Medtech ALEX® AU Implementation Guide
1.0.0 - Trial Use

Medtech ALEX® AU Implementation Guide - Local Development build (v1.0.0) built by the FHIR (HL7® FHIR® Standard) Build Tools. See the Directory of published versions

## Resource Profile: AlexBinary - Detailed Descriptions

Active as of 2026-01-12

Definitions for the alex-binary resource profile.

- Key Elements Table
- Differential Elements Table
- Snapshot Elements Table

Guidance on how to interpret the contents of this table can be foundhere

0. Binary
Definition | A resource that represents the data of a single raw artifact as digital content accessible in its native format. A Binary resource can contain any content, whether text, image, pdf, zip archive, etc.
Short | Pure binary content defined by a format other than FHIR
Comments | Typically, Binary resources are used for handling content such as: CDA Documents (i.e. with XDS) PDF Documents Images (the Media resource is preferred for handling images, but not possible when the content is already binary - e.g. XDS).
Control | 0..*
Is Modifier | false
Summary | false
2. Binary.implicitRules
Definition | A reference to a set of rules that were followed when the resource was constructed, and which must be understood when processing the content. Often, this is a reference to an implementation guide that defines the special rules along with other profiles etc.
Short | A set of rules under which this content was created
Comments | Asserting this rule set restricts the content to be only understood by a limited set of trading partners. This inherently limits the usefulness of the data in the long term. However, the existing health eco-system is highly fractured, and not yet ready to define, collect, and exchange data in a generally computable sense. Wherever possible, implementers and/or specification writers should avoid using this element. Often, when used, the URL is a reference to an implementation guide that defines these special rules as part of it's narrative along with other profiles, value sets, etc.
Control | 0..1
Type | uri
Is Modifier | true because This element is labeled as a modifier because the implicit rules may provide additional knowledge about the resource that modifies it's meaning or interpretation
Primitive Value | This primitive element may be present, or absent, or replaced by an extension
Summary | true
Invariants | ele-1: All FHIR elements must have a @value or children (hasValue() or (children().count() > id.count()))
4. Binary.contentType
Definition | MimeType of the binary content represented as a standard MimeType (BCP 13).
Short | MimeType of the binary content
Control | 1..1
Binding | The codes SHALL be taken from Mime Types http://hl7.org/fhir/ValueSet/mimetypes|4.0.1 (required to `http://hl7.org/fhir/ValueSet/mimetypes|4.0.1` ) The mime type of an attachment. Any valid mime type is allowed.
Type | code
Is Modifier | false
Primitive Value | This primitive element may be present, or absent, or replaced by an extension
Must Support | true
Summary | true
Invariants | ele-1: All FHIR elements must have a @value or children (hasValue() or (children().count() > id.count()))
6. Binary.data
Definition | The actual content, base64 encoded.
Short | The actual content
Comments | If the content type is itself base64 encoding, then this will be base64 encoded twice - what is created by un-base64ing the content must be the specified content type.
Control | 10..1
Type | base64Binary
Is Modifier | false
Primitive Value | This primitive element may be present, or absent, or replaced by an extension
Must Support | true
Summary | false
Invariants | ele-1: All FHIR elements must have a @value or children (hasValue() or (children().count() > id.count()))

