Which resource would you use to reference a document stored externally and manage its metadata?

Which resource would you use to reference a document stored externally and manage its metadata?

• A. CatalogEntry
• B. DocumentReference
• C. Binary
• D. MessageHeader

Answer: (B)

DocumentReference is the resource used when you need to reference a document that is stored outside your FHIR system and you want to manage its metadata. It provides structured fields for what the document is (type, title), who authored or custodied it, when it was created, and the context in which it exists, plus a way to point to the external document itself through the content element (an Attachment with a URL, mime type, and related metadata). This lets systems locate and interpret the external document while keeping the document’s metadata centralized. Binary, by contrast, is for storing the actual binary content itself within the FHIR server, not for externally hosted references with metadata. CatalogEntry and MessageHeader serve different purposes (catalog items and message-level metadata, respectively) and don’t fit the use case of referencing and describing an externally stored document.

DocumentReference is the resource used when you need to reference a document that is stored outside your FHIR system and you want to manage its metadata. It provides structured fields for what the document is (type, title), who authored or custodied it, when it was created, and the context in which it exists, plus a way to point to the external document itself through the content element (an Attachment with a URL, mime type, and related metadata). This lets systems locate and interpret the external document while keeping the document’s metadata centralized.

Binary, by contrast, is for storing the actual binary content itself within the FHIR server, not for externally hosted references with metadata. CatalogEntry and MessageHeader serve different purposes (catalog items and message-level metadata, respectively) and don’t fit the use case of referencing and describing an externally stored document.