Elation Note

Beta: These six tables are in beta. Their schema may change without the notice period that change management gives generally available tables.

The Elation Note is the note format that supersedes the legacy Visit Note. Within it, practices build custom blocks to collect structured, reusable sets of questions during a visit. Unlike the free-text bullets in visit_note_bullet, the answers are stored as question-and-answer data you can group, filter, and aggregate directly in SQL. This page covers how that data is modeled for querying. For what custom blocks are, how to build one, and how the question formats and conditional logic behave in the application, see Elation Note Guide - Managing custom blocks.

The six tables

Six tables model this data, in two groups.

Answer tables: what clinicians recorded

These hold the answers themselves. Rows reference a patient and a note, and volume scales with how much documenting a practice does.

Table	What it holds
`elation_note`	The reporting table for custom block answers. Not one row per note. One row per answer value, already joined to its question and its response label. Start here for querying answers.
`elation_note_structured_data`	The raw answer records behind `elation_note`, keyed on the Elation Note’s own identifier. Has the widest coverage of the six tables.

Configuration tables: how the blocks are built

These describe the blocks and questions a practice has set up, not anything a clinician entered. They are practice-scoped and reused across every note, so they are small and change only when someone edits a block in Settings.

Table	What it holds
`elation_note_custom_block`	Current state of each custom block a practice has built, including its label.
`elation_note_custom_block_snapshot`	The block’s definition frozen at the time a note used it.
`elation_note_question`	Current definition of each question in a custom block: its prompt, type, and whether it is required.
`elation_note_response_option`	The selectable options for choice-style questions, mapping a stored value to its display text.

For the full column list of every table mentioned here, see the hosted database schema reference.

What a row in `elation_note` represents

Each row is one answer value: a single question’s answer within a single custom block on a single note. A single note typically occupies dozens of rows, one for every answer value in every custom block it uses. For note-level results, aggregate by el8_note_id or visit_note_id, or query visit_note for the note record itself.

A single-value question (string, date, boolean) produces exactly one row.
A multi-select question (array) produces one row per selected option. A question with four boxes checked returns four rows.

Because of this, elation_note has no single-column primary key, and visit_note_id plus question_id is not unique. Expect elation_note to be far smaller than visit_note: it covers only the notes that use custom blocks.

How Elation Notes relate to Visit Notes

Every Elation Note also exists as a Visit Note, and the answer tables carry both identifiers:

el8_note_id identifies the Elation Note.
visit_note_id identifies the same note in visit_note.

The two are one to one: one Elation Note, one Visit Note. Neither is unique within elation_note itself, because a note spans many answer rows. This matters for two reasons. Note-level attributes live on the Visit Note. The answer tables carry patient_id and practice_id but nothing about the note itself. For the encounter date, the author, or the sign-off, join to visit_note as the example below does. visit_note_bullet carries the same answers as text. Custom block answers also appear in the note’s bullets, written into the prose the way a reader sees them. What elation_note adds is structure: the answer separated from its question, its response label resolved, and one row per value. Query elation_note to group, filter, or aggregate answers; read visit_note_bullet when you want the note as it was written.

Table relationships

Question formats in the data

The question formats a practice picks in the custom block builder do not map one-to-one onto question_type. Several collapse together:

Format in the builder	Stored `question_type`	How to recognize it
Paragraph Text	`string`	No rows in `elation_note_response_option`
Dropdown Select	`string`	Has rows in `elation_note_response_option`
Radio Select	`string`	Has rows in `elation_note_response_option`
Checkbox	`array`	Always has rows in `elation_note_response_option`
Date	`date`	No rows in `elation_note_response_option`

Dropdown and Radio are therefore indistinguishable once stored, and free text is the string question with no response options. You may also see question_type = 'boolean', which carries no options and holds its value directly. See Managing custom blocks for what each format does for the clinician.

Identifying a question

Three columns describe the question an answer belongs to, and they are not equally reliable:

question_text is the prompt shown to the clinician. How reliably it is populated depends entirely on how a practice built its blocks. Some have prompt text on nearly every question; others leave it blank on most of them and rely on a visual label instead. Check your own data before building a report around it.
field_name is a machine-generated identifier: a short random string of letters, numbers, and dashes. It is not human-readable, but it is stable and consistent across notes, which makes it a dependable key for grouping the same question across many notes.
elation_note_custom_block.label is the block’s human-readable name, as the practice titled it in Settings. Joining through the snapshot to get this label is usually the fastest way to make results readable, and it works even where question_text is blank.

