a particular test as appropriate. In pharmaceutical quality, an action would be the test that needs to be performed on a drug product as defined in the quality specification.

Note that there is overlap between many of the elements defined here and the ActivityDefinition resource. When an ActivityDefinition is referenced (using the definition element), the overlapping elements in the plan override the content of the referenced ActivityDefinition unless otherwise documented in the specific elements. See the PlanDefinition resource for more detailed information.

The strength of the recommendation assigned to this reference. The code system used specifies the rating scale used to rate this recommendation while the code specifies the actual recommendation rating (represented as a coded value) associated with this recommendation.

Specifies whether the recommendation is "for" or "against" a particular activity. For example, the recommendation to prescribe a particular medication, versus the recommendation not to perform a particular procedure.

The quality of the evidence described. The code system used specifies the quality scale used to grade this evidence source while the code specifies the actual quality score (represented as a coded value) associated with the evidence.

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 managable, 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.

Modifier extensions allow for extensions that cannot be safely ignored to be clearly distinguished from the vast majority of extensions which can be safely ignored. This promotes interoperability by eliminating the need for implementers to prohibit the presence of extensions. For further information, see the definition of modifier extensions.

A user-visible prefix for the action. For example a section or item numbering such as 1. or A.

The textual description of the action displayed to a user. For example, when the action is a test to be performed, the title would be the title of the test such as Assay by HPLC.

A brief description of the action used to provide a summary to display to the user.

A code that provides a meaning, grouping, or classification for the action or action group. For example, a section may have a LOINC code for the section of a documentation template. In pharmaceutical quality, an action (Test) such as pH could be classified as a physical property.

High-level processes identified in guideline-based care

A description of why this action is necessary or appropriate.

This is different than the clinical evidence documentation, it's an actual business description of the reason for performing the action.

Provides examples of reasons for actions to be performed.

Didactic or other informational resources associated with the action that can be provided to the CDS recipient. Information resources can include inline text commentary and links to web resources.

A description of when the action should be triggered. When multiple triggers are specified on an action, any triggering event invokes the action.

An expression that describes applicability criteria or start/stop conditions for the action.

When multiple conditions of the same kind are present, the effects are combined using AND semantics, so the overall condition is true only if all the conditions are true.

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 managable, 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.

Modifier extensions allow for extensions that cannot be safely ignored to be clearly distinguished from the vast majority of extensions which can be safely ignored. This promotes interoperability by eliminating the need for implementers to prohibit the presence of extensions. For further information, see the definition of modifier extensions.

The kind of condition.

Applicability criteria are used to determine immediate applicability when a plan definition is applied to a given context. Start and stop criteria are carried through application and used to describe enter/exit criteria for an action.

Defines the kinds of conditions that can appear on actions.

Defines input data requirements for the action.

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 managable, 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.

Modifier extensions allow for extensions that cannot be safely ignored to be clearly distinguished from the vast majority of extensions which can be safely ignored. This promotes interoperability by eliminating the need for implementers to prohibit the presence of extensions. For further information, see the definition of modifier extensions.

Defines the outputs of the action, if any.

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 managable, 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.

Modifier extensions allow for extensions that cannot be safely ignored to be clearly distinguished from the vast majority of extensions which can be safely ignored. This promotes interoperability by eliminating the need for implementers to prohibit the presence of extensions. For further information, see the definition of modifier extensions.

A relationship to another action such as "before" or "30-60 minutes after start of".

When an action depends on multiple actions, the meaning is that all actions are dependencies, rather than that any of the actions are a dependency.

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 managable, 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.

Modifier extensions allow for extensions that cannot be safely ignored to be clearly distinguished from the vast majority of extensions which can be safely ignored. This promotes interoperability by eliminating the need for implementers to prohibit the presence of extensions. For further information, see the definition of modifier extensions.

The element id of the target related action.

The relationship of the start of this action to the related action.

