The STF (Staff Identification) segment carries the core master-file record for a member of staff or a practitioner. It is the anchor segment of the Staff/Practitioner master file: a single STF segment identifies one person and records their identifiers, name, type, demographics, contact details, and employment status, after which PRA and ORG segments add practitioner-specific and organizational detail. STF is most often exchanged inside MFN^M02 master file notification messages so that downstream systems can keep a synchronized directory of clinicians and other staff.
Purpose
The purpose of STF is to communicate, create, or update a master record describing a single staff member. It supplies a stable primary key (STF-1), one or more institution-assigned identifiers (STF-2), the person's name (STF-3), and a broad set of attributes ranging from staff type and department to demographic, contact, and credentialing information. Because the master file framework treats STF as the parent of the staff record, every PRA and ORG segment that follows it in a message is understood to belong to the same individual.
Used in
STF is used in MFN^M02 Master File Notification messages for staff and practitioner records. In that context the MFE (Master File Entry) segment declares the record-level action (add, update, delete) and the STF segment immediately follows, optionally trailed by PRA and ORG segments that elaborate on the same person.
Field-by-field reference
Source: HAPI HL7v2 v2.5.1 javadocs (STF) for sequence, name, data type, and repetition. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| STF-1 | Primary Key Value - STF | ce | — | R | — | — | Master file primary key identifying this staff record |
| STF-2 | Staff Identifier List | cx | — | O | Y | — | Institution-assigned identifiers for the staff member |
| STF-3 | Staff Name | xpn | — | O | Y | — | Full name of the staff member |
| STF-4 | Staff Type | is | — | O | Y | HL70182 | Category of staff such as physician or nurse |
| STF-5 | Administrative Sex | is | — | O | — | HL70001 | Administrative sex of the staff member |
| STF-6 | Date/Time of Birth | ts | — | O | — | — | Birth date and time of the staff member |
| STF-7 | Active/Inactive Flag | id | — | O | — | HL70183 | Indicates whether the staff record is active |
| STF-8 | Department | ce | — | O | Y | — | Department to which the staff member belongs |
| STF-9 | Hospital Service - STF | ce | — | O | Y | HL70069 | Hospital service associated with the staff member |
| STF-10 | Phone | xtn | — | O | Y | — | Telephone or other telecommunication contacts |
| STF-11 | Office/Home Address/Birthplace | xad | — | O | Y | — | Office, home, or birthplace addresses |
| STF-12 | Institution Activation Date | din | — | O | Y | — | Date the staff member was activated at an institution |
| STF-13 | Institution Inactivation Date | din | — | O | Y | — | Date the staff member was inactivated at an institution |
| STF-14 | Backup Person ID | ce | — | O | Y | — | Identifier of a backup or covering person |
| STF-15 | E-Mail Address | st | — | O | Y | — | Electronic mail address of the staff member |
| STF-16 | Preferred Method of Contact | ce | — | O | — | HL70185 | Preferred way to reach the staff member |
| STF-17 | Marital Status | ce | — | O | — | HL70002 | Marital status of the staff member |
| STF-18 | Job Title | st | — | O | — | — | Free-text job title of the staff member |
| STF-19 | Job Code/Class | jcc | — | O | — | HL70327 | Coded job classification of the staff member |
| STF-20 | Employment Status Code | ce | — | O | — | HL70066 | Employment status of the staff member |
| STF-21 | Additional Insured on Auto | id | — | O | — | HL70136 | Indicates additional insured on auto policy |
| STF-22 | Driver's License Number - Staff | dln | — | O | — | — | Driver's license number of the staff member |
