[First a forum meta-comment: it is not clear from the forum descriptions whether mapping questions belong in Implementers or CDM Builders. People seem to ask ETL questions both.]
We are in the guts of analyzing our EHR data for mapping and working on encounters. Our care is delivered 99% in the outpatient setting with a very small inpatient component. We have the following types of ambulatory encounters:
| ENCOUNTER_CATEGORY | ENCOUNTER_TYPE_DSC |
|---|---|
| Ambulatory Encounter | Office Visit |
| Ambulatory Encounter | Appointment |
| Ambulatory Encounter | Blood Draw |
| Ambulatory Encounter | Infusion |
| Ambulatory Encounter | Hospital Encounter |
| Ambulatory Encounter | Ancillary Procedure |
| Ambulatory Encounter | Nurse Only |
| Ambulatory Encounter | Telemedicine |
| Ambulatory Encounter | Social Work |
| Ambulatory Encounter | Telemedicine - audio only |
| Ambulatory Encounter | Nutrition |
| Ambulatory Encounter | Treatment |
| Ambulatory Encounter | Procedure visit |
| Ambulatory Encounter | Immunization |
| Ambulatory Encounter | Evaluation |
The VISIT-OCCURRENCE documentation seems to say these would all get the visit_concept_id of Outpatient Visit.
Some of these encounter types are important to oncology research. Nutrition and social work visits can indicate adverse events during treatment. Infusion and blood draw visits are also important. But there are no standard concepts in the Visit domain for these encounter types. (there’s a poor match for Infusion 38004228). Should we care about this at the VISIT_OCCURRENCE level, or do we map everything to Outpatient Visit and that detail lives at the procedure level?