HL7 MFN_M06 Clinical Study with Phases and Schedules

A master-file feed for study definitions that have named phases and scheduled time points.
HL7 message structure MFN_M06 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
MFI
 Master File Identification Yes No
MFN_M06.MF_CLIN_STUDY
 Mf Clin Study group Yes Yes
MFE
 Master File Entry Yes No
CM0
 Clinical Study Master Yes No
MFN_M06.MF_PHASE_SCHED_DETAIL
 Mf Phase Sched Detail group No Yes
CM1
 Clinical Study Phase Master Yes No
CM2
 Clinical Study Schedule Master No Yes

MFN_M06 publishes clinical study master data when the study is organized into phases and each phase can have scheduled time points. The sender is usually a research administration system, clinical trials module, or integration service that owns study setup.

This message is not a patient enrollment, observation result, or appointment message. It is the reference data that lets downstream systems recognize the study, understand its phases, and apply the correct schedule when later patient-specific research workflows arrive.

A small MFN M06 example

MSH|^~\&|RESEARCH|CITYHOSP|EHR|CITYHOSP|20260722102000||MFN^M06^MFN_M06|MFN060001|P|2.5.1 MFI|CMA^Clinical study with phases and schedules^HL70175|RESEARCH^CITYHOSP|UPD|20260722102000|20260722110000|AL MFE|MAD|MFN060001|20260722110000|STUDY-ACME-01^CITYHOSP|EI CM0|1|STUDY-ACME-01^CITYHOSP|CARD-OBS-01^CITYHOSP|Cardiology Observation Study|12345^Kaur^Priya^^^^^^CITYHOSP|20260701 CM1|1|SCREEN^Screening^L|Screening phase CM2|1|BASELINE^Baseline visit^L|Baseline assessment and consent CM1|2|FOLLOWUP^Follow-up^L|Follow-up phase CM2|2|WEEK4^Week 4 visit^L|Week 4 evaluation

What workflow it represents

The sender publishes or updates a study definition. Receivers may use it to validate research order codes, populate study picklists, map study identifiers into billing or scheduling systems, or prepare forms and result-routing rules.

In a real interface, the important agreement is ownership. If research administration owns study setup, clinical systems should not silently invent a different study code because a patient-specific transaction arrives first.

How to read the structure

MSH, MFI, and MFE provide the standard master-file envelope. For MFN_M06, MFI-1 is commonly the clinical study with phases and schedules master file.

Each MF_CLIN_STUDY group contains one required CM0 for the study itself. The optional MF_PHASE_SCHED_DETAIL group repeats for phases. Inside it, CM1 describes a phase and repeating CM2 segments describe scheduled time points for that phase.

The application acknowledgment is still the master-file pattern: MFK_M01 can tell the sender whether the receiver applied the study record, rejected it, or needs review.

Implementation traps

The first trap is treating the display title as the stable key. The study identifier in MFE and CM0 needs to be stable enough for later orders, results, schedules, or research encounters to refer back to it unambiguously.

The second trap is flattening phases away. If your receiver only stores a list of scheduled visits, it may not know which phase the visit belongs to, which makes amendments and protocol changes harder to apply cleanly.

Also decide how amendments work. A study schedule can change after downstream systems have already used it. The interface agreement should say whether an update replaces all phases and schedules or only the records explicitly sent.

Reference notes

HL7 v2+ describes CM0, CM1, and CM2 as the clinical-study master segments for study, phase, and scheduled time points. The MFN_M06 structure carries CM0 followed by optional repeating phase/schedule detail made from CM1 and CM2.