HL7 PRR_PC5 Patient Problem Response

The old patient-care query response for problem details.
HL7 message structure PRR_PC5 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
MSA
 Message Acknowledgment Yes No
ERR
 Error No Yes
QAK
 Query Acknowledgment No No
QRD
 Original-Style Query Definition Yes No
PRR_PC5.PATIENT
 Patient group Yes Yes
PID
 Patient Identification Yes No
PRR_PC5.PATIENT_VISIT
 Patient Visit group No No
PV1
 Patient Visit Yes No
PV2
 Patient Visit - Additional Information No No
PRR_PC5.PROBLEM
 Problem group Yes Yes
PRB
 Problem Details Yes No
NTE
 Notes and Comments No Yes
VAR
 Variance No Yes
PRR_PC5.PROBLEM_ROLE
 Problem Role group No Yes
ROL
 Role Yes No
VAR
 Variance No Yes
PRR_PC5.PROBLEM_PATHWAY
 Problem Pathway group No Yes
PTH
 Pathway Yes No
VAR
 Variance No Yes
PRR_PC5.PROBLEM_OBSERVATION
 Problem Observation group No Yes
OBX
 Observation/Result Yes No
NTE
 Notes and Comments No Yes
PRR_PC5.GOAL
 Goal group No Yes
GOL
 Goal Detail Yes No
NTE
 Notes and Comments No Yes
VAR
 Variance No Yes
PRR_PC5.GOAL_ROLE
 Goal Role group No Yes
ROL
 Role Yes No
VAR
 Variance No Yes
PRR_PC5.GOAL_OBSERVATION
 Goal Observation group No Yes
OBX
 Observation/Result Yes No
NTE
 Notes and Comments No Yes
PRR_PC5.ORDER
 Order group No Yes
ORC
 Common Order Yes No
PRR_PC5.ORDER_DETAIL
 Order Detail group No No
PRR_PC5.OBRanyHL7Segment_SUPPGRP
 Obranyhl7segment Suppgrp group Yes No
NTE
 Notes and Comments No Yes
VAR
 Variance No Yes
PRR_PC5.ORDER_OBSERVATION
 Order Observation group No Yes
OBX
 Observation/Result Yes No
NTE
 Notes and Comments No Yes
VAR
 Variance No Yes

PRR_PC5 returns patient problem information in response to an original-style patient-care query. It is the response side of the older problem-query pattern, not the same thing as sending a new problem add or update with PPR_PC1.

You are most likely to meet it in older clinical repository, care-planning, or point-of-care interfaces that still use QRD-based queries. For a new interface, pause before choosing it; the old QRD/QRF query mode was replaced by newer query patterns.

A small PRR PC5 example

MSH|^~\&|CAREPLAN|CITYHOSP|EHR|CITYHOSP|20260723145500||PRR^PC5^PRR_PC5|PRR00001|P|2.5.1 MSA|AA|QRYPC4001 QAK|QRYPC4001|OK|PC5^Problem response^L|1|1|0 QRD|20260723145400|R|I|QRYPC4001|||1^RD|123456^^^CITYHOSP^MR|PRB^Problem list^L|CAREPLAN|T PID|1||123456^^^CITYHOSP^MR||Rivera^Maya^^^^^L||19750519|F PV1|1|O|CLINIC^2^A^CITYHOSP||||12345^Nguyen^Anita PRB|UC|20260723145500|HTN^Hypertension^L|PRB-20260723-001|EOC-771|1|20260723090000|||CHRONIC^Chronic^L PTH|UC|HTNCARE^Hypertension care pathway^L|PTH-20260723-001|20260723100000|ACTIVE^Active^L OBX|1|ST|PROBLEMNOTE^Problem note^L||Home BP readings remain above target.||||||F GOL|UC|20260723145500|BPCONTROL^Blood pressure controlled^L|GOL-20260723-001|EOC-771|1|20260723140500|20260823000000

What workflow it represents

A requester asks for problem information, and the system that maintains the problem data returns the matching patient and problem records. The receiver may use it to display a problem list, reconcile a care plan, or refresh a local cache.

Because this is a response, do not treat the returned PRB rows as a new unsolicited update unless the interface profile explicitly says to do that.

How to read the structure

The response envelope uses MSH, optional SFT, required MSA, optional ERR, optional QAK, and required QRD. MSA ties the response to the original message control ID. QAK carries query status and hit-count style information when the sender supports it.

Each PATIENT group starts with required PID and optional visit context in PV1/PV2.

The required repeating PROBLEM group starts with PRB. Optional ROL, PTH, OBX, GOL, ORC, NTE, and VAR carry roles, pathways, observations, goals, orders, comments, and variances associated with that problem.

Implementation traps

A clean PRR_PC5 profile should say whether the response is a snapshot, a filtered list, or a limited page. If there are more hits than fit in one message, QAK hit counts and continuation rules matter.

The PRB action code still appears in a response. In query responses it is often safest to interpret it as part of the returned problem record, not as an instruction to change a receiver's database.

For negative responses, use MSA, ERR, and QAK consistently. "No rows found" and "query failed" are different operational states.

Reference notes

HL7 patient-care references identify PRR as the patient problem response for event PC5. Later HL7 material marks this original-mode query response family as retained for backward compatibility, because QRD/QRF-style querying was replaced by newer query patterns.