Endpoint — detail: service connectivity
Standardised declaration of a technical service entry point: REST, FHIR messaging, Direct SMTP, DICOM WADO-RS. Core of federated healthcare directories.
Role of Endpoint
Endpoint publishes where and how to technically reach a service. Referenced by Organization, Location, HealthcareService, PractitionerRole to assemble an authoritative directory exposed to third-party apps (SMART on FHIR, HIE sharing).
Key fields
| Field | Cardinality | Role |
|---|---|---|
status | 1..1 | active | suspended | error | off | entered-in-error | test. |
connectionType | 1..* | Supported protocol(s). In R5, now multi-cardinality for polyglot services. |
name | 0..1 | Human name. |
managingOrganization | 0..1 | Responsible organisation. |
payloadType | 0..* | Accepted payload types (any, FHIR Patient, IHE XDR). |
payloadMimeType | 0..* | Accepted MIME types. |
address | 1..1 | Actual URL or URI of the service. |
connectionType: supported protocols
Codes from the endpoint-connection-type CodeSystem:
hl7-fhir-rest— FHIR REST API.hl7-fhir-msg— FHIR messaging (Bundle MessageHeader).ihe-xcpd,ihe-xca,ihe-xdr,ihe-xds— IHE profiles.dicom-qido-rs,dicom-stow-rs,dicom-wado-rs— DICOMweb.direct-project— Direct secure email.secure-email— SMTPS.
Example: EHR REST endpoint
{
"resourceType": "Endpoint",
"id": "ehr-acme-fhir-rest",
"status": "active",
"connectionType": [{
"system": "http://terminology.hl7.org/CodeSystem/endpoint-connection-type",
"code": "hl7-fhir-rest",
"display": "HL7 FHIR REST"
}],
"name": "ACME Healthcare FHIR R5 endpoint",
"managingOrganization": { "reference": "Organization/acme-healthcare" },
"contact": [{
"system": "email",
"value": "fhir-support@acme-health.example.com"
}],
"period": { "start": "2024-01-01" },
"payloadType": [{
"coding": [{
"system": "http://terminology.hl7.org/CodeSystem/endpoint-payload-type",
"code": "any"
}]
}],
"payloadMimeType": ["application/fhir+json", "application/fhir+xml"],
"address": "https://fhir.acme-health.example.com/R5"
}Common pitfalls
- Schema-less address — always prefix (https://, mailto:, dicom://).
- Ambiguous connectionType — a FHIR REST endpoint must use
hl7-fhir-rest, notsecure-email. - Stale status — an
activeendpoint that is down breaks client apps. Honourerrorstatus on incidents. - No SecurityEndpoint — for SMART on FHIR, the client must fetch OAuth conformance via
.well-known/smart-configuration, not via Endpoint.