Encounter

The encounter table is intended to store information that represents a unique patient interaction with the healthcare system. It’s intended to be synonymous with a healthcare visit (e.g. hospital admission, office visit, etc.). All healthcare analytics use cases involving utilization require an encounter concept. Not only is it important to know about each unique encounter a patient has with the healthcare system, but it’s also important to know the type of visit (e.g. acute inpatient, ED, office visit, inpatient rehab, etc.), the start and end dates for the visit, the total amount paid for the visit, and other pieces of information about the visit. The encounter table stores all of this important information in a single table. Primary Keys:

encounter_id

Foreign Keys:

person_id

Column	Data Type	Description	Terminology
encounter_id	string	Unique identifier for the encounter	-
person_id	string	Unique identifier for the person	-
member_id	string	Unique identifier for the member	-
patient_id	string	Unique identifier for the patient	-
encounter_type	string	Type of encounter (e.g., inpatient, outpatient, emergency)	-
encounter_class	string	Classification of the encounter	inpatient, outpatient, emergency, urgent_care
encounter_start_date	date	Start date/time of the encounter	-
encounter_end_date	date	End date/time of the encounter	-
admission_date	date	Date of admission for inpatient encounters	-
discharge_date	date	Date of discharge for inpatient encounters	-
facility_id	string	Identifier for the healthcare facility	-
facility_name	string	Name of the healthcare facility	-
facility_type	string	Type of healthcare facility	hospital, clinic, urgent_care
provider_id	string	Identifier for the primary provider	-
provider_name	string	Name of the primary provider	-
provider_type	string	Type of provider	physician, nurse, specialist
diagnosis_primary	string	Primary diagnosis code	ICD-9-CM, ICD-10-CM
diagnosis_secondary	string	Secondary diagnosis codes	ICD-9-CM, ICD-10-CM
procedure_primary	string	Primary procedure code	CPT, HCPCS, ICD-9-CM, ICD-10-CM
procedure_secondary	string	Secondary procedure codes	CPT, HCPCS, ICD-9-CM, ICD-10-CM
total_charge_amount	decimal	Total amount charged for the encounter	-
total_paid_amount	decimal	Total amount paid for the encounter	-
copay_amount	decimal	Copay amount for the encounter	-
deductible_amount	decimal	Deductible amount for the encounter	-
coinsurance_amount	decimal	Coinsurance amount for the encounter	-
discharge_disposition	string	Discharge disposition	home, skilled_nursing, hospice
length_of_stay	integer	Length of stay in days	-
emergency_indicator	boolean	Whether this was an emergency encounter	-
urgent_indicator	boolean	Whether this was an urgent encounter	-
data_source	string	Source of the encounter data	claims, clinical, ehr
source_code	string	Original code from the source system	-
normalized_code	string	Standardized/normalized code	-
source_system	string	System that provided the encounter data	-
source_table	string	Table in the source system	-
source_id	string	Identifier from the source system	-
ingestion_date	timestamp	Date when the data was ingested	-

Getting Started

API Reference

Handling Data

FHIR

API Tools

More Info