Clinia Complex Types

Clinia augments base primitives with opinionated structures that model healthcare and business concepts. These complex types keep your schemas interoperable while aligning with validation, search, and terminology features across the platform.

Identifier (`identifier`)

Uniquely identifies entities within specific systems.

Example Usage

{
  "patientId": {
    "system": "http://hospital.example.com/patients",
    "value": "MRN-123456",
    "use": "usual",
    "period": {
      "start": "2020-01-01T00:00:00Z"
    }
  }
}

Property	Type	Cardinality	Description
`system`	uri	`0:1`	Namespace that defines uniqueness
`value`	symbol	`0:1`	The actual identifier
`use`	code	`0:1`	Purpose (usual, official, temp, secondary)
`period`	period	`0:1`	When identifier was/is valid

Provide either system+value together or just value for meaningful identification. See field validation cardinality for rule combinations.

Address (`address`)

Postal addresses for physical and mailing locations.

Example Usage

{
  "clinicAddress": {
    "use": "work",
    "type": "physical",
    "text": "123 Medical Center Dr, Suite 200, Boston, MA 02115",
    "line": ["123 Medical Center Dr", "Suite 200"],
    "city": "Boston",
    "state": "MA",
    "postalCode": "02115",
    "country": "US",
    "period": {
      "start": "2020-01-01T00:00:00Z"
    }
  }
}

Property	Type	Cardinality	Description
`use`	code	`0:1`	Purpose (home, work, temp, old)
`type`	code	`0:1`	Physical vs mailing address
`text`	symbol	`0:1`	Complete address string
`line`	array of symbol	`0:*`	Street address components
`city`	symbol	`0:1`	City name
`district`	symbol	`0:1`	District/prefecture
`state`	symbol	`0:1`	State/province
`postalCode`	symbol	`0:1`	Postal/ZIP code
`country`	symbol	`0:1`	Country name
`period`	period	`0:1`	When address was/is valid

HumanName (`humanname`)

Structured representation of human names.

Example Usage

{
  "providerName": {
    "use": "official",
    "text": "Dr. Sarah Elizabeth Wilson, MD",
    "family": "Wilson",
    "given": ["Sarah", "Elizabeth"],
    "prefix": ["Dr."],
    "suffix": ["MD"],
    "period": {
      "start": "2015-01-01T00:00:00Z"
    }
  }
}

Property	Type	Cardinality	Description
`use`	code	`0:1`	Purpose (usual, official, nickname, maiden)
`text`	symbol	`0:1`	Complete display name
`family`	symbol	`0:1`	Family/last name
`given`	array of symbol	`0:*`	Given/first names and middle names
`prefix`	array of symbol	`0:*`	Prefixes (Dr., Prof.)
`suffix`	array of symbol	`0:*`	Suffixes (Jr., MD, PhD)
`period`	period	`0:1`	When the name was/is in use

ContactPoint (`contactpoint`)

Communication details for individuals or organizations.

Example Usage

{
  "phoneNumber": {
    "system": "phone",
    "value": "+1-617-555-0123",
    "use": "work",
    "rank": 1,
    "period": {
      "start": "2020-01-01T00:00:00Z"
    }
  }
}

Property	Type	Cardinality	Description
`system`	code	`0:1`	Communication type (phone, fax, email, url, sms)
`value`	symbol	`0:1`	Actual contact detail
`use`	code	`0:1`	Purpose (home, work, mobile, old)
`rank`	integer	`0:1`	Preference (1 = highest priority)
`period`	period	`0:1`	When contact point was/is valid

Coding (`coding`)

References to concepts in terminology systems.

Example Usage

{
  "diagnosis": {
    "system": "http://snomed.info/sct",
    "version": "2024.03",
    "code": "44054006",
    "display": "Type 2 diabetes mellitus"
  }
}

Property	Type	Cardinality	Description
`system`	uri	`0:1`	Terminology system URL
`version`	symbol	`0:1`	Code system version
`code`	code	`0:1`	Symbol defined by the system
`display`	symbol	`0:1`	Human-readable representation

Bind codings to vocabularies for richer validation. See Vocabulary validation for workflow details.

Reference (`reference`)

Links to other resources within or outside the system.

Example Usage

{
  "practitioner": {
    "reference": "Practitioner/dr-wilson-123",
    "type": "Practitioner",
    "identifier": {
      "system": "http://hospital.example.com/practitioners",
      "value": "PROV-456"
    },
    "display": "Dr. Sarah Wilson, MD"
  }
}

Property	Type	Cardinality	Description
`reference`	symbol	`0:1`	Relative or absolute reference
`type`	uri	`0:1`	Resource type being referenced
`identifier`	identifier	`0:1`	Logical reference when literal unknown
`display`	symbol	`0:1`	Human-readable label

Provide either reference or identifier to keep references resolvable.

Period (`period`)

Time periods with start and end dates.

Example Usage

{
  "employmentPeriod": {
    "start": "2020-01-01T00:00:00Z",
    "end": "2024-12-31T23:59:59Z"
  }
}

Property	Type	Cardinality	Description
`start`	datetime	`0:1`	Beginning of the period (inclusive)
`end`	datetime	`0:1`	End of the period (optional for ongoing)

Attachment (`attachment`)

Content stored in external formats.

Example Usage

{
  "medicalReport": {
    "contentType": "application/pdf",
    "language": "en-US",
    "url": "https://storage.example.com/reports/patient-123-xray.pdf",
    "size": 2048576,
    "title": "Chest X-Ray Report - Patient 123",
    "creation": "2024-08-15T10:30:00Z"
  }
}

Property	Type	Cardinality	Description
`contentType`	code	`0:1`	MIME type
`language`	code	`0:1`	Content language
`url`	url	`0:1`	Location of the content
`size`	integer	`0:1`	Size in bytes
`title`	symbol	`0:1`	Display label
`creation`	datetime	`0:1`	When attachment was created

Best practices

Consistency guidelines

Prefer standard types — Use Clinia complex types (address, humanname, identifier) instead of bespoke objects to stay interoperable.
Terminology binding — Couple coding and code fields with managed vocabularies for consistent semantics.
Identifier hygiene — Establish system URIs and enforce uniqueness with validation rules.

Mix with base types

Complex types coexist with base primitives. For example:

A ContactPoint can include arrays of code and symbol.
Attachment metadata combines code, url, and integer values.
Reference leverages identifier for logical linking.

Design schemas so that complex types express business intent while base types enforce structure.

Base Data Types

Review primitive and composite building blocks that these complex types rely on.

Profiles

See how complex types appear in profile definitions and ingestion.

About Clinia

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Configuring Data Sources

Configuring Partitions

Managing Data

Master Data Management

Terminology

Identity and Access Management

AI Engine

Clinia Complex Types

Identifier (`identifier`)

Address (`address`)

HumanName (`humanname`)

ContactPoint (`contactpoint`)

Coding (`coding`)

Reference (`reference`)

Period (`period`)

Attachment (`attachment`)

Best practices

Consistency guidelines

Mix with base types

Base Data Types

Profiles

​Identifier (identifier)

​Address (address)

​HumanName (humanname)

​ContactPoint (contactpoint)

​Coding (coding)

​Reference (reference)

​Period (period)

​Attachment (attachment)

​Best practices

​Consistency guidelines

​Mix with base types

​Related documentation

Base Data Types

Profiles

Identifier (`identifier`)

Address (`address`)

HumanName (`humanname`)

ContactPoint (`contactpoint`)

Coding (`coding`)

Reference (`reference`)

Period (`period`)

Attachment (`attachment`)

Best practices

Consistency guidelines

Mix with base types

Related documentation