Defines the types of relationships between actions.

An optional value describing when the action should be performed.

The intent of the timing element is to provide timing when the action should be performed. As a definitional resource, this timing is interpreted as part of an apply operation so that the timing of the result actions in a CarePlan or RequestOrchestration, for example, would be specified by evaluating the timing definition in the context of the apply and setting the resulting timing on the appropriate elements of the target resource. If the timing is an Age, the activity is expected to be performed when the subject is the given Age. When the timing is a Duration, the activity is expected to be performed within the specified duration from the apply. When the timing is a Range, it may be a range of Ages or Durations, providing a range for the expected timing of the resulting activity. When the timing is a Timing, it is establishing a schedule for the timing of the resulting activity.

Allows prompting for activities and detection of missed planned activities.

Indicates who should participate in performing the action described.

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 managable, 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.

Modifier extensions allow for extensions that cannot be safely ignored to be clearly distinguished from the vast majority of extensions which can be safely ignored. This promotes interoperability by eliminating the need for implementers to prohibit the presence of extensions. For further information, see the definition of modifier extensions.

The role the participant should play in performing the described action.

Personas used in identifying participants and their roles in computable content

The type of action to perform (create, update, remove).

The type of action to be performed.

Defines the grouping behavior for the action and its children.

Defines organization behavior of a group.

Defines the selection behavior for the action and its children.

Defines selection behavior of a group.

Defines the required behavior for the action.

Defines expectations around whether an action or action group is required.

Defines whether the action should usually be preselected.

Defines selection frequency behavior for an action or group.

Defines whether the action can be selected multiple times.

Defines behavior for an action or a group for how many times that item may be repeated.

A reference to an ActivityDefinition that describes the action to be taken in detail, a MessageDefinition describing a message to be snet, a PlanDefinition that describes a series of actions to be taken, a Questionnaire that should be filled out, a SpecimenDefinition describing a specimen to be collected, or an ObservationDefinition that specifies what observation should be captured.

Note that the definition is optional, and if no definition is specified, a dynamicValue with a root ($this) path can be used to define the entire resource dynamically.

A reference to a StructureMap resource that defines a transform that can be executed to produce the intent resource using the ActivityDefinition instance as the input.

Note that when a referenced ActivityDefinition also defines a transform, the transform specified here generally takes precedence. In addition, if both a transform and dynamic values are specific, the dynamic values are applied to the result of the transform.

Customizations that should be applied to the statically defined resource. For example, if the dosage of a medication must be computed based on the patient's weight, a customization would be used to specify an expression that calculated the weight, and the path on the resource that would contain the result.

Dynamic values are applied in the order in which they are defined in the PlanDefinition resource. Note that when dynamic values are also specified by a referenced ActivityDefinition, the dynamicValues from the ActivityDefinition are applied first, followed by the dynamicValues specified here. In addition, if both a transform and dynamic values are specific, the dynamic values are applied to the result of the transform.

Sub actions that are contained within the action. The behavior of this action determines the functionality of the sub-actions. For example, a selection behavior of at-most-one indicates that of the sub-actions, at most one may be chosen as part of realizing the action definition.

This resource allows for the definition of various types of plans as a sharable, consumable, and executable artifact. The resource is general enough to support the description of a broad range of clinical and non-clinical artifacts such as clinical decision support rules, order sets, protocols, and drug quality specifications.

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

Within the context of the FHIR RESTful interactions, the resource has an id except for cases like the create and conditional update. Otherwise, the use of the resouce id depends on the given use case.

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.

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

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 managable, 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.

The version specific identifier, as it appears in the version portion of the URL. This value changes when the resource is created, updated, or deleted.

The server assigns this value, and ignores what the client specifies, except in the case that the server is imposing version integrity on updates/deletes.

When the resource last changed - e.g. when the version changed.

