Mandatory and Must Support Data Elements

Each profile description includes Mandatory and Must Support elements.

Mandatory

In order to be compliant, when an element is mandatory (min=1), the data is expected to always be present - i.e. SHALL be present. Figure 1 below shows how Mandatory elements are presented in the Snapshot View.

Figure 1: Mandatory Elements

Must Support

Elements marked with an S must be supported. While the definition of Must Support is quite general, this implementation guide defines it to mean that provider SHOULD populate these elements where possible, and consumer systems SHOULD act on this information if provided.

If the data does not exist or it is currently technically impossible to populate a Must Support element then you are not required to populate the element. However, it would be expected that in future iterations the system does provide the necessary information.

Depending on the scenario certain Must Support elements may NOT need to be populated. An example would be specialty, if a practitioner does not have one then it does not need to be populated but the element must be supported as other practitioners may have a specialty.

Organization Example

In the case of the Oganization.active element, Must Support would mean, for example:

• A provider system would be expected to provide the relevant indicator to show if the organisation is still active.
• A consuming system would be expected to act on this information and not include an organisation marked as inactive within a list of active organisations.

Figure 2 below shows how Must Support elements are presented in the Snapshot View.

Figure 2: Must Support Elements