HL7 PRA Practitioner Detail
HL7 field reference PRA 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
| Field | Name | Required | Repeatable | Type | Table |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PRA.1 | Primary Key Value - PRA | No | No | CE | 9999 |
| PRA.2 | Practitioner Group | No | Yes | CE | 0358 |
| PRA.3 | Practitioner Category | No | Yes | IS | 0186 |
| PRA.4 | Provider Billing | No | No | ID | 0187 |
| PRA.5 | Specialty | No | Yes | SPD | 0337 |
| PRA.6 | Practitioner ID Numbers | No | Yes | PLN | 0338 |
| PRA.7 | Privileges | No | Yes | PIP | |
| PRA.8 | Date Entered Practice | No | No | DT | |
| PRA.9 | Institution | No | No | CE | 0537 |
| PRA.10 | Date Left Practice | No | No | DT | |
| PRA.11 | Government Reimbursement Billing Eligibility | No | Yes | CE | 0401 |
| PRA.12 | Set ID - PRA | No | No | SI |
PRA carries practitioner credentials, privileges, specialty, and identification detail.
The standard describes PRA this way: The Technical Steward for the PRA segment is PA and Personnel Management. The PRA segment adds detailed medical practitioner information to the personnel identified by the STF segment. A PRA segment may optionally follow an STF segment. A PRA segment must always have been preceded by a corresponding STF segment. The PRA segment may also be used for staff who work in healthcare who are not practitioners but need to be certified, e.g., "medical records staff.".
Master-file segments update reference data rather than describing a single patient event. They define locations, staff, providers, test catalogs, charge items, inventory items, languages, certificates, and other shared records.
Because many downstream messages depend on this data, small changes here can have large effects. Use stable identifiers, effective dates, action codes, and clear ownership rules instead of treating a master-file feed like a loose spreadsheet export.
The v2.5.1 structures show PRA in MFN_M02 - Master file - staff practitioner, PMU_B01 - Add personnel record, PMU_B04 - Active practicing person, and PMU_B07 - Grant Certificate/Permission, and 2 other message structures. That tells you where it can appear, but the implementation guide still decides which optional fields are meaningful.
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.
PRA-1 carries a measured, counted, priced, or dosed value. A number without the expected unit, currency, or companion qualifier is much easier to misread than an empty field.
The generated panel links this to HL7 table 9999; many real interfaces narrow that list further, so follow the receiver's implementation guide.
PRA-2 identifies a person, provider, staff member, or contact involved in this master-file record. Use the structured name or provider datatype instead of flattening everything into display text.
When more than one person is sent, repeats should carry role or identifier context so the receiver can tell who did what.
PRA-3 qualifies the master-file record rather than identifying it. This is the sort of field receivers often use for branching, filtering, or display grouping.
Use the agreed value set, starting from HL7 table 0186. A local code without an agreed coding system is a small ambiguity that becomes a mapping problem later.
PRA-4 identifies a person, provider, staff member, or contact involved in this master-file record. Use the structured name or provider datatype instead of flattening everything into display text.
The generated panel links this to HL7 table 0187; many real interfaces narrow that list further, so follow the receiver's implementation guide.
PRA-5 carries Specialty for this master-file record. Populate it only when the receiver has a clear use for it, and keep the value in the datatype shape shown in the generated field panel.
The generated panel links this to HL7 table 0337; many real interfaces narrow that list further, so follow the receiver's implementation guide.
PRA-6 identifies the Practitioner ID Numbers for this master-file record. Send the identifier that the receiving system actually keys on, and keep the assigning authority or coding system visible when the datatype supports it.
If there are several identifiers, use repetitions deliberately and make each repeat self-explanatory rather than relying on position alone.
PRA-7 carries Privileges for this master-file record. Populate it only when the receiver has a clear use for it, and keep the value in the datatype shape shown in the generated field panel.
This field can repeat. Use repetitions for separate real-world values, not as a workaround for putting several unrelated ideas in one field.
PRA-8 is a timing field. Send the real source-system precision, do not pad unknown dates or times, and agree how timezone offsets are handled when time of day matters.
PRA-9 identifies an organization, clinic, facility, department, or company involved in this master-file record. Keep the organization identifier and display name separate when the datatype supports it.
The generated panel links this to HL7 table 0537; many real interfaces narrow that list further, so follow the receiver's implementation guide.
PRA-10 is a timing field. Send the real source-system precision, do not pad unknown dates or times, and agree how timezone offsets are handled when time of day matters.
PRA-11 carries Government Reimbursement Billing Eligibility for this master-file record. Populate it only when the receiver has a clear use for it, and keep the value in the datatype shape shown in the generated field panel.
The generated panel links this to HL7 table 0401; many real interfaces narrow that list further, so follow the receiver's implementation guide.
PRA-12 is the sequence number for this PRA segment within its repeating group. It keeps multiple PRA lines in order; it is not the business identifier for the master-file record.
Related links
- MFI - Master File Identification
- MFE - Master File Entry
- MFA - Master File Acknowledgment
- LOC - Location Identification
- STF - Staff Identification
- OM1 - General Segment
- CDM - Charge Description Master
- MFN_M02 - Master file - staff practitioner
- PMU_B01 - Add personnel record
- PMU_B04 - Active practicing person