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Goal

Overview​

The Goal resource describes intended objectives for patient care, such as weight loss, restoring activities of daily living, or meeting clinical targets. Goals are essential components of care planning and outcome measurement.

Important: Always validate Goal resource support and available operations by retrieving the current CapabilityStatement from /metadata before implementing integrations.

Resource Schema​

The Goal resource follows the HL7 FHIR R4 Goal specification.

Key elements include:

  • identifier - External identifiers for the goal
  • lifecycleStatus - Proposed, planned, accepted, active, on-hold, completed, cancelled, entered-in-error, rejected
  • achievementStatus - In-progress, improving, worsening, no-change, achieved, sustaining, not-achieved, no-progress, not-attainable
  • category - Goal category (dietary, safety, behavioral, nursing, physiotherapy)
  • priority - High-priority, medium-priority, low-priority
  • description - Human-readable description of the goal
  • subject - Who the goal is for
  • startDate - When goal pursuit begins
  • target - Target outcome for the goal
  • statusDate - When goal status took effect
  • statusReason - Reason for current status
  • expressedBy - Who's responsible for creating goal
  • addresses - Issues addressed by goal
  • note - Comments about the goal
  • outcomeCode - What result was achieved regarding goal
  • outcomeReference - Observation that resulted from goal

Example Goal Resource​

{
  "resourceType": "Goal",
  "id": "12345",
  "lifecycleStatus": "active",
  "achievementStatus": {
    "coding": [{
      "system": "http://terminology.hl7.org/CodeSystem/goal-achievement",
      "code": "in-progress",
      "display": "In Progress"
    }]
  },
  "category": [{
    "coding": [{
      "system": "http://terminology.hl7.org/CodeSystem/goal-category",
      "code": "dietary",
      "display": "Dietary"
    }]
  }],
  "priority": {
    "coding": [{
      "system": "http://terminology.hl7.org/CodeSystem/goal-priority",
      "code": "high-priority",
      "display": "High Priority"
    }]
  },
  "description": {
    "text": "Reduce weight by 10 pounds in 3 months"
  },
  "subject": {
    "reference": "Patient/12345"
  },
  "startDate": "2024-01-15",
  "target": [{
    "measure": {
      "coding": [{
        "system": "http://loinc.org",
        "code": "29463-7",
        "display": "Body weight"
      }]
    },
    "detailQuantity": {
      "value": 10,
      "unit": "pounds",
      "system": "http://unitsofmeasure.org",
      "code": "[lb_av]"
    },
    "dueDate": "2024-04-15"
  }],
  "expressedBy": {
    "reference": "Practitioner/67890"
  },
  "addresses": [{
    "reference": "Condition/obesity-12345"
  }]
}

Supported Profiles​

This API supports the following FHIR profiles:

Operations​

The General Purpose API Goal resource supports the following standard operations. However, support varies by the targeted CareRecord or solution.

CareRecord / SolutionCreateReadUpdateSearch
GEHRIMED-Yes-Yes
myAvatar-Yes-Yes
myEvolv-Yes-Yes
myUnity-Yes-Yes
info

Not all Netsmart solutions support Goal search. See supported operations table above and consult your target solution's documentation for more information.

This operation retrieves a list of resources by these query parameters.

Search Parameters​

NameTypeDescription
patientreferenceREQUIRED Who this goal is intended for
lifecycle-statustokenproposed | planned | accepted | active | on-hold | completed | cancelled | entered-in-error | rejected
target-datedateReach goal on or before

Search Example​

Via POST​

The POST method is recommended as it keeps health information out of the URL.

Search by Patient and Target Date
curl -X POST https://fhir.netsmartcloud.com/v4/Goal/_search \
    -H "Authorization: {Bearer Token}" \
    -H "Accept: application/fhir+json" \
    -H "Content-Type: application/x-form-urlencoded" \
    -d "patient=Patient/123"
    -d "target-date=ge2023-07-10"
Via GET​
Search by Patient and Target Date
curl -X GET "https://fhir.netsmartcloud.com/v4/Goal?patient=Patient/123&target-date=ge2023-07-10" \
    -H "Authorization: {Bearer Token}" \
    -H "Accept: application/fhir+json"

Error Handling​

For information about error responses when working with Goal resources, see Common Errors.

Common Goal-related errors include:

  • Missing required patient reference
  • Invalid lifecycle or achievement status codes
  • Malformed target dates
  • Invalid condition or observation references

Integration Patterns​

Care Plan Integration​

Goals are typically part of care plans:

# Get patient's active goals
curl -X GET "https://fhir.netsmartcloud.com/v4/Goal?patient=12345&lifecycle-status=active" \
    -H "Authorization: Bearer {token}" \
    -H "Accept: application/fhir+json"

Outcome Tracking​

Monitor goal progress and achievement:

# Get goals with target dates in range
curl -X GET "https://fhir.netsmartcloud.com/v4/Goal?patient=12345&target-date=ge2024-01-01&target-date=le2024-12-31" \
    -H "Authorization: Bearer {token}" \
    -H "Accept: application/fhir+json"

Clinical Decision Support​

Use goals to guide treatment decisions:

# Get goals by category
curl -X GET "https://fhir.netsmartcloud.com/v4/Goal?patient=12345&category=dietary" \
    -H "Authorization: Bearer {token}" \
    -H "Accept: application/fhir+json"

Relationships to Other Resources​

The Goal resource connects to several care planning and clinical resources:

  • Patient - The individual for whom goals are established
  • CarePlan - Care plans that include specific goals
  • Condition - Health conditions addressed by goals
  • Observation - Clinical measurements tracking goal progress
  • Practitioner - Healthcare providers establishing and monitoring goals
  • Encounter - Clinical encounters where goals are discussed

Support​

For questions about Goal resource implementation or care planning workflows, contact Netsmart support through your designated support channels.