^S15
SIU^S15 — Notification of Appointment Discontinuation
SIU^S15 notifies downstream systems that an appointment or recurring appointment series has been discontinued. It is similar to cancellation but applies specifically to recurring or active appointment slots that are being stopped going forward rather than cancelled retroactively.
When Is This Sent?
When a recurring appointment is stopped (e.g., weekly dialysis sessions discontinued after transplant) or an active appointment slot is removed from the schedule. Similar to cancellation but for recurring or active slots.
Real-World Usage
SIU^S15 is less commonly implemented than S12/S13 but is important for recurring procedure workflows (dialysis, chemotherapy, PT/OT). If not properly handled by the receiving system, discontinued recurring appointments may continue to appear on worklists indefinitely. Confirm with the RIS or scheduling system vendor whether S15 is supported as a distinct event.
Message Structure
Segment names link to their field-level reference pages.
| # | Segment | Purpose in this message | Req | Repeat |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | MSH | Message header with SIU^S15 in MSH.9 | R | — |
| 2 | SCH | Scheduling activity information identifying the appointment series being discontinued | R | — |
| 3 | PID | Patient demographics | R | — |
| 4 | AIS | Appointment service being discontinued | R | — |
| 5 | PV1 | Patient visit context | O | — |
| 6 | NTE | Reason for discontinuation | O | Yes |
| 7 | AIG | Resource being released | O | Yes |
Example Message
Realistic example with fake patient data. Paste into the HL7 Message Viewer to explore interactively.
1MSH||^~\&|EPIC_SCHED|HOSPITAL_A|MIRTH_PROD|RIS|20260314120000||SIU^S15^SIU_S15|SCH00020|P|2.5.1 2SCH||APT20260301DIAL^EPIC_SCHED||||||90935^Hemodialysis^CPT4||240^MIN|||||9012^Chen^Dr.^Alice 3PID||1||345678^^^HOSP_A^MR||Williams^Robert^K||19550811|M 4AIS||1||90935^Hemodialysis^CPT4
Troubleshooting Scenarios
Discontinued recurring appointments continue to appear on worklist
Cause
The receiving system stores recurring appointments as individual future instances. SIU^S15 only flags the series as discontinued but does not automatically remove all future instances.
Fix
Send individual SIU^S13 (cancel) messages for each remaining future appointment instance, or confirm the receiving system's S15 handling logic removes all pending future instances when a series is discontinued.
System treats S15 identically to S13 (cancel) — no behavioral difference
Cause
Many systems don't implement S15 distinctly from S13. The receiving system has no special S15 handler.
Fix
Check vendor documentation for S15 support. If not supported, use S13 (cancel) for each individual instance as an alternative. Document the workaround in your interface specification.
Common Confusions
SIU^S15 (Discontinue) vs SIU^S13 (Cancel). S13 cancels a specific single appointment occurrence. S15 discontinues an ongoing or recurring appointment series — it implies all future occurrences are also removed. In practice, many HL7 interfaces treat S13 and S15 identically. Also compare SIU^S17 (Delete) — S17 is for removing appointment records entirely, often for data correction purposes.
Related Message Types
Segment Reference
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