This template represents the location of a service event where an act, observation or procedure took (or will take) place.

The intent of the Encounter Location is to communicate the service delivery location (or point of service location) where the patient encounter occurred. There is a requirement for the Encounter Location to be captured for internal and external encounters. There will be some instances where an External Encounter location will not be easily identifiable when the encounter record has been manually transferred (as a paper record) to the EMR and the paper record isn’t clear about the Encounter location; in these cases a NullFlavor may be used (e.g. Unknown).