HL7 Europe Patient Summary, published by HL7 Europe. This guide is not an authorized publication; it is the continuous build for version 1.0.0-ci-build built by the FHIR (HL7® FHIR® Standard) CI Build. This version is based on the current content of https://github.com/hl7-eu/eps/ and changes regularly. See the Directory of published versions

Obligations

Overview

Obligations are a means offered by HL7 FHIR to specify functional capabilities that defined actors MAY, SHOULD, or SHALL apply to the data elements specified by the profiles.

In FHIR, obligations are defined in the conformance layer and associated with actors. They are typically expressed as constraints on profile elements, tied to named actors, and documented alongside the profiles that declare them. Relevant FHIR conformance resources commonly used when describing obligations and actors include ActorDefinition, CapabilityStatement, and ImplementationGuide. See also the FHIR obligation extension and obligation code value set for the formal definition of obligation statements.

This page describes also the actors that have been defined for specifying the obligations.

Actors

Three actors have been specified:

The first is the actor creating the report (the authoring/producer system). The second actor is the system maintaining a copy of the report received, to store and make it available for consumers (repository/custodian). The last actor is the system using the report received or retrieved (consumer/reader).

These align with the IPS actors as described in the IPS guidance. The IPS actors are (definitions in the IPS guide):

• Creator (IPS): a system which produces/assembles/creates an IPS document. See ActorDefinition-Creator.
• Consumer (IPS): a system that receives an IPS document and uses its content. See ActorDefinition-Consumer.
• Server (IPS): a FHIR server acting as an IPS Creator by providing conformant IPS documents in response to FHIR API requests. See ActorDefinition-Server.

In IPS, obligations are always tied to an actor and accompany all mustSupport elements, specifying the structured expectations for that actor (e.g., what the Creator must populate and what the Consumer must process). Obligations can differ between Creator and Consumer, and IPS highlights that obligations should not conflict with regional laws and policies.

Obligations List

Obligation List

References:

• HL7 FHIR obligation extension and obligation code value set.
• HL7 FHIR conformance documentation for ActorDefinition, CapabilityStatement, and ImplementationGuide.
• IPS implementation guidance on actors and obligations: Creator (IPS), Consumer (IPS), Server (IPS).