Marital status - multiple coding systems, which one should I use?

[Pedro Simon]

Hi! This is somewhat a general question, but since right now I'm trying to read and write from Patient.maritalStatus, I'll take it as an example.

Per the documentation, I know the possible values can come from two different code systems:

- http://terminology.hl7.org/CodeSystem/v3-MaritalStatus
- https://fhir.cerner.com/<EHR source id>/codeSet/38

How do I know which one I need to use? Can I rely only on the standard system http://terminology.hl7.org/CodeSystem/v3-MaritalStatus?
Can I be sure I will always get both the standard and the proprietary codings from the outbound data, as shown in the example in this page?

Thanks!

[Fenil Desani (Cerner)]

Hello,

If the correct mappings are present, you should expect both of the code System to come back.
Which one to use, would be dependent on your Application.

Thanks,

Fenil (Cerner)

[Pedro Simon]

Got it, then I'll use standard codes whenever I can. Thanks a lot!