This element is generally omitted in instances submitted in a PUT or POST. Instead, it is populated in the response instance and when retrieving information using a GET. The server / resource manager sets this value; what a client provides is irrelevant. This is equivalent to the HTTP Last-Modified and SHOULD have the same value on a read interaction.

A uri that identifies the source system of the resource. This provides a minimal amount of Provenance information that can be used to track or differentiate the source of information in the resource. The source may identify another FHIR server, document, message, database, etc.

The exact use of the source (and the possible implied Provenance.entity.role and agent.role) is left to implementer discretion. Only one nominated source is allowed; for additional provenance details, a full Provenance resource should be used. The source may correspond to Provenance.entity.what[x] or Provenance.agent.who[x], though it may be a more general or abstract reference.

This element can be used to indicate where the current master source of a resource that has a canonical URL if the resource is no longer hosted at the canonical URL.

A list of profiles (references to StructureDefinition resources) that this resource claims to conform to. The URL is a reference to StructureDefinition.url.

It is up to the server and/or other infrastructure of policy to determine whether/how these claims are verified and/or updated over time. The list of profile URLs is a set.

Security labels applied to this resource. These tags connect specific resources to the overall security policy and infrastructure.

The security labels can be updated without changing the stated version of the resource. The list of security labels is a set. Uniqueness is based the system/code, and version and display are ignored.

Security Labels from the Healthcare Privacy and Security Classification System.

Tags applied to this resource. Tags are intended to be used to identify and relate resources to process and workflow, and applications are not required to consider the tags when interpreting the meaning of a resource.

The tags can be updated without changing the stated version of the resource. The list of tags is a set. Uniqueness is based the system/code, and version and display are ignored.

Codes that represent various types of tags, commonly workflow-related; e.g. "Needs review by Dr. Jones".

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 its narrative along with other profiles, value sets, etc.

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).

IETF language tag for a human language

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 a 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.

These resources do not have an independent existence apart from the resource that contains them - they cannot be identified independently, nor can they have their own independent transaction scope. This is allowed to be a Parameters resource if and only if it is referenced by a resource that provides context/meaning.

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.

An Extension

Defines a knowledge capability afforded by this knowledge artifact.

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

An Extension

Source of the definition for the extension code - a logical name or a URL.

The definition may point directly to a computable or human-readable definition of the extensibility codes, or it may be a logical URI as declared in some other specification. The definition SHALL be a URI for the Structure Definition defining the extension.

Value of extension - must be one of a constrained set of the data types (see Extensibility for a list).

A knowledge capability provided by a knowledge artifact

Defines a knowledge representation level provided by this knowledge artifact.

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

An Extension

Source of the definition for the extension code - a logical name or a URL.

The definition may point directly to a computable or human-readable definition of the extensibility codes, or it may be a logical URI as declared in some other specification. The definition SHALL be a URI for the Structure Definition defining the extension.

Value of extension - must be one of a constrained set of the data types (see Extensibility for a list).

A level of knowledge representation provided by this artifact

A comment containing additional documentation, a review comment, usage guidance, or other relevant information from a particular user.

Determines whether the artifact on which it appears is Enabled, as opposed to just Known.

Systems that are capable of storing and retrieving knowledge artifacts SHALL use this element to distinguish between a Known and an actively Enabled artifact. Behavior described by the artifact should only be implemented if this element is present and has a value of true.

Specifies the canonical URL of a Pathway or Strategy that this definition is part of.

For enrollment checking, if the computable PlanDefinition is not a Pathway or Strategy, then this extension is followed to attempt to determine a Pathway or Strategy to use for the enrollment check, recursively.

Extension used on PlanDefinition.action to specify a method for combining the actions.

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 managable, 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.

Modifier extensions allow for extensions that cannot be safely ignored to be clearly distinguished from the vast majority of extensions which can be safely ignored. This promotes interoperability by eliminating the need for implementers to prohibit the presence of extensions. For further information, see the definition of modifier extensions.

