Which FHIR resource provides metadata about a document so that the document can be discovered and managed?

• A. Binary
• B. DocumentReference
• C. Linkage
• D. Parameters

Answer: (B)

DocumentReference is the resource that provides metadata about a document to support discovery and management. It describes the document at a metadata level—who authored it, when it was created, what patient it relates to, the type or category of the document, and how to access the actual content. The content can point to the stored document via an attachment or a reference to a Binary resource, including the content type and format. This makes it possible for systems to search for, identify, and retrieve documents without loading the binary content itself, effectively indexing the document for discovery and lifecycle management.

The Binary resource holds the actual document data, not its discoverable metadata. Linkage is for expressing relationships between resources, not providing a self-contained metadata index for documents. Parameters is used for passing or representing operation or search parameters, not for documenting a document’s metadata.