The GOL segment carries one care goal: its code, established and target dates, life-cycle status, and review schedule. It is the core of the PPG (patient goal) message and pairs with PRB problems and PTH pathways in problem-oriented records.
Purpose
GOL conveys a single goal and its management metadata — identity (GOL-3), instance/episode links, established and expected-achievement dates, review status and schedule, evaluation, and life-cycle status — using an action code (GOL-1) to add, update, or delete it.
Used in
GOL appears in goal-oriented messages: PPG (patient goal) and related care-record messages. See PPG.
Field-by-field reference
Source: HAPI HL7v2 v2.5.1 javadocs (GOL) for sequence, name, and data type. Length is not published in the javadocs (—); Required and Table # are filled from the HL7 v2.5.1 standard where well-established.
| Seq | Name | Data Type | Length | Req | Repeat | Table # | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GOL-1 | Action Code | ID | — | R | — | HL70287 | Add/update/delete the goal. |
| GOL-2 | Action Date/Time | TS | — | R | — | — | When the action occurred. |
| GOL-3 | Goal ID | CE | — | R | — | — | The coded goal. |
| GOL-4 | Goal Instance ID | EI | — | O | — | — | Unique goal instance. |
| GOL-5 | Episode of Care ID | EI | — | O | — | — | Episode of care link. |
| GOL-6 | Goal List Priority | NM | — | O | — | — | Priority on the goal list. |
| GOL-7 | Goal Established Date/Time | TS | — | O | — | — | When established. |
| GOL-8 | Expected Goal Achieve Date/Time | TS | — | O | — | — | Target achievement date. |
| GOL-9 | Goal Classification | CE | — | O | — | — | Classification. |
| GOL-10 | Goal Management Discipline | CE | — | O | — | — | Managing discipline. |
| GOL-11 | Current Goal Review Status | CE | — | O | — | — | Current review status. |
| GOL-12 | Current Goal Review Date/Time | TS | — | O | — | — | Current review date. |
| GOL-13 | Next Goal Review Date/Time | TS | — | O | — | — | Next review date. |
| GOL-14 | Previous Goal Review Date/Time | TS | — | O | — | — | Previous review date. |
| GOL-15 | Goal Review Interval | TQ | — | O | — | — | Review interval. |
| GOL-16 | Goal Evaluation | CE | — | O | — | — | Evaluation result. |
| GOL-17 | Goal Evaluation Comment | ST | — | O | Y | — | Evaluation comment. |
| GOL-18 | Goal Life Cycle Status | CE | — | O | — | — | Life-cycle status. |
| GOL-19 | Goal Life Cycle Status Date/Time | TS | — | O | — | — | Status date. |
| GOL-20 | Goal Target Type | CE | — | O | — | — | Target type. |
| GOL-21 | Goal Target Name | XPN | — | O | Y | — | Target name. |
Most-used fields
- GOL-1 Action Code and GOL-2 Action Date/Time drive add/update/delete of the goal.
- GOL-3 Goal ID is the coded goal; GOL-8 target date and GOL-18 life-cycle status track progress.
Version differences (2.3 to 2.8.2)
- GOL was introduced with goal messaging in v2.3 and is stable through later versions.
- Coded fields use
CE.
Common mistakes
- Treating every GOL as an add and duplicating goals; honor GOL-1.
- Ignoring the review schedule (GOL-12/13) when syncing care plans.
Examples
Minimal valid GOL:
GOL|AD|20260610100000|WT-LOSS^Weight loss 5kg^L
Fully-populated GOL:
GOL|AD|20260610100000|WT-LOSS^Weight loss 5kg^L|GOL77^MERCYGEN||1|20260610000000|20261210000000|||IP^In Progress^L|20260610000000|20260710000000
Annotated breakdown of the fully-populated example (selected fields):
GOL ← segment ID
AD ← GOL-1 Action Code (Add)
20260610100000 ← GOL-2 Action Date/Time
WT-LOSS^Weight loss 5kg^L ← GOL-3 Goal ID
GOL77^MERCYGEN ← GOL-4 Goal Instance ID
20261210000000 ← GOL-8 Expected Achieve Date/Time
IP^In Progress^L ← GOL-11 Current Goal Review Status
In-context inside a PPG^PCG (goal add):
MSH|^~&|EHR|MERCYGEN|REG|MERCYGEN|20260610100000||PPG^PCG^PPG_PCG|MSG912|P|2.5.1
PID|1||MR12345^^^MERCYGEN^MR||DOE^JOHN^Q||19800101|M
PRB|AD|20260610100000|E66.9^Obesity^I10|PRB60^MERCYGEN
GOL|AD|20260610100000|WT-LOSS^Weight loss 5kg^L|GOL77^MERCYGEN||1
In-context inside a PPG goal update:
MSH|^~&|EHR|MERCYGEN|REG|MERCYGEN|20260710100000||PPG^PCG^PPG_PCG|MSG913|P|2.5.1
PID|1||MR12345^^^MERCYGEN^MR||DOE^JOHN^Q||19800101|M
GOL|UP|20260710100000|WT-LOSS^Weight loss 5kg^L|GOL77^MERCYGEN|||||||AC^Achieved^L
FHIR mapping
No segment-level ConceptMap is published in the v2-to-FHIR IG for GOL. A care goal maps conceptually to the FHIR Goal resource (with lifecycleStatus from GOL-18); implementations define this locally.
Engine considerations
- Branch on GOL-1; match updates to the existing goal by GOL-4 instance id.
- Map GOL-18 life-cycle status to the target system's goal states.
How Vorro parses and produces GOL
Vorro keys goals by GOL-4 instance id, applies GOL-1 add/update/delete idempotently, and maps life-cycle status to FHIR Goal.lifecycleStatus on output.
Related pages
- PRB — the problems a goal addresses.
- PTH — pathways linking problems and goals.
- PPG messages — the goal message GOL heads.