| STF-23 | Copy Auto Ins | id | — | O | — | HL70136 | Indicates a copy of auto insurance is on file |
| STF-24 | Auto Ins. Expires | dt | — | O | — | — | Auto insurance expiration date |
| STF-25 | Date Last DMV Review | dt | — | O | — | — | Date of the last motor vehicle record review |
| STF-26 | Date Next DMV Review | dt | — | O | — | — | Date of the next scheduled DMV review |
| STF-27 | Race | ce | — | O | — | HL70005 | Race of the staff member |
| STF-28 | Ethnic Group | ce | — | O | — | HL70189 | Ethnic group of the staff member |
| STF-29 | Re-activation Approval Indicator | id | — | O | — | HL70136 | Indicates approval to re-activate the staff member |
| STF-30 | Citizenship | ce | — | O | Y | HL70171 | Citizenship of the staff member |
| STF-31 | Death Date and Time | ts | — | O | — | — | Date and time of death |
| STF-32 | Death Indicator | id | — | O | — | HL70136 | Indicates whether the staff member is deceased |
| STF-33 | Institution Relationship Type Code | cwe | — | O | — | HL70538 | Type of relationship to the institution |
| STF-34 | Institution Relationship Period | dr | — | O | — | — | Date range of the institution relationship |
| STF-35 | Expected Return Date | dt | — | O | — | — | Expected return date of the staff member |
| STF-36 | Cost Center Code | cwe | — | O | Y | HL70539 | Cost center associated with the staff member |
| STF-37 | Generic Classification Indicator | id | — | O | — | HL70136 | Indicates a generic classification applies |
| STF-38 | Inactive Reason Code | cwe | — | O | — | HL70540 | Reason the staff member is inactive |
Most-used fields
In practice the overwhelming majority of integrations rely on a small subset of STF fields. STF-1 (Primary Key Value) is the stable identifier that ties the staff record to MFE and to any PRA/ORG children, so it is effectively mandatory. STF-2 (Staff Identifier List) carries the operational identifiers an external system actually keys on, such as an NPI or an internal provider number. STF-3 (Staff Name) supplies the human-readable name. STF-4 (Staff Type) and STF-7 (Active/Inactive Flag) drive directory categorization and the activation lifecycle. STF-10 (Phone) and STF-15 (E-Mail Address) round out the contact picture that most provider directories need.
Version differences (2.3 to 2.8.2)
STF was introduced in HL7 v2.3 with a comparatively short field list focused on identifier, name, type, sex, birth date, active flag, department, service, phone, and address. Version 2.3.1 and 2.4 expanded the demographic and credentialing fields (driver's license, DMV review dates, marital status). Version 2.5 and 2.5.1 added the institution relationship fields (STF-33 and STF-34), cost center (STF-36), and the generic classification and inactive reason fields, bringing the segment to the 38-field form documented here. Versions 2.6 through 2.8.2 retained this structure while migrating several coded fields from CE toward CWE and tightening table bindings; no fields were removed, so a 2.5.1 STF parses cleanly under later versions.
Common mistakes
A frequent error is omitting or reusing STF-1, which breaks the linkage between the master file entry and its staff record and can cause downstream systems to create duplicates. Another is conflating STF-2 (the identifier list) with STF-1 (the primary key); they serve different roles and should not be populated with the same value blindly. Integrators also often forget that STF-2, STF-3, STF-4, and the address and phone fields repeat, and they truncate to the first value, dropping additional identifiers or alternate names. Finally, sending demographic fields such as race or ethnic group without the correct table-bound codes produces records that fail validation in stricter engines.
