HRSA's UDS+: Release of FHIR Extension for Patient Age Information
UDS Plus Age Extension - HRSA 2023 Uniform Data System (UDS) Patient Level ... - FHIR
Summary
The US Department of Health and Human Services (HRSA) has released the 'UDS Plus Age Extension,' an FHIR extension for the 2023 Uniform Data System (UDS) Patient Level Submission (PLS). This specification is designed to record a patient's age at a specific time, serving as a critical component in clinical information exchange.
Details
This document details the 'UDS Plus Age Extension,' which is part of the FHIR Implementation Guide (IG) for the HRSA 2023 Uniform Data System (UDS) Patient Level Submission (PLS) (UDS+). This extension is designed to indicate a patient's age at a specific time. It can be applied to existing FHIR elements such as `Patient` and `Encounter`. Technically, the extension utilizes the `Quantity` type to hold the age information. By doing so, it allows for recording not just a date of birth, but the precise age at a specific event time. The specification is currently in 'Trial-use' status and is based on FHIR R4. In healthcare IT, accurate patient age data is crucial for treatment planning and drug dosing; therefore, providing such a standardized extension significantly enhances the accuracy and reliability of data exchange.
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