An address expressed using postal conventions (as opposed to GPS or other location definition formats). This data type may be used to convey addresses for use in delivering mail as well as for visiting locations which might not be valid for mail delivery. There are a variety of postal address formats defined around the world.

Note: address is intended to describe postal addresses for administrative purposes, not to describe absolute geographical coordinates. Postal addresses are often used as proxies for physical locations (also see the Location resource).

Special remarks for KMEHR users:

Note when .use and .type are used they SHALL use the FHIR defined valuesets as per their required binding level in the FHIR specification. In a KMEHR address, the use was defined by CD-ADDRESS but those values can be found in the FHIR valueset. KMEHR values 'careadress', 'other' and 'vacation' are not directly present in the FHIR address-use table but can be mapped to the value 'temp' in FHIR. In those cases, it is RECOMMENDED to also add a .period. In KMEHR, an address might be expressed using free text or a totally structured approach where the streetname and housenumber are put in separate fields. FHIR prefers a more pragmatic approach where the ‘text’ element is used to print on labels. Also, streetname and number are not separate fields as in KMEHR but in a structural approach are given as one or moren ‘line’ elements. It is however RECOMMENDED to use the Streetname, Housenumber and Postbox extensions to express them seperately. Note the FHIR address also allows to optionally define whether the address is a physical, postal or ‘both’ address using the .type field.

Unique id for the element within a resource (for internal references). This may be any string value that does not contain spaces.

The Human Language of the item. Can be used to express the same address in multiple languages (e.g. in a Brussels setting)

• value @ url

The Human Language of the item.

This is used where an item may repeat to indicate the language of each repeat.

The purpose of this address.

Allows an appropriate address to be chosen from a list of many.

Applications can assume that an address is current unless it explicitly says that it is temporary or old.

Distinguishes between physical addresses (those you can visit) and mailing addresses (e.g. PO Boxes and care-of addresses). Most addresses are both.

The definition of Address states that "address is intended to describe postal addresses, not physical locations". However, many applications track whether an address has a dual purpose of being a location that can be visited as well as being a valid delivery destination, and Postal addresses are often used as proxies for physical locations (also see the Location resource).

Specifies the entire address as it should be displayed e.g. on a postal label. This may be provided instead of or as well as the specific parts.

A renderable, unencoded form.

Can provide both a text representation and parts. Applications updating an address SHALL ensure that when both text and parts are present, no content is included in the text that isn't found in a part.

This component contains the house number, apartment number, street name, street direction, P.O. Box number, delivery hints, and similar address information. It is always RECOMMENDED to give these elements seperately using the defined extensions.

unique id for the element within a resource (for internal references)

RECOMMENDED to use these extensions to define address elements.

• value @ url

streetName.

The number of a building, house or lot alongside the street. Also known as "primary street number". This does not number the street but rather the building.

A numbered box located in a post station.

The actual value

The name of the city, town, suburb, village or other community or delivery center.

The name of the administrative area (county).

District is sometimes known as county, but in some regions 'county' is used in place of city (municipality), so county name should be conveyed in city instead.

Sub-unit of a country with limited sovereignty in a federally organized country. A code may be used if codes are in common use (e.g. US 2 letter state codes).

A postal code designating a region defined by the postal service.

Country - a nation as commonly understood or generally accepted. Concerning the codification of the country, the FHIR specification defines its country field as a string and suggests using a ISO 3166 2 or 3 letter codes. As that 2-letter format is also the standard in a KMEHR address, it is hence RECOMMENDED to codify the country in the same way as in KMEHR.

ISO 3166 3 letter codes can be used in place of a human readable country name.

Time period when address was/is in use.

Allows addresses to be placed in historical context.