The FHIR R4 MedicationDispense resource represents the actual dispensing of medication to a patient. It includes information about the medication, dosage, performer, and when and where the dispensing occurred. This resource is typically populated from pharmacy data sources.
Use Cases
- Track which prescriptions have been dispensed and when
- Verify if a patient filled a medication order before a follow-up
- View dispensing location and instructions from pharmacies
Base URLs
- Production: https://api.healthgorilla.com/fhir/R4/MedicationDispense
- Sandbox: https://sandbox.healthgorilla.com/fhir/R4/MedicationDispense
Authentication
All requests require OAuth 2.0 authentication using a Bearer Token. Unauthorized requests return 401 Unauthorized responses.
Required Scopes
medicationdispense.readfor GETmedicationdispense.writefor POST, PUT, DELETE
For more information, go to: OAuth 2.0 Authentication.
Supported Methods
| Method | Operation | Description |
|---|---|---|
GET | Read MedicationDispense | Retrieves a specific MedicationDispense record by its FHIR ID. |
GET | Search MedicationDispense | Searches for MedicationDispense records for a specified patient. |
POST | Create MedicationDispense | Submits a new MedicationDispense record to the Health Gorilla FHIR server. |
PUT | Update MedicationDispense | Updates an existing MedicationDispense record by full resource replacement. |
DELETE | Delete MedicationDispense | Removes an existing MedicationDispense record from the system by full deletion. |
Frequently Used Search Parameters
| Parameter | Description | FHIR Value Set / Example Values | FHIR Data Type | Required |
|---|---|---|---|---|
patient | Filters by patient ID | Patient/{id} | Reference | Yes |
status | Filters by dispense status | completed, in-progress | token | No |
whenHandedOver | Filters by the date the medication was handed over to patient | ge2023-01-01 | date | No |
medication | Filters by medication code | RxNorm code (e.g., 1049630) | token | No |
performer | Filters by who performed the dispense | Practitioner/{id} | Reference | No |
authorizingPrescription | Filters by associated prescription | MedicationRequest/{id} | Reference | No |
Commonly Returned Resource Attributes
| Attribute | Description | Example Values | FHIR Data Type | Required |
|---|---|---|---|---|
id | Unique FHIR ID for the dispense record | dsp-123456 | id | Yes |
status | Dispense status | completed, cancelled | code | Yes |
medicationCodeableConcept | Medication that was dispensed | Atorvastatin 20 MG Oral Tablet | CodeableConcept | Yes |
subject | Patient who received the medication | Patient/{id} | Reference(Patient) | Yes |
whenHandedOver | Date/time the medication was given to the patient | 2024-03-15T10:30:00-07:00 | dateTime | No |
quantity | Quantity dispensed | 30 tablets | Quantity | No |
daysSupply | Number of days the dispensed supply should cover | 30 | Quantity | No |
performer.actor | Person or entity that performed the dispense | Practitioner/{id} | Reference | No |
authorizingPrescription | Original prescription that authorized the dispense | MedicationRequest/{id} | Reference | No |
dosageInstruction | Patient instructions for taking the medication | Take one tablet daily with food. | Dosage[] | No |
Webhooks
Clients can subscribe to receive notifications when new MedicationDispense records are added to a patient’s chart. For more information, go to: Webhooks & Polling.
Error Handling
All MedicationDispense operations follow standard Health Gorilla error handling, including use of FHIR OperationOutcome for structured responses.
For more information, go to: Error Handling.