Stream: patient administration WG
Topic: Homeless patient
John Moehrke (Feb 01 2022 at 15:40):
How should a homeless patient be indicated in the Patient resource. an empty .address may simply mean it is not known, how do I indicate I know the patient is homless?
Brian Postlethwaite (Feb 01 2022 at 19:42):
In Australia we defined a profile on address for that.
http://hl7.org.au/fhir/2021Aug/StructureDefinition-au-address.html
And check the non fixed address extension on there too.
We also provided and example for a no fixed address in Melbourne.
This then permits being able to define an area they are in.
Also note that there can be people with no fixed address that aren't homeless too. (e.g. Retirees living in a motor home travelling the country. It's very much a home, just not in one place)
René Spronk (Feb 01 2022 at 20:12):
There's the admin side (as discussed above), there could also be a Condition to capture the social aspect [but I guess you were looking for the administrative aspect]. Note it's rather jurisdiction specific how one deals with addresses for homeless persons, whether they have a registered address at a shelter, etc. In a lot of EU countries you have to have a registered address somewhere (although still some people don't have one). If you're on the road in your motor home, assuming you're a law abiding citizen, you'll probably register at an address of a family member or a friend.
The AU extension 'no fixed address' extension looks good to me..
Brian Postlethwaite (Feb 01 2022 at 20:15):
As noted in the Argonaut stream, there's also the SDOH stuff too which appears more clinical in nature.
Last updated: Apr 12 2022 at 19:14 UTC
