MRG - Merge Patient Information Segment

The MRG segment provides receiving applications with information necessary to initiate the merging of patient data as well as groups of records. It is intended that this segment be used throughout the Standard to allow the merging of registration, accounting, and clinical records within specific applications.

The assigning authority, the fourth component of the patient identifiers, is an HD data type that is uniquely associated with the assigning authority that originally assigned the number. A given institution, or group of intercommunicating institutions, should establish a list of assigning authorities that may be potential assignors of patient identification (and other important identification) numbers. The list will be one of the institution's master dictionary lists. Since third parties (other than the assignors of patient identification numbers) may send or receive HL7 messages containing patient identification numbers, the assigning authority in the patient identification numbers may not be the same as those of the sending and receiving systems identified in the MSH. The assigning authority must be unique across applications at a given site. This field is required in HL7 implementations that have more than a single Patient Administration application assigning such numbers.

HL7 Attribute Table - MRG - Merge Patient Information Segment

Seq#	Data Element Name	DataType	Usage	Vocabulary	Cardinality	Item #	Length	C.LEN	Flags
MRG
1	Prior Patient Identifier List	CX	R	0061(R) Check Digit Scheme(Required)	[1..*]	00211
2	Prior Alternate Patient ID		W		[0..1]	00212
3	Prior Patient Account Number	CX	O	0061(R) Check Digit Scheme(Required)	[0..1]	00213
4	Prior Patient ID		W		[0..1]	00214
5	Prior Visit Number	CX	O	0061(R) Check Digit Scheme(Required)	[0..1]	01279
6	Prior Alternate Visit ID	CX	O	0061(R) Check Digit Scheme(Required)	[0..*]	01280
7	Prior Patient Name	XPN	O	0200(R) Name Type(Required)	[0..*]	01281

MRG-1: Prior Patient Identifier List (CX) 00211

Definition: This field contains the prior patient identifier list. This field contains a list of potential "old" numbers to match. Only one old number can be merged with one new number in a transaction. Refer to HL7 Table 0061 - Check Digit Scheme for valid values. The assigning authority and identifier type code are strongly recommended for all CX data types.

MRG-2: Prior Alternate Patient ID () 00212

Definition: The MRG-2 field was retained for backward compatibility only as of v 2.3.1 and withdrawn as of v 2.7. The reader is referred to section ‎3.4.10.1, MRG-1 Prior Patient Identifier List (CX) 00211, instead.

MRG-3: Prior Patient Account Number (CX) 00213

Definition: This field contains the prior patient account number. Refer to HL7 Table 0061 - Check Digit Scheme for valid values. The assigning authority and identifier type code are strongly recommended for all CX data types.

MRG-4: Prior Patient ID () 00214

Definition: The MRG-4 field was retained for backward compatibility only as of v 2.3.1 and withdrawn as of v 2.7. The reader is referred to section ‎3.4.10.1, MRG-1 Prior Patient Identifier List (CX) 00211, instead.

MRG-5: Prior Visit Number (CX) 01279

Definition: This field contains the prior visit number. Refer to HL7 Table 0061 - Check Digit Scheme for valid values. The assigning authority and identifier type code are strongly recommended for all CX data types.

MRG-6: Prior Alternate Visit ID (CX) 01280

Definition: This field contains the prior alternate visit number. Multiple alternate identifiers may be sent. Refer to HL7 Table 0061 - Check Digit Scheme in Chapter 2C, Code Tables, for valid values. The assigning authority and identifier type code are strongly recommended for all CX data types.

MRG-7: Prior Patient Name (XPN) 01281

Definition: This field contains the prior name of the patient. This field is not used to change a patient name. Refer to HL7 Table 0200 - Name Type in Chapter 2C, Code Tables, for valid values.