HL7 ADT_A09 Patient Departing - Tracking

The patient has left one place, but this is not a census-bed transfer.
HL7 message structure ADT_A09 groups and segments from HL7 v2.5.1 Hide structure

These are the generated groups and segments for the version selected at the top of the page. The article explains the workflow, and this panel follows the chosen HL7 version.

Message Structure

SegmentNameRequiredRepeatable
MSH
 Message Header Yes No
SFT
 Software Segment No Yes
EVN
 Event Type Yes No
PID
 Patient Identification Yes No
PD1
 Patient Additional Demographic No No
PV1
 Patient Visit Yes No
PV2
 Patient Visit - Additional Information No No
DB1
 Disability No Yes
OBX
 Observation/Result No Yes
DG1
 Diagnosis No Yes

ADT_A09 is a tracking message. It says the patient has departed from one area for another area, a temporary location, or an in-transit state, without necessarily changing the official bed assignment. Think radiology, theatre, a procedure area, transport between buildings, or a nursing tracking system that wants other systems to know where the patient is right now.

That distinction matters. If the move changes the official census bed, an A02 transfer is usually the cleaner event. A09 is for movement visibility, not for reassigning the visit to a new permanent bed.

A small A09 example

MSH|^~\&|TRACKING|CITYHOSP|EHR|CITYHOSP|20260715121000||ADT^A09^ADT_A09|ADT090001|P|2.5.1 EVN|A09|20260715120900 PID|1||123456^^^CITYHOSP^MR||Smith^Jane^Anne^^Ms^^L||19800314|F PV1|1|I|WARD1^101^1^CITYHOSP^^BED|||WARD1^101^1^CITYHOSP^^BED||||RAD^XRAY1^1^CITYHOSP^^ROOM

What systems do with it

The sender is often a bed board, tracking board, nursing system, or PAS/EHR tracking component. Receivers update patient location displays, transport queues, clinical worklists, and sometimes dietary or procedure-area status. They should not automatically close the old bed or create a new census assignment unless the local profile explicitly says so.

How to read the structure

The structure is intentionally lean: MSH, EVN, PID, and PV1 are the useful core. PV2, DB1, OBX, and DG1 can appear in the local data, but most real A09 feeds are about the PV1 location fields.

For temporary location tracking, PV1-11 is commonly the field that tells the receiver where the patient is headed. For in-transit flows, profiles may also use pending and prior location fields so the A10 arrival can complete the picture.

Implementation traps

Do not confuse "departed for X-ray" with "transferred to a new ward." If a receiver updates the official bed from every A09, census reports get noisy and bed boards start lying. Also make sure the eventual A10 or local return event is handled; otherwise patients can appear stuck in transit forever.

Reference notes

The HL7 v2+ ADT_A09 page describes A09/A10 as non-census location changes, including tracking, in-transit movement, and temporary location changes.