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Data Reciprocity

Sharing data with the Health Gorilla network enables other authorized participants to access clinically relevant information that supports patient care, regulatory compliance, and interoperability. Contributed data becomes part of the longitudinal patient record and can be retrieved through standard FHIR APIs or Patient360 workflows.

You can submit both structured and unstructured data. All submissions are normalized, deduplicated, and tagged with metadata to ensure records are properly linked, traceable, and queryable. Data availability is governed by consent policies and patient identity matching.

Supported Submission Models

Health Gorilla supports multiple pathways for submitting data into the network. These models accommodate a range of source systems and data types.

  • Submit individual resources using FHIR POST operations
  • Upload structured documents using DocumentReference and Binary
  • Contribute diagnostic results via the Lab Network
  • Use bulk import for high-volume historical data sets
  • Each submission model results in normalized, indexed data associated with the correct patient identity.

FHIR Resource Submission

FHIR POST operations allow you to submit structured clinical data directly into the network. Submissions must use standard resource types and include references to existing or linked patients.

Commonly used resources include:

  • Observation: Laboratory results, vital signs, and measurements
  • Condition: Active problems, historical diagnoses
  • MedicationStatement: Patient-reported or reconciled medications
  • Procedure, Immunization, Encounter: Historical care events and interventions

Resources should use standardized terminologies such as LOINC, SNOMED CT, RxNorm, and ICD-10. Include patient and encounter context wherever applicable to support longitudinal record construction.

Document-Based Submission

Clinical documents such as CCDAs can be uploaded using a DocumentReference resource and a linked Binary payload. These documents may include discharge summaries, care plans, referral notes, or other structured records.

Required fields include:

  • type and category: Document classification and purpose
  • context: Associated encounter or service period date: Time of authorship or finalization meta.source: Source system attribution Provenance: Optional but recommended for audit tracking

Documents are parsed and indexed by Health Gorilla, with references created to the appropriate patient and encounter.

Diagnostic Result Contribution

When submitting orders through the Lab Network, Health Gorilla automatically contributes resulting data back into the network after finalization. This contribution occurs without additional configuration.

Finalized lab and radiology results are posted as Observation resources. Each result includes:

  • Patient and provider attribution
  • Order linkage and test metadata
  • Provenance tags and source indicators

These results are available through FHIR search and Patient360 retrieval and can be queried alongside external data.

Metadata and Attribution

All submitted content must include metadata to ensure it is properly stored, retrieved, and audited. Metadata supports record classification, visibility controls, and data lineage.

Key attributes include:

  • meta.source: Submitting organization
  • meta.tag: Use case, routing category, or classification
  • Provenance: Agent, entity, and activity tracking
  • patient and encounter references: Required for context and linkage

Submissions lacking proper metadata may not be retrievable by downstream systems and may be excluded from certain Patient360 queries.

Compliance and Network Visibility

Contributed data becomes visible to authorized requestors based on standard access controls and patient identity resolution. Retrieval is allowed when:

  • The patient has been enrolled and resolved across endpoints
  • A permitted use case is in effect (e.g., treatment)
  • The user has appropriate OAuth scopes and data access rights
  • Contributed records appear in Patient360 results, federated queries, direct FHIR searches, and bulk exports where permitted.

Summary

Data reciprocity ensures that your organization actively contributes to a shared, interoperable clinical ecosystem. Whether submitting discrete FHIR resources or complete clinical documents, your records are normalized, traceable, and made available to permitted participants. Proper attribution, metadata tagging, and use of standard resource types help maintain data integrity across the Health Gorilla network.