Communication

Communication represents the transmission, receipt, or acknowledgement of information sent from a source to a recipient, such as from one clinician to another, regarding findings, assessments, plans of care, consultative advice, instructions, and educational resources. The HL7 FHIR 4.0 resource Communication defines communication as a conveyance of information from one entity, a sender, to another entity, a receiver. The senders and receivers may be Patients, Practitioners, Care Partners, Organizations, or devices. Established FHIR resources include:

• A reminder or alert delivered to a responsible provider
• A recorded notification from the nurse that a patient's temperature exceeds a value
• A notification to a public health agency of a patient presenting with a communicable disease reportable to the public health agency
• Patient educational material sent by a provider to a patient
• Non-patient specific communication use cases may include:
• A nurse call from a hall bathroom
• Advisory for battery service from a pump

Generally, direct patient counseling, training, or education represents an intervention (Section 4.1.14) or procedure (Section 4.1.19). A time and a date stamp are required.

Note that measure developers need to test measures that use "Communication, Performed" to determine if the sender and recipient attribute information are available. Confirmation regarding receipt of communications requires interoperability.