Organization

The FHIR R4 Organization resource defines entities responsible for providing, managing, or paying for healthcare services. This includes hospitals, clinics, health systems, payers, and other administrative or operational entities. In Health Gorilla, Organization is often referenced by PractitionerRole, Location, and Encounter resources.

Use Cases

  • Identify the facility or organization associated with a provider
  • Filter encounters or locations by managing organization
  • Display organization contact and address information
ℹ️

type is a required search parameter.

Every Organization search must include a type token in the form system|code. See Supported type code systems for accepted values. Requests that omit the system (for example, ?type=ins) are rejected.

Base URLs

Authentication

All requests require OAuth 2.0 authentication using a Bearer Token. Unauthorized requests return 401 Unauthorized responses.

Required Scopes

  • organization.read for GET
  • organization.write for POST, PUT, DELETE

For more information, go to: OAuth 2.0 Authentication.

Supported Methods

MethodOperationDescription
GETRead OrganizationRetrieves a specific Organization record by its FHIR ID.
GETSearch OrganizationSearches for Organization records using supported parameters.
POSTCreate OrganizationSubmits a new Organization record to the Health Gorilla FHIR server.
PUTUpdate OrganizationUpdates an existing Organization record by full resource replacement.
DELETEDelete OrganizationRemoves an existing Organization record from the system by full deletion.

Frequently Used Search Parameters

ParameterDescriptionFHIR Value Set / Example ValuesFHIR Data TypeRequired
typeFilters by organization type. Required. Must be supplied as system|code.See Supported type code systems below.tokenYes
nameFilters by the organization’s name"Health Gorilla"stringNo
identifierFilters by organization identifierNPI, TIN, or system-specific IDtokenNo
_idFilters by the Organization resource IDOrganization/{id}tokenNo
addressMatches any part of the address (city, zip, etc)"Sunnyvale"stringNo

Supported type Code Systems

The type search parameter is required and must include both the code system URL and the code, joined by a pipe (system|code). Health Gorilla accepts three code systems for R4 Organization.

Code System URLCodesUse it to find…
http://terminology.hl7.org/CodeSystem/organization-typeprov, dept, team, ins, govt, pay, otherHealthcare providers, payers/insurers, and other standard FHIR organization categories.
https://www.healthgorilla.com/fhir/organization-typePR, PRL, F, IP, CW, CQ, EHEX, HGHIN, QHINHealth Gorilla–specific organization types — practices, practice locations, insurance providers, and network providers (Carequality, eHEX, QHIN).
https://www.healthgorilla.com/facility-typeAny FacilityType value (for example, DiagnosticLaboratories, RadiologyImaging, Hospitals)A specific facility type within Health Gorilla's catalog.
❗️

Searches without the code system URL fail.

R4 does not accept bare codes. ?type=ins and ?type=prov return an error because the server cannot determine which code system the code belongs to. Always supply the system|code.

Search Examples

In type tokens, the pipe character (|) must be URL-encoded as %7c.

Example 1: Find a LabCorp provider organization

GET https://api.healthgorilla.com/fhir/R4/Organization?
  type=http://terminology.hl7.org/CodeSystem/organization-type%7cprov
  &name=labcorp

Example 2: Find Cigna as an insurance company

GET https://api.healthgorilla.com/fhir/R4/Organization?
  type=http://terminology.hl7.org/CodeSystem/organization-type%7cins
  &name=Cigna
⚠️

The shorter form ?type=ins&name=Cigna does not return results because the type token is missing its code system URL.

Example 3: Find a Health Gorilla practice in Sunnyvale

GET https://api.healthgorilla.com/fhir/R4/Organization?
  type=https://www.healthgorilla.com/fhir/organization-type%7cPR
  &address=Sunnyvale
  &name=HealthCenter

Example 4: Find a diagnostic laboratory by name

GET https://api.healthgorilla.com/fhir/R4/Organization?
  type=https://www.healthgorilla.com/facility-type%7cDiagnosticLaboratories
  &name=Quest

Example 5: Look up an organization by NPI

The identifier parameter also uses the system|value form. Encode the pipe as %7c.

GET https://api.healthgorilla.com/fhir/R4/Organization?
  type=http://terminology.hl7.org/CodeSystem/organization-type%7cprov
  &identifier=http://hl7.org/fhir/sid/us-npi%7c1234567890

Commonly Returned Resource Attributes

AttributeDescriptionExample ValuesFHIR Data TypeRequired
idUnique FHIR ID for the organizationorg-123456idYes
nameName of the organizationHealth GorillastringYes
identifierUnique business identifiers (NPI, TIN, etc.)NPI: 1234567890Identifier[]No
typeType of organizationprov (healthcare provider)CodeableConcept[]No
activeWhether the organization record is currently activetrue, falsebooleanNo
telecomContact information (e.g., phone, fax, email)408-555-1234ContactPoint[]No
addressPhysical or mailing address123 Wellness Way, Sunnyvale, CAAddress[]No
partOfParent organization, if this is a branch or subdivisionOrganization/{id}Reference(Organization)No
endpointReference to technical endpoints for services like DirectEndpoint/{id}Reference(Endpoint)No

Webhooks

Organization resources are not typically included in webhook notifications directly, but they are commonly referenced by webhook-triggering resources such as Encounter, PractitionerRole, and Location. For more information, go to: Webhooks & Polling.

Error Handling

All Organization operations follow standard Health Gorilla error handling, including use of FHIR OperationOutcome for structured responses. For more information, go to: Error Handling.

Additional Resources

HL7 FHIR Organization