HL7 RPR_I03 (Patient Selection List) | Integration Soup HL7 Reference Guide

HL7 RPR_I03 Patient Selection List

A structured candidate list returned after an older patient lookup.

HL7 message structure RPR_I03 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

Segment	Name	Required	Repeatable
MSH	Message Header	Yes	No
SFT	Software Segment	No	Yes
MSA	Message Acknowledgment	Yes	No
RPR_I03.PROVIDER	Provider group	Yes	Yes
PRD	Provider Data	Yes	No
CTD	Contact Data	No	Yes
PID	Patient Identification	No	Yes
NTE	Notes and Comments	No	Yes

RPR_I03 is the structured patient selection response in the older patient referral query family. Where RPL_I02 sends display rows, RPR_I03 returns one or more PID segments so another system can inspect candidate identifiers and demographics more safely.

This is still not a modern MPI query profile, but it is much friendlier to integration logic than parsing free text. The consumer can look at PID-3 identifiers, patient names, dates of birth, administrative sex, and addresses using normal HL7 parsing.

A small RPR I03 example

MSH|^~\&|MPI|CITYHOSP|REFERRAL|CITYCLINIC|20260718105000||RPR^I03^RPR_I03|RPR030001|P|2.5.1 MSA|AA|RQI030001 PRD|RT|City Hospital^Patient Registry|1 Hospital Way^^Auckland^^1010^NZ|^^^MPI|CITYHOSP CTD|PR|Registry^Team|1 Hospital Way^^Auckland^^1010^NZ|^WPN^PH^^64^9^5553000 PID|1||123456^^^CITYHOSP^MR||Smith^Jane^Anne^^Ms^^L||19800314|F|||12 High Street^^Auckland^^1010^NZ PID|2||998877^^^CITYHOSP^MR||Smith^Janet^^^^^L||19800314|F|||14 High Street^^Auckland^^1010^NZ NTE|1||Candidate list returned for manual patient selection.

What workflow it represents

The receiver has evaluated a patient search and is returning candidate patient records. A registration user, referral coordinator, or calling application can then choose the correct patient or decide that no safe match exists.

RPR_I03 is most useful when the candidate data is good enough to support matching but not enough to update a local patient record automatically. Think "choose from these candidates" before "overwrite my demographics."

How to read the structure

MSH and MSA frame the response. PRD and CTD identify the responding provider or registry.

PID repeats for each candidate. Each PID should carry useful identifiers in PID-3 with assigning authorities, enough demographics to distinguish close matches, and no mystery local fields that the requester cannot interpret. NTE can explain why the candidates were returned.

Implementation traps

The main trap is treating the first PID as the answer just because it is first. Unless the profile says the candidates are sorted by confidence and the score is reliable, present the alternatives or apply explicit matching rules.

Also preserve assigning authorities. Candidate lists often include identifiers from more than one domain, and a naked numeric MRN can collide with another facility's perfectly valid numeric MRN.

Reference notes

HL7 terminology identifies I03 as the RQI/RPR request and receipt of a patient selection list. The local v2.5.1 RPR_I03 structure uses MSH, SFT, MSA, provider contact, optional repeating PID, and notes.