HL7 FTS File Trailer

HL7 field reference FTS fields from HL7 v2.5.1 Show fields

These are the generated fields for the version selected at the top of the page. The document stays the same, but the reference panel follows that version.

Fields

FieldNameRequiredRepeatableTypeTable
FTS.1 File Batch Count No No NM
FTS.2 File Trailer Comment No No ST

FTS closes an HL7 file wrapper and gives the receiver final file-level reconciliation information.

Batch and file wrappers are operational plumbing: they tell you where a file or batch starts, where it ends, who sent it, who should receive it, and how to reconcile the contents.

The messages inside still have their own MSH headers. The wrapper fields are about file-level routing, batching, duplicate handling, retry behaviour, and counts.

The imported v2.5.1 message-structure catalog does not list a common message structure for FTS here, so I would treat it as profile-driven. Use it when your sending and receiving systems have explicitly agreed how the segment is carried.

For practical interface work, read the generated field panel for datatype, required, repeatable, and table details, then use the notes below to decide what the field should mean in the receiving workflow.

FTS-1 File Batch Count OptionalO SingleS TypeNM

FTS-1 is used for reconciliation. The receiver may compare it with the segments, batches, messages, rows, or items actually received, so do not populate it from a stale estimate.

FTS-2 File Trailer Comment OptionalO SingleS TypeST

FTS-2 is human-readable context. Keep it useful for display and troubleshooting, but do not hide required workflow logic here unless the implementation guide explicitly says the receiver parses it.

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