This page is part of the FHIR Specification (v3.0.2: STU 3). The current version which supercedes this version is 5.0.0.  For a full list of available versions, see the Directory of published versions 
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FHIR Infrastructure   Work Group | Maturity Level: 1 | Trial Use | Compartments: Patient, Practitioner, RelatedPerson | 
Detailed Descriptions for the elements in the Basic resource.
| Basic | |
| Definition | Basic is used for handling concepts not yet defined in FHIR, narrative-only resources that don't map to an existing resource, and custom resources not appropriate for inclusion in the FHIR specification.  | 
| Control | 1..1 | 
| Requirements | Need some way to safely (without breaking interoperability) allow implementers to exchange content not supported by the initial set of declared resources.  | 
| Alternate Names | Z-resource; Extension-resource; Custom-resource | 
| Summary | true | 
| Basic.identifier | |
| Definition | Identifier assigned to the resource for business purposes, outside the context of FHIR.  | 
| Note | This is a business identifer, not a resource identifier (see discussion) | 
| Control | 0..* | 
| Type | Identifier | 
| Summary | true | 
| Basic.code | |
| Definition | Identifies the 'type' of resource - equivalent to the resource name for other resources.  | 
| Control | 1..1 | 
| Terminology Binding | Basic Resource Types (Example) | 
| Type | CodeableConcept | 
| Is Modifier | true | 
| Requirements | Must be able to distinguish different types of Basic resources.  | 
| Summary | true | 
| Comments | Because resource references will only be able to indicate 'Basic', the type of reference will need to be specified in a Profile identified as part of the resource. Refer to the resource notes section for information on appropriate terminologies for this code. This element is labeled as a modifier because the it defines the meaning of the resource and cannot be ignored.  | 
| Basic.subject | |
| Definition | Identifies the patient, practitioner, device or any other resource that is the "focus" of this resource.  | 
| Control | 0..1 | 
| Type | Reference(Any) | 
| Requirements | Needed for partitioning the resource by Patient.  | 
| Summary | true | 
| Comments | Optional as not all potential resources will have subjects. Resources associated with multiple subjects can handle this via extension.  | 
| Basic.created | |
| Definition | Identifies when the resource was first created.  | 
| Control | 0..1 | 
| Type | date | 
| Requirements | Allows ordering resource instances by time.  | 
| Summary | true | 
| Basic.author | |
| Definition | Indicates who was responsible for creating the resource instance.  | 
| Control | 0..1 | 
| Type | Reference(Practitioner | Patient | RelatedPerson) | 
| Requirements | Needed for partitioning the resource.  | 
| Summary | true |