Bulk Data Access IG
4.0.0 - STU 4 International flag

Bulk Data Access IG, published by HL7 International / FHIR Infrastructure. This guide is not an authorized publication; it is the continuous build for version 4.0.0 built by the FHIR (HL7® FHIR® Standard) CI Build. This version is based on the current content of https://github.com/HL7/bulk-data/ and changes regularly. See the Directory of published versions

: FHIR Asynchronous Bulk Interaction Pattern Operation Definition

Page standards status: Trial-use Maturity Level: 5

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{
  "resourceType" : "OperationDefinition",
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  "language" : "en",
  "text" : {
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    "div" : "<div xmlns=\"http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml\"><p class=\"res-header-id\"><b>Generated Narrative: OperationDefinition async</b></p><a name=\"async\"> </a><a name=\"hcasync\"> </a><p>URL: [base]/$async</p><h3>Parameters</h3><table class=\"grid\"><tr><td><b>Use</b></td><td><b>Name</b></td><td><b>Scope</b></td><td><b>Cardinality</b></td><td><b>Type</b></td><td><b>Binding</b></td><td><b>Documentation</b></td></tr><tr><td>IN</td><td>_outputFormat</td><td/><td>0..1</td><td><a href=\"http://hl7.org/fhir/R4/datatypes.html#string\">string</a></td><td/><td><div><p>Support is recommended for a server, optional for a client.</p>\n<p>The format for the generated bulk data files. Defaults to <code>application/fhir+ndjson</code>. Currently, <a href=\"http://ndjson.org/\">NDJSON</a> SHALL be supported, though servers MAY also support other output formats. Servers SHALL support the full content type of <code>application/fhir+ndjson</code> as well as abbreviated representations including <code>application/ndjson</code> and <code>ndjson</code>.</p>\n<p>For request types where the server supports either the FHIR Asynchronous Bulk Interaction Pattern or the <a href=\"https://hl7.org/fhir/async-bundle.html\">Asynchronous Interaction Request Pattern</a>, requests that include the <code>_outputFormat</code> parameter SHALL trigger the FHIR Asynchronous Bulk Interaction Pattern.</p>\n</div></td></tr><tr><td>IN</td><td>_minimumFileSize</td><td/><td>0..1</td><td><a href=\"http://hl7.org/fhir/R4/datatypes.html#positiveInt\">positiveInt</a></td><td/><td><div><p>Support is optional for a server, optional for a client.</p>\n<p>Specifies the minimum size in bytes for generated NDJSON files. The value SHALL be a positive integer. If a server supports this parameter, it SHOULD construct files that meet or exceed this size unless doing so would violate the <code>_maximumFileSize</code> constraint.</p>\n</div></td></tr><tr><td>IN</td><td>_maximumFileSize</td><td/><td>0..1</td><td><a href=\"http://hl7.org/fhir/R4/datatypes.html#positiveInt\">positiveInt</a></td><td/><td><div><p>Support is optional for a server, optional for a client.</p>\n<p>Specifies the maximum size in bytes for generated NDJSON files. The value SHALL be a positive integer and SHALL be greater than <code>_minimumFileSize</code> if both are specified. If a server supports this parameter, it SHALL construct files that do not exceed this size. The server MAY use a lower internal maximum.</p>\n</div></td></tr></table></div>"
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  "url" : "http://hl7.org/fhir/uv/bulkdata/OperationDefinition/async",
  "version" : "4.0.0",
  "name" : "AsynchronousBulkInteractionPattern",
  "title" : "FHIR Asynchronous Bulk Interaction Pattern",
  "status" : "active",
  "kind" : "operation",
  "date" : "2026-04-10",
  "publisher" : "HL7 International / FHIR Infrastructure",
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  ],
  "description" : "Common kick-off request parameters for operations and defined interactions that implement the [FHIR Asynchronous Bulk Interaction Pattern](async.html). This pattern supports asynchronous generation of large FHIR datasets and is triggered by the `Prefer: respond-async` header on the underlying request.",
  "jurisdiction" : [
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