LCH - Location Characteristic Segment

The Technical Steward for the LCH segment is Patient Administration.

The LCH segment is used to identify location characteristics which determine which patients will be assigned to the room or bed. It contains the location characteristics of the room or bed identified in the preceding LOC segment. There should be one LCH segment for each attribute.

When the LCH segment appears immediately following the LOC segment, it communicates characteristics which are the same across multiple departments that may use the same room. When the LCH segment appears immediately following the LDP segment, it communicates characteristics which differ for different departments that may use the same room. For example, the following characteristics are more likely to vary by which department is using the room: teaching, gender, staffed, set up, overflow, whereas the other characteristics are likely to remain the same.

HL7 Attribute Table - LCH - Location Characteristic Segment

Seq#	Data Element Name	DataType	Usage	Vocabulary	Cardinality	Item #	Length	C.LEN	Flags
LCH
1	Primary Key Value - LCH	PL	R		[1..1]	01305
2	Segment Action Code	ID	O	0206(R) Segment Action Code(Required)	[0..1]	00763	[1..1]
3	Segment Unique Key	EI	O		[0..1]	00764
4	Location Characteristic ID	CWE	R	0324 Location Characteristic ID	[1..1]	01295
5	Location Characteristic Value - LCH	CWE	R	0136(R) Yes/no Indicator(Required)	[1..1]	01294

LCH-1: Primary Key Value - LCH (PL) 01305

Definition: This field contains the institution's identification code for the location. The identifying key value. This field has the same components as the patient location fields in the PV1 segment (except that bed status is not included here). At least the first component of this field is required. The contents of this field must exactly match the content of its preceding MFE (MFE-4 - Primary Key Value - MFE), its preceding LOC (LOC-1 - Primary Key Value - LOC), and its preceding LDP (LDP-1 - Primary Key Value - LDP).

LCH-2: Segment Action Code (ID) 00763

Definition: This field indicates whether this repetition of the segment is being added, changed or deleted. The action code adds a validation check to indicate, from the point of view of the sending system, whether this repetition of a segment is being added, changed or deleted. This and the following field are used to implement the "unique key" mode of updating repeating segments. (See Chapter 2, section 2.10.4.2, "Action code/unique identifier mode update definition.") Refer to HL7 Table 0206 - Segment Action Code in Chapter 2C, Code Tables, for valid values.

LCH-3: Segment Unique Key (EI) 00764

Definition: This field contains a unique identifier for one of the multiple repetitions of this segment, to be used in conjunction with the preceding field. Each of the repetitions of the segment will be uniquely identified by this unique key field for the purposes of updates.

LCH-4: Location Characteristic ID (CWE) 01295

Definition: This field contains an identifier code to show WHICH characteristic is being communicated with this segment. Refer to User-defined Table 0324 - Location Characteristic ID in Chapter 2C, Code Tables, for suggested values.

LCH-5: Location Characteristic Value - LCH (CWE) 01294

Definition: This field contains the value of the above field's characteristic. The expected coded values for this field will depend upon the previous field. For example, if the previous field is SMK, IMP, INF, the values would be "Y" or "N".

When LCH-4-location characteristic ID contains "SHA"- Shadow, refer to HL7 Table 0136 - Yes/no Indicator in Chapter 2C, Code Tables, for valid values for LRL-5 - Organizational Location Relationship Value.

• Y    not a real bed, but a temporary holding location that does not physically exist in the census

• N    this is a real bed

When LCH-4 - Location Characteristic ID contains "PRL"- Privacy level (CWE), then LRL-5 - Organizational Location Relationship Value indicates how the room is set up and intended to be used, disregarding different uses under special circumstances. Refer to User-defined Table 0262 - Privacy Level in Chapter 2C, Code Tables, for suggested values.

When LCH-4 - Location Characteristic ID contains "LCR"- Level of care, then LRL-5 - Organizational Location Relationship Value contains the code which indicates what severity of the patient's medical condition which this location is designed to handle. This indicates how the room is set up and intended to be used, disregarding different uses under special circumstances. Refer to User-defined Table 0263 - Level of Care in Chapter 2C, Code Tables, for suggested values.

When LCH-4 - Location Characteristic ID contains "IFD"- Infectious disease, refer to HL7 Table 0136 - Yes/no Indicator in Chapter 2C, Code Tables, for valid values for LRL-5 - Organizational Location Relationship Value.

• Y    patients with infectious diseases can be admitted to this location, that is, this location can be used for isolation

• N    this location cannot be used for isolation

When LCH-4 - Location Characteristic ID contains "SMO"- Smoking, refer to HL7 Table 0136 - Yes/no Indicator in Chapter 2C, Code Tables, for valid values for LRL-5 - Organizational Location Relationship Value.

• Y    this is a smoking location

• N    this is a non-smoking location

When LCH-4 - Location Characteristic ID contains "IMP"- Implant, refer to HL7 Table 0136 - Yes/no Indicator in Chapter 2C, Code Tables, for valid values for LRL-5 - Organizational Location Relationship Value.

• Y    this location can be used by radiation implant patients

• N    this location can not be used by radiation implant patients

When LCH-4 - Location Characteristic ID contains "LIC"- Licensed, refer to HL7 Table 0136 - Yes/no Indicator in Chapter 2C, Code Tables, for valid values for LRL-5 - Organizational Location Relationship Value.

• Y    this location is licensed

• N    this location is not licensed