To search for patient records, you first need to identify organizations that have seen your patient. Then you can request any documents for that patient from each of those organizations.
If you want to know where you can get patient records from, explore a list of active Carequality participants with this search tool.
You can also check out the Carequality test patient data for context on the code examples we provide.
You have two options for finding and obtaining a patient’s record:
- Search for a patient using the Redox Record Locator Service: If you don’t know where the patient is located or if the patient may exists in multiple locations, you can ask Redox to provide a list of possibilities. This is the the most common option since it allows you to identify all of the organizations where a patient’s record may exist.
- Search for a patient with your own location search: If you have a static list of locations you wish to search or know exactly which organizations have records for the patient, you can search those specific organizations or locations directly. Keep in mind that this means you can only search one organization at a time.
Regardless of the patient search option you use, each query contains required metadata fields that identify the requesting user and their organization, specify the purpose of use, and direct the request to the target organization. These fields exist within the Meta section of the query.
Field | Description | Notes |
---|---|---|
Meta.Destinations.ID | A universally unique identifier (UUID) for the destination you wish to search. This ID is different for staging and production environments. Check out the destination ID table further down for specifics. | For most patient searches, this is a Redox destination within record locator service. For document searches, this is a Carequality destination. For responding with information about your patients, this is your own document repository. |
Meta.FacilityCode | The OID of the organization you wish to query. | This isn't necessary for patient searches with record locator service. |
Meta.Extensions.organization-name | The name of the organization running the query. | Generally, this is the name of your organization or the covered entity that you are providing services for. |
Meta.Extensions.sender-organization-id | The organizational OID to identify your organization as the one sending the request. | |
Meta.Extensions.user-id | Contains either the name of the user sending the request or the name of the relevant provider. This should be a human-readable identifier and is required for audit purposes. | The provider’s name should still be populated when an automated process runs the query. For example, a provider may have an automated process triggered after completing a patient visit, in which case, the query runs in the background on the provider’s behalf. |
Meta.Extensions.user-role | Defines the role of the user sending the request. | You must use a SNOMED value for this field. Check out the US Health Information Knowledgebase for a list of available SNOMED values. |
Meta.Extensions.purpose-of-use | The purpose of use for this request (e.g., Treatment). | You must qualify for a "Treatment" purpose of use when using digital record retrieval. |
You can see how the Meta fields are populated in this example:
Example: Search for a patient
You must populate any test requests with the appropriate destination ID in the Meta.Destinations array based on the environment and type of requests:
Request purpose | Staging ID | Production ID |
---|---|---|
Query for/create/update/delete an organization | a07afe3b-d247-4415-827f-6837707e1b8b | 5d0fd248-6c52-4ad9-b907-ae10bf2dcc39 |
Search for a patient with record locator service | adf917b5-1496-4241-87e2-ed20434b1fdb | 97f2dc1d-c71b-43a7-a436-9b789d44c804 |
Search for a patient within a specific organization | 1ca254a8-8d42-4593-abb4-b21399d9de57 | 6391b961-55ae-430b-a789-cf575f03fca0 |
Search for a clinical summary/document | ec745338-8849-43ad-a7ce-4bc5bf1d8b89 | 628cbf79-1156-4923-b9d0-285906160ed6 |
Save patient details and documents to your repository | This is specific to your org—you can find the correct ID in the Redox Access wizard. | This is specific to your org—you can find the correct ID in the Redox Access wizard. |
This popular option relies on Redox Record Locator Service to do the heavy lifting for you. Record locator service looks for your patient's record at Carequality participant facilities within the same areas as your organization and the patient's home address (if supplied). Record locator service also leverages results from other Redox client searches so we can go beyond the search area, if possible.
- If you already have the network patient ID, you can skip to step 3. If you don't have the network patient ID, using Postman or curl, send a PatientSearch.Query request with the patient's demographics to the Redox gateway (2.16.840.1.113883.3.6147.458.2).
Example: Search for a patient
- Record locator services takes the patient's demographics and returns the network patient ID.
- Using Postman or curl, send a PatientSearch.LocationQuery request with the network patient ID to the record locator destination (adf917b5-1496-4241-87e2-ed20434b1fdb for staging requests; 97f2dc1d-c71b-43a7-a436-9b789d44c804 for production requests).
Example: Search for locations
- The response returns a list of locations where the patient exists—along with the patient’s localized IDs at each location, which we validate.
Example: Successful response for location search
The Meta.Extensions.task-status.string field contains a status of either Active or Success.
Status | Definition | Results |
---|---|---|
Active | The process is asynchronously collecting locations. | The Patients array populates with any partial results as they become available. |
Success | The process has completed and all possible locations were found. | Any available results have been returned. If the Patients array is empty, it means no patients were found. |
The response waits up to 10 seconds to reach a Success state. If unable to reach Success in that time, the response retains an Active status. You can retry the exact request repeatedly until it reaches a Success state.
If you know exactly where a patient was seen previously, you can search for a patient at an individual organization. If you want to search multiple organizations, you must search them one at a time.
- If you already have an organization and its respective OID to search, you can skip to step 4. If you don’t have an OID for the organization you want to search, send the Organization.Query request. With this query, you search by ZIP code radius or organization name.
Example: Search for organizations
- If the request is successful, you receive a synchronous Organization.QueryResponse with the relevant organization results.
Example: Successful response for organization search
- From the results list, you can select one or all of these organizations to then run a patient search.
- Now that you have an organization to search, send the PatientSearch.Query request with the patient's demographics to see if that organization has your patient’s records. You must use the organization’s OID in each request.Where to find the OID
Data model example: Search for a patient within one organization
- If your search matches a patient at the given organization, the response returns the patient’s identifier and additional details.If a patient isn’t found, the response returns an empty array.
Example: Successful response for a patient search within one organization
- Repeat steps 4 and 5 for every organization you want to search.