HL7 Message ACK error responses

The below table lists some of the more common error responses that can result from the sending of an HL7 message, along with notes on what is causing that error to be returned.

Associated message/ segment

Error

Notes

Message rejected?

Associated message/ segment

Error

Notes

Message rejected?

MSH segment

MSH-7.1 (message timestamp) must be provided. You provided []

 

Yes

MSH segment

Unknown messageType received from HL7

 

Yes

MSH segment

MSH-10.1 (message control ID) must be provided. You provided []

 

Yes

MSH segment

MSH-11.1 (processing ID) must be provided. You provided []

 

Yes

PID segment

Parsing or validation error: lookup single patient must be provided with at least one identifier

At least one of PID-2.1, PID-2.4 or PID-2.5 is missing, or at least one is invalid.

Yes

PID segment

Parsing or validation error: cannot create patient missing these fields: [surname]

PID-5.1 field is not populated

Yes

PID segment

Parsing or validation error: cannot create patient missing these fields: givenName

PID-5.2 field is not populated

Yes

PID segment

Parsing or validation error: patient email address [example@pkbtest.com] already active in PKB

Email address already relates to record in PKB with different IDs to the ones in the message

Yes

PID segment

Parsing or validation error: no patient found for PID segment

This occurs for none demographic messages when auto-create is not enabled. It means that no PKB record can be found for the patient identified in the PID segment.

Yes

PID segment

Parsing or validation error (support code [support code]): ambiguous patient IDs provided

Occurs when the PID segment contains multiple IDs, which relate to different records within PKB. The system is therefore unable to determine which record to update.

Yes

PID segment

Parsing or validation error: invalid gender. Expected U, M, F or I

Occurs when something other than PKB’s accepted gender values is sent in PID-8.1.

 

A28/31

You need to provide at least one of: AL1.3.1 (Allergen code ID), AL1.3.2 (Allergen code text)

 

Yes

A28/31

You need to provide at least one of: DG1.3.1 (Diagnosis code ID), DG1.3.2 (Diagnosis code text)

 

Yes

A28/31

ZRX-2.2 (give code text) must be provided. You provided []

 

Yes

A28/31

Duplicate entries for allergies, HL7 request malformed

This happens when two or more of the same allergen is sent within the same HL7 message.

Yes

A28/31

You need to provide at least one of: AL1-3.1 (Allergen code ID), AL1-3.2 (Allergen code text)

 

 

A28/31

Invalid ZTM segment: patient not in specified team(s)

This happens when a patient is not already in the team from which they are to be removed.

Yes

SCH

Parsing or validation error: SCH-1.1 (placer ID) must be provided. You provided []

 

Yes

SCH

Parsing or validation error: SCH-11.4 (start time) must be provided. You provided []

 

Yes

SCH

Parsing or validation error: PV1-3.9 (appointment location) must be provided. You provided []

This occurs for S12 messages but can also occur for S13/14/15/26 messages if an appointment with the given ID does not already exist in PKB.

Yes

SCH

AIP segment must appear after an RGS segment

There is an RGS segment in the message but no API segment preceding it.

Yes

MDM^T02

Expected one OBX segment; found 0 OBX segments

This occurs when the OBX segment is completely removed from a T02 message. Be aware, the same error does not occur when removing an OBX segment from a ORU^R01 message.

Yes

MDM^T02

OBR[].OBX[1]: failed to parse ED content, HL7 request malformed

Check the content of the OBX segment. Ensure special characters are escaped.

Yes

MDM^T02

ED media type not yet supported:

The end of this error will display the exact invalid media type which is being sent (e.g image/jpeg).

This could be due to the values populated in the OBX-5 segment, or it could be because the system has detected that the encoded file contents is an unsupported format. For example, if the OBX-5 segment has been populated with APPLICATION^PDF, but the file contents is actually a Base64 encoded image file, the message will be rejected with this error.

Yes

ORU^R01

OBR group contains more than one result for a single test ID

If you are not sending textual lab reports, the same multiple OBX rows with the same test code cannot occur more than once within one OBR segment. If it does, this error occurs.

Yes

ORU^R01

OBX-11 value of [value] is not valid. [F, C] will be accepted; [I, O, P, X] will be silently ignored; other values will be rejected

Occurs when the OBX-11.1 field in a lab/rad result message is not one of the accepted values.

Yes

Various

Invalid time segment of timestamp; format should be yyyy[MM[dd[HH[mm[ss[.S[S[S[S]]]]]]]][+/-ZZZZ] - time value found: |

 

Yes

Various

Invalid time zone offset value; format should be [+/-ZZZZ]

This can occur in different fields, but usually the offending field is stated at the beginning of the error. E.g: "PID.29.1:"

Yes

Various

Parsing or validation error: sender security check failed

This occurs when PKB does not have the appropriate IP address whitelisted.

Yes