Address

When needed in bilingual settings, an address MAY repeat using the standard HL7 extension for language.Note the HL7 specification points to the ‘text’ element as the most important element ‘to define what is printed on the envelope.For this purpose, as it is of the FHIR datatype ‘string’, it may contain some special characters like a carriage return.

It is RECOMMENDED to also use the available elements to model the address in a structured way. (These are available in the BeAddress profile in this guide as also already used in the Patient resource and others.)

Note: if it is needed to express the same address in different languages: the entire Address element SHALL repeat with each time the language extension on its highest level within Address. This is primarily meant for use cases that actually involve addresses that exist in multiple languages (e.g. in the bilingual environment of Brussels-Capital Region) (also available in the BeAddress profile)

Special remarks for KMEHR users:
Note when Address.use and Address.type are used they SHALL use the FHIR defined valuesets as per their required binding level in the FHIR specification. In a KMEHR address, the use was defined by CD-ADDRESS but those values can be found in the FHIR valueset. Cfr. table infra.

Note there is not a specific FHIR value for care address – it might be defined in a future iteration or the FHIR ‘temp’ value can be used. In KMEHR, an address might be expressed using free text or a totally structured approach where the streetname and housenumber are put in separate fields. The structural approach is RECOMMENDED in FHIR using the streetname/number/box HL7 extensions defined in BeAddress.

Note the FHIR address also allows to optionally define whether the address is a physical, postal or ‘both’ address using the Address.type field.

KMEHR CD-ADDRESS	FHIR: http://hl7.org/fhir/ValueSet/address-use
careaddress	N/A, use value ‘temp.’ Also RECOMMENDED to add a ‘period.’ Please note when needed to express the availablity of a Patient at home (e.g. only Wednesdays), another solution will be defined in a future IG.
home	home
other	N/A, use value ‘temp.’ Also RECOMMENDED to add a ‘period’
vacation	N/A, use value ‘temp.’ Also RECOMMENDED to add a ‘period’
work	work
N/A	old (RECOMMENDED to also use ‘period’ when using this)
N/A	billing
N/A	temp (RECOMMENDED to also use ‘period’ when using this)