Clinical Data Model
The Clinical Data Model in Salesforce Health Cloud is the FHIR-aligned schema of objects, fields, and relationships that represent patient clinical information: encounters, conditions, observations, medications, allergies, procedures, immunizations, lab results, and the patient's overall health profile.
Definition
The Clinical Data Model in Salesforce Health Cloud is the FHIR-aligned schema of objects, fields, and relationships that represent patient clinical information: encounters, conditions, observations, medications, allergies, procedures, immunizations, lab results, and the patient's overall health profile. Health Cloud ships dozens of standard objects (Clinical Encounter, Condition Detail, Observation, Medication Statement, Allergy Intolerance, Procedure) that map closely to HL7 FHIR resource definitions, making integration with EHR systems and health information exchanges much smoother than a custom schema would allow.
The Clinical Data Model matters because healthcare integration is constrained by interoperability standards. FHIR (Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources) is the dominant standard for exchanging clinical data; aligning the Salesforce data model to FHIR resource shapes lets Health Cloud customers integrate with EHRs (Epic, Cerner, Meditech, athenahealth) and HIEs without building bespoke mapping layers. The data model also supports Care Plans, Care Programs, and the broader Health Cloud workflow stack, giving care coordinators, clinicians, and patient-facing surfaces a unified view of clinical information that respects the standards the rest of the industry has adopted.
How the Clinical Data Model integrates Salesforce with healthcare
Core clinical objects
Clinical Encounter (a visit), Condition Detail (a diagnosed condition), Observation (vital signs, lab results, clinical measurements), Medication Statement (prescribed or active medications), Allergy Intolerance (allergies and intolerances), Procedure (surgical and clinical procedures), Immunization (vaccinations). Each object has a FHIR-aligned schema and links to the Patient (Person Account).
FHIR alignment
Each clinical object in Health Cloud mirrors a FHIR resource (Condition, Observation, MedicationStatement, AllergyIntolerance, Procedure, Immunization). The field names and value sets follow FHIR conventions, which makes inbound mapping from FHIR-emitting EHRs and outbound to FHIR consumers straightforward.
Patient view integration
The Health Cloud Patient Card surfaces the clinical data model as a unified patient view: active conditions, current medications, allergies, recent encounters, vital trends. Care coordinators see this view as their primary working surface for case management and outreach.
EHR integration through Health Cloud APIs
Salesforce ships standard Health Cloud APIs that ingest FHIR data into the Clinical Data Model. Common integrations connect Epic, Cerner, Meditech, and athenahealth to Salesforce as a CRM layer on top of the EHR. The integration scales because the schemas align.
Care Plans and Programs over clinical data
Care Plans and Care Programs reference Clinical Data Model objects: a chronic-care Care Plan tracks Goals against Condition Details; a Medication Reconciliation program reviews Medication Statements; a Vaccination Outreach program targets patients with overdue Immunization records. The combination of clinical data and care workflows is Health Cloud's value proposition.
Privacy and consent
Clinical data is highly regulated under HIPAA, GDPR, and equivalent regulations. Health Cloud ships standard consent objects (Patient Consent) plus sharing-rule patterns that enforce minimum-necessary access. Access controls on Clinical Data Model objects need explicit configuration; defaults are deliberately conservative.
Reporting on clinical data
Standard report types cover patient panels by condition, medication adherence cohorts, immunization gap reports, and outreach targets. Custom report types extend to combinations specific to programs (diabetes patients with A1c above 8 plus no recent endocrinology encounter).
Common implementation pitfalls
Three patterns recur. Mapping from non-FHIR EHRs to the Clinical Data Model loses fidelity if the source schema is custom; budget for mapping effort. Privacy controls misconfigured at launch expose clinical data inappropriately. And clinical data volumes grow fast; storage and archival need explicit planning.
How to use the Clinical Data Model effectively
Standing up the Clinical Data Model is a multi-team project covering data model, EHR integration, privacy, and care workflows. The configuration below assumes the broader Health Cloud program is in place.
- Activate Health Cloud and the Clinical Data Model
Setup, Health Cloud Settings. Confirm the relevant feature licences and permission sets are assigned to clinical users.
- Map source EHR data to the Clinical Data Model
Build the mapping from source system fields to Health Cloud object fields. FHIR-emitting EHRs map cleanly; legacy custom schemas need more effort.
- Configure ingestion through Health Cloud APIs
Use Salesforce Health Cloud APIs, MuleSoft, or Data Cloud to ingest clinical data on a recurring schedule. Validate referential integrity (every Observation links to a valid Patient).
- Apply consent and privacy controls
Configure Patient Consent records and sharing rules so access matches the minimum-necessary principle. Audit access patterns periodically.
- Build Care Plans and Programs on top
Reference clinical data in Care Plan Goals, Care Program eligibility criteria, and reporting cohorts. The clinical data is what makes the care workflows operational.
- Non-FHIR EHR mapping loses fidelity. Budget for mapping effort and accept some data loss if the source is custom.
- Privacy controls need explicit configuration. Default settings are conservative; misconfiguration produces compliance findings.
- Clinical data volumes grow fast. Plan storage and archival explicitly; large patient populations produce millions of Observation records per year.
- Integration with multiple EHRs (multi-hospital systems) requires careful identity resolution to avoid duplicate patient records.
Trust & references
Cross-checked against the following references.
- Health Cloud Clinical Data ModelSalesforce Help
- Health Cloud OverviewSalesforce Help
Straight from the source - Salesforce's reference material on Clinical Data Model.
- HL7 FHIR SpecificationHL7 International
About the Author
Dipojjal Chakrabarti is a B2C Solution Architect with 29 Salesforce certifications and over 13 years in the Salesforce ecosystem. He runs salesforcedictionary.com to help admins, developers, architects, and cert/interview candidates sharpen their fundamentals. More about Dipojjal.
Test your knowledge
Q1. What is the Clinical Data Model?
Q2. Which healthcare standard does the Clinical Data Model align with?
Q3. Why does standards alignment matter in healthcare?
Discussion
Loading discussion…