Apologies if this has been dealt with before but I can’t find a definitive answer of how in FHIR release 4 the ServiceRequest resource a Referral and an Order (old STU3 ProcedureRequest) are distinguished apart?
I am having some debate about this matter revolving around the servicerequest.intent attribute and servicerequest.catagory.
I look forward to your guidance.
You can look at the service being ordered - i.e. ServiceRequest.code. However, the reality is that in many cases, there isn’t a firm boundary. If you’re asking someone else to perform a surgery, is that a procedure request or a referral? Turns out that the answer varies by organization. So - if you care - you’ll need to find out what your own organization’s rules are (could be influenced by who’s asking, what they’re asking for, and who’s being asked to do it).
So not a clear “silver bullet” answer that we should set particular attributes to particular values to distinguish between the two. It’s more “fuzzy logic” that all depends on who’s asking, what they’re asking for, and who’s being asked to do it.
Right - because there’s no clear definition of the boundary that’s consistent across organizations and processes.
Agree with the fuzzy boundaries. However, if a source system wishes to convey their classification, referral could be conveyed as a category. That wouldn’t be a universal truth, just an option for how that system and/or organization identifies referrals.