Practitioner

A healthcare provider authorized to deliver medical services. Extends Person with medical specialties, practice status, and patient acceptance indicators.

Overview

Practitioner represents any individual who provides healthcare services - physicians, nurses, pharmacists, therapists, and other clinical professionals. The entity inherits demographic and contact information from Person while adding healthcare-specific attributes: medical specialties, practice status, and whether the practitioner is accepting new patients. Practitioners are linked to facilities through PractitionerFacilityAffiliation and credentialed through PractitionerLicense and PractitionerQualification.

Key Concepts

Person Inheritance

Practitioner inherits from Person:

givenName, familyName, middleName - Legal name
birthDate - Date of birth
gender - Gender identity via Gender
telecoms - Contact points (phone, email) via ContactPoint
address - Addresses via PostalAddress
identifier - Official IDs (NPI, RPPS) via Identifier

Medical Specialties

The specialties array references HealthReferencePractitionerSpecialty:

A practitioner may have multiple specialties
Primary specialty is typically listed first
Subspecialties can be included
Used for referral routing and provider search

Common Specialties

General Practice, Internal Medicine, Family Medicine
Cardiology, Neurology, Oncology
Orthopedics, General Surgery
Pediatrics, OB/GYN

Practice Status

The status field tracks the practitioner's current ability to practice:

Status	Meaning	Can Practice?
`active`	Currently practicing	Yes
`inactive`	Not currently practicing	No
`suspended`	Temporarily barred	No
`retired`	Permanently stopped	No

Patient Acceptance

The acceptingNewPatients boolean indicates:

true - Currently taking new patients
false - Panel is closed or limited availability

Use Cases

Provider Directory

For patient-facing search:

Filter practitioners by specialty
Show only active status providers
Filter by acceptingNewPatients: true
Display contact information from telecoms
Link to affiliated facilities

Referral Management

When routing referrals:

Identify required specialty for patient need
Find practitioners with matching specialty
Check status is active
Verify accepting new patients
Route referral to appropriate provider

Care Team Assignment

When assigning care teams:

Select practitioners by specialty and facility
Assign to patient encounters
Document role in care team
Enable care team communication

Credentialing Verification

When verifying providers:

Check practitioner status is active
Query associated licenses for validity
Verify qualifications and board certifications
Confirm facility privileges

Scheduling

For appointment booking:

Display practitioners with relevant specialty
Filter by accepting new patients
Check availability at affiliated facilities
Book appointment with selected provider

Related Entities

Entity	Relationship	Description
Person	Extends	Base person demographic information
HealthReferencePractitionerSpecialty	References many	Medical specialties
PractitionerLicense	Has many	Professional licenses by jurisdiction
PractitionerQualification	Has many	Degrees, certifications, fellowships
PractitionerFacilityAffiliation	Has many	Facility and department assignments
Patient	Referenced by	Patients with this practitioner as GP
Encounter	Referenced by	Clinical encounters involving this practitioner

Enums

status

Value	Description
`active`	Practitioner is currently practicing and authorized to provide care
`inactive`	Practitioner is not currently practicing (leave, sabbatical, etc.)
`suspended`	Practitioner's practice privileges are temporarily suspended
`retired`	Practitioner has permanently retired from clinical practice

Extends: Person

39 properties

Schema

Properties

Includes inherited properties from Person

Property	Type	Mode	Description	Required	Source
prefix	string	stored	Title or honorific (Mr., Mrs., Ms., Dr., Prof., etc.) Example: `"Dr."`	Optional	Person
givenName	string	stored	First name or given name Example: `"John"`	Required	Person
middleName	string	stored	Middle name(s) Example: `"Michael"`	Optional	Person
familyName	string	stored	Last name or family name Example: `"Doe"`	Required	Person
suffix	string	stored	Name suffix (Jr., Sr., III, PhD, MD, etc.) Example: `"Jr."`	Optional	Person
preferredName	string	stored	Name the person prefers to be called Example: `"Johnny"`	Optional	Person
status	string	enum	Current status Values: `active, inactive, deceased` Example: `"active"`	Optional	Person
gender	Gender	stored	Gender identity (reference to Gender entity)	Optional	Person
maritalStatus	MaritalStatus	stored	Marital status (reference to MaritalStatus entity)	Optional	Person
birthDate	Date	stored	Date of birth Example: `"1990-01-15"`	Optional	Person
nationality	Country[]	stored	Nationality or citizenship - supports multiple nationalities (reference to Country entity)	Optional	Person
languages	LanguageProficiency[]	stored	Languages spoken by the person with proficiency levels	Optional	Person
telecoms	ContactPoint[]	stored	Contact points - phone numbers, emails, etc.	Optional	Person
onlinePresence	OnlinePresence[]	stored	Online profiles and social media	Optional	Person
address	PostalAddress[]	stored	Physical addresses	Optional	Person
photoUrl	string	stored	URL to person's photograph or avatar Example: `"https://example.com/photos/person.jpg"`	Optional	Person
identifier	Identifier[]	stored	Official identifiers - national ID, passport, driver's license, etc.	Optional	Person
metadata	object	stored	Additional metadata for extensibility	Optional	Person
specialties	HealthReferencePractitionerSpecialty[]	stored	Medical specialties and areas of practice	Optional	Practitioner
status	string	stored	Current practice status Values: `active, inactive, suspended, retired` Example: `"active"`	Required	Practitioner
acceptingNewPatients	boolean	stored	Whether currently accepting new patients Example: `true`	Optional	Practitioner

Examples

Example 1

{
  "@type": "Practitioner",
  "givenName": "Michael",
  "familyName": "Chen",
  "birthDate": "1975-03-15",
  "gender": {
    "@type": "Gender",
    "code": "M",
    "label": "Male"
  },
  "telecoms": [
    {
      "@type": "ContactPoint",
      "system": "phone",
      "value": "+1-555-0100",
      "use": "work"
    },
    {
      "@type": "ContactPoint",
      "system": "email",
      "value": "michael.chen@hospital.com",
      "use": "work"
    }
  ],
  "specialties": [
    {
      "@type": "HealthReferencePractitionerSpecialty",
      "code": "CARDIO",
      "label": "Cardiology",
      "category": "medical"
    }
  ],
  "status": "active",
  "acceptingNewPatients": true
}

Example 2

{
  "@type": "Practitioner",
  "givenName": "Emily",
  "familyName": "Davis",
  "birthDate": "1982-08-22",
  "gender": {
    "@type": "Gender",
    "code": "F",
    "label": "Female"
  },
  "telecoms": [
    {
      "@type": "ContactPoint",
      "system": "phone",
      "value": "+1-555-0200",
      "use": "work"
    }
  ],
  "specialties": [
    {
      "@type": "HealthReferencePractitionerSpecialty",
      "code": "PEDS",
      "label": "Pediatrics",
      "category": "primary-care"
    }
  ],
  "status": "active",
  "acceptingNewPatients": false
}

Example 3

{
  "@type": "Practitioner",
  "givenName": "Sarah",
  "familyName": "Johnson",
  "birthDate": "1990-04-12",
  "gender": {
    "@type": "Gender",
    "code": "F",
    "label": "Female"
  },
  "telecoms": [
    {
      "@type": "ContactPoint",
      "system": "email",
      "value": "sarah.johnson@hospital.com",
      "use": "work"
    }
  ],
  "status": "active",
  "acceptingNewPatients": true
}