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Lab orders and imaging results in FHIR follow a request-and-report pattern. A ServiceRequest represents the order, and a DiagnosticReport captures the results. Individual measurements are stored as Observation resources linked to the report.
Result
| ServiceRequest |
| Basic Metabolic Panel |
| Specimen |
| Whole Blood |
| Collected: 2020-01-01T14:12 |
| Observation |
| Glucose in Blood |
| 4.0 mmol/L |
| Observation |
| Urea nitrogen in Blood |
Key Resources
| Resource |
Description |
ServiceRequest |
A record of an order for services such as diagnostic investigations, treatments, or operations to be performed. |
DiagnosticReport |
The findings and interpretations of diagnostic tests performed on a patient. |
Specimen |
A record of a sample to be used for analysis. |
Observation |
A structured representation of measurements and simple assertions made about a Patient. |
Key Code Systems
Workflow Guides
Configuration
Catalog and coding setup for diagnostic ordering is covered under Clinical Configuration:
- Diagnostic Catalog — defining test menus, panels, specimen requirements, and administrative resources (
ObservationDefinition, SpecimenDefinition, ActivityDefinition, PlanDefinition)
- Observation Reference Ranges — configuring reference, critical, and absolute value ranges for observations
- LOINC Codes — standardized coding for laboratory, clinical, and imaging observations.
Integrations
Medplum is provider-agnostic and supports connecting to lab and imaging providers of all types. The Health Gorilla integration is the most commonly used, providing:
For organizations connecting directly to a performing lab, see the HL7 Interface and On-Prem Agent docs.