Representing Surgical Data (Surgical Cases) in FHIR

We are currently attempting to load surgical procedure data into FHIR and running into some questions about where best to model surgical cases as they are often found in EHRs.

Surgical cases are treated a bit like a hierarchical level in between an encounter and a procedure in that these surgical cases can group procedures performed in a scheduled surgical time window to better associate providers involved in the surgery (anesthesiologists, surgeons) as well as surgical-specific times (cut-to-close, wheels-in/wheels-out) and variables (antibiotic use).

Can anyone advise on how surgical data like this is modeled in FHIR? We are not seeing obvious areas in the concepts to place surgical details while maintaining procedure and encounters as intended.

The HL7 Patient Care work group has discussed this in the past - evaluating several possible options (EpisodeOfCare, Procedure, and Encounter). I solicited feedback from the implementer community as well. We have not yet landed on any guidance, but you can review past discussions, contribute to the discussion, and/or watch for updates via the following: