IHE FormatCode Vocabulary
1.5.0 - normative

IHE FormatCode Vocabulary, published by Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise (IHE). This guide is not an authorized publication; it is the continuous build for version 1.5.0 built by the FHIR (HL7® FHIR® Standard) CI Build. This version is based on the current content of https://github.com/IHE/FormatCode/ and changes regularly. See the Directory of published versions

## FormatCode Home Page

Official URL: https://profiles.ihe.net/fhir/ihe.formatcode.fhir/ImplementationGuide/ihe.formatcode.fhir | Version: 1.5.0
Active as of 2026-02-25 | Computable Name: IHE_FORMATCODE

This Implementation Guide publishes the IHE vocabulary for FormatCode and the IHE managed ValueSet for FormatCode. Given that the FormatCode is contributed to by many IHE domains, this IG is dedicated to the publication and management of the FormatCode vocabulary.

### Technical Overview

FormatCode is a metadata element for identifying the technical format that a document follows. This is related to mimeType, but is more specific to the content requirements than the encoding requirement. Therefore a document following a FormatCode may have many mimeType encodings. The FormatCode is also related to the document type (e.g. LOINC document type), but is more specific to the requirements (constraints) of the content.

The main sections of this IG are:

- Background - provides more detail on what a FormatCode is and how they are maintained
- The IHE defined Codes - the definition of the codes defined by IHE for use in FormatCode
- The IHE defined ValueSet - the valueset of codes for FormatCode use.

### Download

- this entire guide
- The source code for this Implementation Guide can be found on IHE GitHub repository for FormatCode

#### Cross Version Analysis

This is an R4 IG. None of the features it uses are changed in R4B, so it can be used as is with R4B systems. Packages for both R4 (ihe.formatcode.fhir.r4) and R4B (ihe.formatcode.fhir.r4b) are available.

#### Dependency Table

IG | Package | FHIR | Comment
--- | --- | --- | ---
IHE FormatCode Vocabulary | ihe.formatcode.fhir#1.5.0 | R4 |
HL7 Terminology (THO) | hl7.terminology.r4#7.1.0 | R4 | Automatically added as a dependency - all IGs depend on HL7 Terminology
FHIR Extensions Pack | hl7.fhir.uv.extensions.r4#5.2.0 | R4 |
FHIR Tooling Extensions IG | hl7.fhir.uv.tools.r4#0.9.0 | R4 | for example references

Package hl7.fhir.uv.extensions.r4#5.2.0 This IG defines the global extensions - the ones defined for everyone. These extensions are always in scope wherever FHIR is being used (built Mon, Feb 10, 2025 21:45+1100+11:00)

Package hl7.fhir.uv.tools.r4#0.9.0 This IG defines the extensions that the tools use internally. Some of these extensions are content that are being evaluated for elevation into the main spec, and others are tooling concerns (built Tue, Dec 16, 2025 23:18+1100+11:00)

#### IP Statements

This publication includes IP covered under the following statements.

- Some content from IHE® Copyright © 2015 IHE International, Inc .
  Show Usage
  - IHE Format Code set for use with Document Sharing: IHE_FormatCode_vs
- This material derives from the HL7 Terminology (THO). THO is copyright ©1989+ Health Level Seven International and is made available under the CC0 designation. For more licensing information see: https://terminology.hl7.org/license.html
  Show Usage
  - Provenance participant type: Bundle/history-IHE-formatcode.codesystem and Bundle/history-IHE-formatcode.valueset
  - ActReason: Bundle/history-IHE-formatcode.codesystem and Bundle/history-IHE-formatcode.valueset
  - DataOperation: Bundle/history-IHE-formatcode.codesystem and Bundle/history-IHE-formatcode.valueset
  - HL7 Document Format Codes: IHE_FormatCode_codesystem and IHE_FormatCode_vs

#### Globals

There are no Global profiles defined