An absolute URI that is used to identify this plan definition when it is referenced in a specification, model, design or an instance; also called its canonical identifier. This SHOULD be globally unique and SHOULD be a literal address at which an authoritative instance of this plan definition is (or will be) published. This URL can be the target of a canonical reference. It SHALL remain the same when the plan definition is stored on different servers.

Can be a urn:uuid: or a urn:oid: but real http: addresses are preferred. Multiple instances may share the same URL if they have a distinct version.

The determination of when to create a new version of a resource (same url, new version) vs. defining a new artifact is up to the author. Considerations for making this decision are found in Technical and Business Versions.

In some cases, the resource can no longer be found at the stated url, but the url itself cannot change. Implementations can use the meta.source element to indicate where the current master source of the resource can be found.

Allows the plan definition to be referenced by a single globally unique identifier.

A formal identifier that is used to identify this plan definition when it is represented in other formats, or referenced in a specification, model, design or an instance.

Typically, this is used for identifiers that can go in an HL7 V3 II (instance identifier) data type, and can then identify this plan definition outside of FHIR, where it is not possible to use the logical URI.

Allows externally provided and/or usable business identifiers to be easily associated with the module.

The identifier that is used to identify this version of the plan definition when it is referenced in a specification, model, design or instance. This is an arbitrary value managed by the plan definition author and is not expected to be globally unique. For example, it might be a timestamp (e.g. yyyymmdd) if a managed version is not available. There is also no expectation that versions can be placed in a lexicographical sequence. To provide a version consistent with the Decision Support Service specification, use the format Major.Minor.Revision (e.g. 1.0.0). For more information on versioning knowledge assets, refer to the Decision Support Service specification. Note that a version is required for non-experimental active artifacts.

There may be different plan definition instances that have the same identifier but different versions. The version can be appended to the url in a reference to allow a reference to a particular business version of the plan definition with the format [url]|[version]. The version SHOULD NOT contain a '#' - see Business Version.

Indicates the mechanism used to compare versions to determine which is more current.

If set as a string, this is a FHIRPath expression that has two additional context variables passed in - %version1 and %version2 and will return a negative number if version1 is newer, a positive number if version2 and a 0 if the version ordering can't be successfully be determined.

A natural language name identifying the plan definition. This name should be usable as an identifier for the module by machine processing applications such as code generation.

The name is not expected to be globally unique. The name should be a simple alphanumeric type name to ensure that it is machine-processing friendly.

Support human navigation and code generation.

A short, descriptive, user-friendly title for the plan definition.

This name does not need to be machine-processing friendly and may contain punctuation, white-space, etc.

An explanatory or alternate title for the plan definition giving additional information about its content.

A high-level category for the plan definition that distinguishes the kinds of systems that would be interested in the plan definition.

The type of PlanDefinition.

The status of this plan definition. Enables tracking the life-cycle of the content.

Allows filtering of plan definitions that are appropriate for use versus not.

See guidance around (not) making local changes to elements here.

The lifecycle status of an artifact.

A Boolean value to indicate that this plan definition is authored for testing purposes (or education/evaluation/marketing) and is not intended to be used for genuine usage.

Allows filtering of plan definitions that are appropriate for use versus not.

Enables experimental content to be developed following the same lifecycle that would be used for a production-level plan definition.

A code, group definition, or canonical reference that describes or identifies the intended subject of the plan definition. Canonical references are allowed to support the definition of protocols for drug and substance quality specifications, and is allowed to reference a MedicinalProductDefinition, SubstanceDefinition, AdministrableProductDefinition, ManufacturedItemDefinition, or PackagedProductDefinition resource.

Note that the choice of canonical for the subject element was introduced in R4B to support pharmaceutical quality use cases. To ensure as much backwards-compatibility as possible, it is recommended to only use the new canonical type with these use cases.

The possible types of subjects for a plan definition (E.g. Patient, Practitioner, Organization, Location, etc.).