EpisodeOfCare | Medplum

The EpisodeOfCare Resource contains information about an association of a Patient with a Healthcare Provider for a period of time under which related healthcare activities may occur.

In many cases, this represents a period of time where the Healthcare Provider has some level of responsibility for the care of the patient regarding a specific condition or problem, even if not currently participating in an encounter.

These resources are typically known in existing systems as:

Multiple Organizations and Transfer of Care

Many organizations can be involved in an EpisodeOfCare; however each organization will have its own EpisodeOfCare resource instance that tracks its responsibility with the patient.

When an Organization completes their involvement with the patient and transfers care to another Organization. This is often in the form of a referral to another Organization (or Organizations).

When an incoming referral is received a new EpisodeOfCare may be created for this organization. The initial step(s) in the intake workflow for the referral often involve some form of assessment(s), eligibility, capacity, care levels, which could take some time.

Once the intake process is completed and the patient is accepted, a CarePlan is often created.

The primary difference between the EpisodeOfCare and the Encounter is that the Encounter records the details of an activity directly relating to the patient, while the EpisodeOfCare is the container that can link a series of Encounters together for problems/issues.

The Example scenarios below give some good examples as to when you might want to be using an EpisodeOfCare.

This difference is a similar difference between the EpisodeOfCare and a CarePlan. The EpisodeOfCare is a tracking resource, rather than a planning resource.

The EpisodeOfCare usually exists before the CarePlan. You don't need a CarePlan to use an EpisodeOfCare.

Systems collect a coherent group of activities (such as encounters) related to a patient's health condition or problem often referred to as a Care Episode. Information about an episode is often shared across systems, and in some cases organizational and disciplinary boundaries. An EpisodeOfCare contains details about the purpose of the care and can exist without any activities.

The minimal information that would be required in an episode of care would be a patient, organization and a reason for the ongoing association. Other reasons for creating an EpisodeOfCare could be for tracking the details required for government reporting or billing.

Expected Implementations