Guidance on how to interpret the contents of this table can be foundhere

0. Binary
2. Binary.contentType
Must Support | true
4. Binary.data
Control | 1..?
Must Support | true

Guidance on how to interpret the contents of this table can be foundhere

0. Binary
Definition | A resource that represents the data of a single raw artifact as digital content accessible in its native format. A Binary resource can contain any content, whether text, image, pdf, zip archive, etc.
Short | Pure binary content defined by a format other than FHIR
Comments | Typically, Binary resources are used for handling content such as: CDA Documents (i.e. with XDS) PDF Documents Images (the Media resource is preferred for handling images, but not possible when the content is already binary - e.g. XDS).
Control | 0..*
Is Modifier | false
Summary | false
2. Binary.id
Definition | The logical id of the resource, as used in the URL for the resource. Once assigned, this value never changes.
Short | Logical id of this artifact
Comments | The only time that a resource does not have an id is when it is being submitted to the server using a create operation.
Control | 0..1
Type | id
Is Modifier | false
Summary | true
4. Binary.meta
Definition | The metadata about the resource. This is content that is maintained by the infrastructure. Changes to the content might not always be associated with version changes to the resource.
Short | Metadata about the resource
Control | 0..1
Type | Meta
Is Modifier | false
Summary | true
Invariants | ele-1: All FHIR elements must have a @value or children (`hasValue() or (children().count() > id.count())`)
6. Binary.implicitRules
Definition | A reference to a set of rules that were followed when the resource was constructed, and which must be understood when processing the content. Often, this is a reference to an implementation guide that defines the special rules along with other profiles etc.
Short | A set of rules under which this content was created
Comments | Asserting this rule set restricts the content to be only understood by a limited set of trading partners. This inherently limits the usefulness of the data in the long term. However, the existing health eco-system is highly fractured, and not yet ready to define, collect, and exchange data in a generally computable sense. Wherever possible, implementers and/or specification writers should avoid using this element. Often, when used, the URL is a reference to an implementation guide that defines these special rules as part of it's narrative along with other profiles, value sets, etc.
Control | 0..1
Type | uri
Is Modifier | true because This element is labeled as a modifier because the implicit rules may provide additional knowledge about the resource that modifies it's meaning or interpretation
Primitive Value | This primitive element may be present, or absent, or replaced by an extension
Summary | true
Invariants | ele-1: All FHIR elements must have a @value or children (`hasValue() or (children().count() > id.count())`)
8. Binary.language
Definition | The base language in which the resource is written.
Short | Language of the resource content
Comments | Language is provided to support indexing and accessibility (typically, services such as text to speech use the language tag). The html language tag in the narrative applies to the narrative. The language tag on the resource may be used to specify the language of other presentations generated from the data in the resource. Not all the content has to be in the base language. The Resource.language should not be assumed to apply to the narrative automatically. If a language is specified, it should it also be specified on the div element in the html (see rules in HTML5 for information about the relationship between xml:lang and the html lang attribute).
Control | 0..1
Binding | The codes SHOULD be taken from CommonLanguages (preferred to `http://hl7.org/fhir/ValueSet/languages|4.0.1` ) A human language.
Additional Bindings | Purpose
AllLanguages | Max Binding
Type | code
Is Modifier | false
Primitive Value | This primitive element may be present, or absent, or replaced by an extension
Summary | false
Invariants | ele-1: All FHIR elements must have a @value or children (`hasValue() or (children().count() > id.count())`)
10. Binary.contentType
Definition | MimeType of the binary content represented as a standard MimeType (BCP 13).
Short | MimeType of the binary content
Control | 1..1
Binding | The codes SHALL be taken from Mime Types (required to `http://hl7.org/fhir/ValueSet/mimetypes|4.0.1` ) The mime type of an attachment. Any valid mime type is allowed.
Type | code
Is Modifier | false
Primitive Value | This primitive element may be present, or absent, or replaced by an extension
Must Support | true
Summary | true
Invariants | ele-1: All FHIR elements must have a @value or children (`hasValue() or (children().count() > id.count())`)
12. Binary.securityContext
Definition | This element identifies another resource that can be used as a proxy of the security sensitivity to use when deciding and enforcing access control rules for the Binary resource. Given that the Binary resource contains very few elements that can be used to determine the sensitivity of the data and relationships to individuals, the referenced resource stands in as a proxy equivalent for this purpose. This referenced resource may be related to the Binary (e.g. Media, DocumentReference), or may be some non-related Resource purely as a security proxy. E.g. to identify that the binary resource relates to a patient, and access should only be granted to applications that have access to the patient.
Short | Identifies another resource to use as proxy when enforcing access control
Comments | Very often, a server will also know of a resource that references the binary, and can automatically apply the appropriate access rules based on that reference. However, there are some circumstances where this is not appropriate, e.g. the binary is uploaded directly to the server without any linking resource, the binary is referred to from multiple different resources, and/or the binary is content such as an application logo that has less protection than any of the resources that reference it.
Control | 0..1
Type | Reference(Resource)
Is Modifier | false
Summary | true
Invariants | ele-1: All FHIR elements must have a @value or children (`hasValue() or (children().count() > id.count())`)
14. Binary.data
Definition | The actual content, base64 encoded.
Short | The actual content
Comments | If the content type is itself base64 encoding, then this will be base64 encoded twice - what is created by un-base64ing the content must be the specified content type.
Control | 1..1
Type | base64Binary
Is Modifier | false
Primitive Value | This primitive element may be present, or absent, or replaced by an extension
Must Support | true
Summary | false
Invariants | ele-1: All FHIR elements must have a @value or children (`hasValue() or (children().count() > id.count())`)