Document

A document Bundle represents a structured clinical document composed of multiple related FHIR resources. Unlike batch or transaction Bundles, a document Bundle is used to convey a complete, assembled clinical artifact, where the ordering and relationships of resources are significant.

Health Gorilla returns document Bundles as part of supported document retrieval and delivery workflows. Document Bundles are not submitted for write or transactional processing.

Use Cases

Typical use cases for document Bundles include:

• Receiving structured clinical documents assembled from network or source systems
• Viewing encounter-based or longitudinal clinical summaries
• Exchanging clinical documents composed of multiple interrelated resources
• Supporting document-centric workflows such as chart review or continuity-of-care review

Scope and Behavior

This page documents document Bundle behavior for the FHIR R4 Bundle resource. Document Bundles are read-only artifacts returned by the platform and are not persisted or retrievable as standalone, client-managed resources.

Health Gorilla assembles document Bundles using internal retrieval, normalization, and routing services. Only the externally exposed FHIR R4 document structure and behavior are documented here.

Document Bundles are not processed as request containers and do not support batch or transaction execution.

Bundle Structure Requirements

Document Bundles returned by Health Gorilla follow standard HL7 FHIR R4 document conventions:

• resourceType must be Bundle
• type must be set to document
• The first entry must contain a Composition resource
• Subsequent entries contain the resources referenced by the Composition
• Entries are ordered to reflect document structure and relationships

Document Bundles do not support path or query parameters. All document content is defined within the returned Bundle body.

Entry Relationships and Ordering

Document Bundles rely on explicit references and ordering to convey document meaning:

• The Composition resource defines the document context and sections
• Referenced resources appear as separate entries within the Bundle
• Entry order is significant and should be preserved when processing or rendering the document

Unlike batch or transaction Bundles, document Bundles do not include request or response elements.

Processing Behavior

• Document Bundles are returned synchronously as part of supported retrieval workflows
• The contents represent a complete document snapshot at the time of retrieval
• Pagination is not applied to document Bundles
• Document Bundles are not modified or partially processed by clients

Error Handling

Errors encountered during document retrieval or assembly follow standard Health Gorilla error-handling conventions and may include a FHIR OperationOutcome resource when applicable.

Limitations and Notes

• Health Gorilla does not support submitting document Bundles for create, update, batch, or transaction processing
• Document Bundles should be treated as immutable representations of clinical information
• Not all optional elements defined in the HL7 FHIR specification may be present
• Resource-specific constraints are governed by the underlying source systems and applicable network rules

Related Information

• FHIR R4 Bundle