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Location

Overview​

The Location resource provides details and position information for physical places where healthcare services are provided. This includes hospitals, clinics, rooms, buildings, and other healthcare facilities.

Important: Always validate Location resource support and available operations by retrieving the current CapabilityStatement from /metadata before implementing integrations.

Resource Schema​

The Location resource follows the HL7 FHIR R4 Location specification.

Key elements include:

  • identifier - Unique code or number identifying the location
  • status - Active, suspended, inactive
  • operationalStatus - Operational status of the location
  • name - Name of the location
  • alias - Alternative names for the location
  • description - Additional details about the location
  • mode - Instance or kind of location
  • type - Type of function performed at location
  • telecom - Contact details for the location
  • address - Physical location address
  • physicalType - Physical form of the location
  • position - Absolute geographic location
  • managingOrganization - Organization responsible for location
  • partOf - Another location this location is part of
  • hoursOfOperation - Operating hours for the location
  • availabilityExceptions - Description of availability exceptions
  • endpoint - Technical endpoints for the location

Example Location Resource​

{
  "resourceType": "Location",
  "id": "12345",
  "identifier": [{
    "use": "usual",
    "system": "http://hospital.example.org/locations",
    "value": "ROOM-101"
  }],
  "status": "active",
  "name": "Emergency Room 101",
  "alias": ["ER 101", "Emergency Bay 1"],
  "description": "Emergency treatment room with cardiac monitoring",
  "mode": "instance",
  "type": [{
    "coding": [{
      "system": "http://terminology.hl7.org/CodeSystem/v3-RoleCode",
      "code": "ER",
      "display": "Emergency room"
    }]
  }],
  "telecom": [{
    "system": "phone",
    "value": "+1-555-123-4567",
    "use": "work"
  }],
  "address": {
    "use": "work",
    "line": ["123 Hospital Drive", "Emergency Department"],
    "city": "Medical City",
    "state": "CA",
    "postalCode": "12345",
    "country": "US"
  },
  "physicalType": {
    "coding": [{
      "system": "http://terminology.hl7.org/CodeSystem/location-physical-type",
      "code": "ro",
      "display": "Room"
    }]
  },
  "managingOrganization": {
    "reference": "Organization/hospital-123"
  },
  "partOf": {
    "reference": "Location/emergency-dept"
  }
}

Supported Profiles​

This API supports the following FHIR profiles:

Operations​

The General Purpose FHIR R4 Location resource supports the following standard operations. However, support varies by the targeted CareRecord or solution.

CareRecord / SolutionCreateReadUpdateSearch
GEHRIMED-Yes-Yes
myAvatarYesYesYesYes
myEvolv-Yes-Yes
myUnity-Yes-Yes
Referral Manager----
info

Not all Netsmart solutions support Location search. See supported operations table above and consult your target solution's documentation for more information.

This resource supports a combination of standard and custom search parameters in addition to the common parameters.

Standard Parameters​

NameTypeDescription
address-statestringA state specified in an address
address-citystringA city specified in an address
address-postalcodestringA postal code specified in an address
identifiertokenAn identifier for the location
namestringA portion of the location's name or alias
organizationreferenceSearches for locations that are managed by the provided organization
partofreferenceA location of which this location is a part

Custom Parameters​

NameTypeDescription
enddateDeprecated. Use date parameter with le prefix instead.
practitionerreferenceThe practitioner ID to be used for the search.
startdateDeprecated. Use date parameter with ge prefix instead.

Search Examples​

The POST method is recommended as it keeps health information out of the URL.

Search Locations by city
curl -X POST https://fhir.netsmartcloud.com/v4/Location/_search \
    -H "Authorization: {Bearer Token}" \
    -H "Accept: application/fhir+json" \
    -H "Content-Type: application/x-form-urlencoded" \
    -d "address-city=Kansas City" \

Extended Operations​

In addition to the standard operations described above, we have also implemented extended operations on the Location resource. These extended operations are not intended for CareRecord use as these operations bypass the CareRecords to communicate with FHIR directly.

Create Relay ($create-relay)​

Experimental

This is an experimental operation within CareConnect that is not yet supported by any Netsmart CareRecord or other solution.

The Resource Create Relay operation is used to relay requests to another FHIR server.

Read Relay ($read-relay)​

Experimental

This is an experimental operation within CareConnect that is not yet supported by any Netsmart CareRecord or other solution.

The Resource Read Relay operation is used to relay requests to another FHIR server.

Update Relay ($update-relay)​

Experimental

This is an experimental operation within CareConnect that is not yet supported by any Netsmart CareRecord or other solution.

The Resource Update Relay operation is used to relay requests to another FHIR server.

Search Relay ($search-relay)​

Experimental

This is an experimental operation within CareConnect that is not yet supported by any Netsmart CareRecord or other solution.

The Resource Search Relay operation is used to relay requests to another FHIR server.

Error Handling​

For information about error responses when working with Location resources, see Common Errors.

Common Location-related errors include:

  • Invalid location identifiers
  • Unsupported location types or physical types
  • Malformed address information
  • Invalid organization or parent location references

Integration Patterns​

Facility Directory​

Search for healthcare facilities:

# Find locations by name
curl -X GET "https://fhir.netsmartcloud.com/v4/Location?name=emergency" \
    -H "Authorization: Bearer {token}" \
    -H "Accept: application/fhir+json"

Find locations by geographic criteria:

# Search by city and state
curl -X GET "https://fhir.netsmartcloud.com/v4/Location?address-city=Medical City&address-state=CA" \
    -H "Authorization: Bearer {token}" \
    -H "Accept: application/fhir+json"

Organizational Hierarchy​

Track location relationships:

# Get locations managed by organization
curl -X GET "https://fhir.netsmartcloud.com/v4/Location?organization=Organization/hospital-123" \
    -H "Authorization: Bearer {token}" \
    -H "Accept: application/fhir+json"

Provider Networks​

Find locations associated with practitioners:

# Get locations by practitioner
curl -X GET "https://fhir.netsmartcloud.com/v4/Location?practitioner=Practitioner/67890" \
    -H "Authorization: Bearer {token}" \
    -H "Accept: application/fhir+json"

Relationships to Other Resources​

The Location resource connects to many healthcare workflow resources:

Support​

For questions about Location resource implementation or facility directory integration, contact Netsmart support through your designated support channels.