How `response` is populated

elation_note.response gives you the value already resolved for display:

For choice-style questions, it holds the option’s display text from elation_note_response_option.response_text, not the stored raw value. You do not need to join elation_note_response_option to read an answer. Join it only when you need the full list of options a question offered, including ones nobody selected.
For free-text, date, and boolean questions, it holds the value as entered.

Answers whose option was edited or deleted after the note was signed keep the text that was recorded at the time, so a small share of responses will not match any current row in elation_note_response_option.

Current blocks versus the block a note used

A practice can edit a custom block at any time: rename it, add questions, or change response options. Two tables let you choose which version you mean:

elation_note_custom_block holds the block as it exists today. Its current_state_snapshot column is the block’s live definition as JSON. Use this table to describe how a practice’s blocks are configured now.
elation_note_custom_block_snapshot holds the definition frozen when a note used the block. Its custom_block_snapshot column is a JSON array of the block’s fields at that moment. Use this table to interpret historical notes correctly, since a block edited in 2026 does not describe a note signed in 2025.

elation_note.custom_block_snapshot_id points at the snapshot, so answers are always anchored to the version the clinician actually filled in.

Example queries

Reading one note’s answers

This returns every custom block answer on a single note, labeled by block:

select
    b.label           as block_label
  , n.field_name
  , n.question_text
  , n.question_type
  , n.response
from elation_note n
join elation_note_custom_block_snapshot s
  on s.id = n.custom_block_snapshot_id
join elation_note_custom_block b
  on b.id = s.custom_block_id
where n.visit_note_id = <visit_note_id>
  and n.is_deleted = false
  and n.is_visible = true
order by b.label, n.field_name;

Rolling a question up across notes

This counts how many notes selected each option for one question:

select
    n.response
  , count(distinct n.visit_note_id) as notes
from elation_note n
where n.question_id = <question_id>
  and n.is_deleted = false
  and n.is_visible = true
group by n.response
order by notes desc;

To find the question_id to use, list the questions your practice’s blocks actually collect:

select
    b.label           as block_label
  , n.question_id
  , n.field_name
  , n.question_text
  , n.question_type
  , count(distinct n.visit_note_id) as notes
from elation_note n
join elation_note_custom_block_snapshot s
  on s.id = n.custom_block_snapshot_id
join elation_note_custom_block b
  on b.id = s.custom_block_id
where n.is_deleted = false
  and n.is_visible = true
group by 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
order by notes desc;

Combining with Visit Note data

Join to visit_note for the encounter date, author, and sign-off:

select
    v.id           as visit_note_id
  , v.document_date
  , v.physician_user_id
  , v.signed_time
  , b.label        as block_label
  , n.field_name
  , n.response
from elation_note n
join visit_note v
  on v.id = n.visit_note_id
join elation_note_custom_block_snapshot s
  on s.id = n.custom_block_snapshot_id
join elation_note_custom_block b
  on b.id = s.custom_block_id
where v.document_date >= '2026-01-01'
  and v.deletion_time is null
  and n.is_deleted = false
  and n.is_visible = true
order by v.document_date, b.label;

For the note’s free-text content, timing, and its relationship to bills and orders, see Visit Notes.

If you have any questions about this topic please reach out to Elation Support Portal with the subject line HDB - <your_question>

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Overview

How Tos

Common Queries

Elation Billing

Frequently Asked Questions

Early Release

Changelog

The six tables

Answer tables: what clinicians recorded

Configuration tables: how the blocks are built

What a row in `elation_note` represents

How Elation Notes relate to Visit Notes

Table relationships

Question formats in the data

Identifying a question

How `response` is populated

Current blocks versus the block a note used

Example queries

Reading one note’s answers

Rolling a question up across notes

Combining with Visit Note data

​The six tables

​Answer tables: what clinicians recorded

​Configuration tables: how the blocks are built

​What a row in elation_note represents

​How Elation Notes relate to Visit Notes

​Table relationships

​Question formats in the data

​Identifying a question

​How response is populated

​Current blocks versus the block a note used

​Example queries

​Reading one note’s answers

​Rolling a question up across notes

​Combining with Visit Note data

​Related Articles

The six tables

Answer tables: what clinicians recorded

Configuration tables: how the blocks are built

What a row in `elation_note` represents

How Elation Notes relate to Visit Notes

Table relationships

Question formats in the data

Identifying a question

How `response` is populated

Current blocks versus the block a note used

Example queries

Reading one note’s answers

Rolling a question up across notes

Combining with Visit Note data

Related Articles