Examples
A minimal valid STF segment with only the primary key, an identifier, name, type, and active flag:
STF|1234^^^HOSP^PRN|987654^^^HOSP^MR|SMITH^JOHN^A|P|||A
A fully populated STF segment exercising most fields:
STF|1234^^^HOSP^PRN|987654^^^NPI~5551212^^^HOSP^PRN|SMITH^JOHN^A^^DR^MD|P~T|M|19700115|A|CARDIOLOGY^Cardiology^L|CAR^Cardiology Service^L|(555)555-0100^PRN^PH~(555)555-0188^WPN^FX|100 MAIN ST^^METROPOLIS^NY^10001^USA^O|20180101000000|||0099^Dr. Adams^L|jsmith@hospital.example|TEL^Telephone^HL70185|M^Married^HL70002|Attending Physician|123^Physician^L^^^L|F^Full Time^HL70066|N|D1234567^NY^20281231|N|20281231|20250101|20260101|2106-3^White^HL70005|N^Non-Hispanic^HL70189|N|USA^United States^HL70171|||N||20300101|CC100^Cardiology Cost Center^L|N|
Annotated breakdown of the key fields:
STF|1234^^^HOSP^PRN|987654^^^NPI|SMITH^JOHN^A|P|M|19700115|A
| | | | | | |
| | | | | | +--> STF-7 Active/Inactive Flag (A = active)
| | | | | +-----------> STF-6 Date/Time of Birth
| | | | +--------------> STF-5 Administrative Sex
| | | +-----------------> STF-4 Staff Type (P = physician)
| | +------------------------------> STF-3 Staff Name
| +---------------------------------------------> STF-2 Staff Identifier List
+------------------------------------------------------------> STF-1 Primary Key Value - STF
In-context excerpt inside an MFN^M02 message, adding a new staff record:
MSH|^~&|HRSYS|HOSP|DIRSVC|HOSP|20260610091500||MFN^M02^MFN_M02|MSG00001|P|2.5.1
MFI|PRA^Practitioner Master File^HL70175|HOSP|UPD|20260610091500||AL
MFE|MAD|PKEY001|20260610091500|1234^^^HOSP^PRN|CM
STF|1234^^^HOSP^PRN|987654^^^NPI|SMITH^JOHN^A|P|M|19700115|A
PRA|1234^^^HOSP^PRN|GRP01^Cardiology Group^L|FACPHY|Y|207RC0000X^Cardiology^NUCC
A second in-context excerpt updating an existing staff record's contact details:
MSH|^~&|HRSYS|HOSP|DIRSVC|HOSP|20260610093000||MFN^M02^MFN_M02|MSG00002|P|2.5.1
MFI|PRA^Practitioner Master File^HL70175|HOSP|UPD|20260610093000||AL
MFE|MUP|PKEY002|20260610093000|1234^^^HOSP^PRN|CM
STF|1234^^^HOSP^PRN|987654^^^NPI|SMITH^JOHN^A|P|||A|||(555)555-0199^PRN^PH||||jsmith.new@hospital.example
FHIR mapping
No segment-level ConceptMap is published in the v2-to-FHIR IG for STF. Conceptually the staff member described by an STF segment corresponds to a FHIR Practitioner resource: STF-1 and STF-2 map to Practitioner.identifier, STF-3 to Practitioner.name, STF-5 to Practitioner.gender, STF-6 to Practitioner.birthDate, and the phone, email, and address fields to Practitioner.telecom and Practitioner.address. Because no formal ConceptMap exists at the segment level, implementers must define these mappings locally.
Engine considerations
Most interface engines treat STF as a standalone segment that can appear at most once per MFE group, so engines should enforce that cardinality when validating staff master files. Repeating fields (STF-2, STF-3, STF-4, STF-8, STF-9, STF-10, STF-11, and others) must be parsed as arrays; flattening them to a single occurrence silently discards data. Engines that downcast coded fields from CWE to CE between versions should preserve the original code, text, and coding system components. Because STF carries demographic and license data, engines often need to apply de-identification or filtering rules before forwarding the segment to less-trusted destinations.
How Vorro parses and produces STF
Vorro parses STF by first reading STF-1 as the record key and indexing it against the parent MFE action code so that adds, updates, and deletes are routed correctly. Repeating identifier, name, and contact fields are expanded into normalized collections, and coded fields are resolved against the configured HL7 tables with the original components retained. When producing STF, Vorro emits STF-1 as the stable primary key, populates STF-2 from the source system's identifier set, and writes name, type, and active-flag fields from the normalized staff model, leaving optional fields empty rather than sending placeholder values. PRA and ORG segments produced for the same person reuse the STF-1 key to preserve linkage.
Related pages
- HL7 PRA Segment: Practitioner Detail
- HL7 ORG Segment: Practitioner Organization Unit
- HL7 MFN Message: Master File Notification
