Bulk-deleting FHIR resources

This page explains how to bulk-delete FHIR resources from a FHIR store using a long-running operation.

You can delete multiple FHIR resources in a single operation based on filters like resource type and last updated time. This is useful for data lifecycle management and cost savings.

Before you begin

Before you can bulk-delete FHIR resources, ensure the following:

• You must have the healthcare.fhirStores.bulkDelete permission on the FHIR store.
• If you specify a gcsDestination, the Cloud Healthcare Service Agent service account must have the roles/storage.objectAdmin role on the destination bucket. For more information, see FHIR store Cloud Storage permissions.

Bulk-deleting FHIR resources

To bulk-delete FHIR resources, use the projects.locations.datasets.fhirStores.bulkDelete method.

This method returns a long-running operation (LRO). You can track the status of the LRO using the operation name returned by the API call.

The following sample shows how to make a POST request to bulk-delete all Observation and Encounter resources in a FHIR store that were last updated before a specific timestamp.

REST

Before using any of the request data, make the following replacements:

• PROJECT_ID: the ID of your Google Cloud project
• LOCATION: the dataset location
• DATASET_ID: the FHIR store's parent dataset
• FHIR_STORE_ID: the FHIR store ID

Request JSON body:

{
  "type": "Observation,Encounter",
  "versionConfig": "ALL",
  "until": "2025-01-01T00:00:00Z",
  "gcsDestination": {
    "uriPrefix": "gs://BUCKET/DIRECTORY"
  }
}

To send your request, choose one of these options:

curl

Note: The following command assumes that you have logged in to the gcloud CLI with your user account by running gcloud init or gcloud auth login , or by using Cloud Shell, which automatically logs you into the gcloud CLI . You can check the currently active account by running gcloud auth list.

Save the request body in a file named request.json. Run the following command in the terminal to create or overwrite this file in the current directory:

cat > request.json << 'EOF'
{
  "type": "Observation,Encounter",
  "versionConfig": "ALL",
  "until": "2025-01-01T00:00:00Z",
  "gcsDestination": {
    "uriPrefix": "gs://BUCKET/DIRECTORY"
  }
}
EOF

Then execute the following command to send your REST request:

curl -X POST \
     -H "Authorization: Bearer $(gcloud auth print-access-token)" \
     -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
     -d @request.json \
     "https://healthcare.googleapis.com/v1/projects/PROJECT_ID/locations/LOCATION/datasets/DATASET_ID/fhirStores/FHIR_STORE_ID:bulkDelete"

PowerShell

Note: The following command assumes that you have logged in to the gcloud CLI with your user account by running gcloud init or gcloud auth login . You can check the currently active account by running gcloud auth list.

Save the request body in a file named request.json. Run the following command in the terminal to create or overwrite this file in the current directory:

@'
{
  "type": "Observation,Encounter",
  "versionConfig": "ALL",
  "until": "2025-01-01T00:00:00Z",
  "gcsDestination": {
    "uriPrefix": "gs://BUCKET/DIRECTORY"
  }
}
'@  | Out-File -FilePath request.json -Encoding utf8

Then execute the following command to send your REST request:

$cred = gcloud auth print-access-token
$headers = @{ "Authorization" = "Bearer $cred" }

Invoke-WebRequest `
    -Method POST `
    -Headers $headers `
    -ContentType: "application/json" `
    -InFile request.json `
    -Uri "https://healthcare.googleapis.com/v1/projects/PROJECT_ID/locations/LOCATION/datasets/DATASET_ID/fhirStores/FHIR_STORE_ID:bulkDelete" | Select-Object -Expand Content

The output is the following. The response contains an identifier for a long-running operation. Note the value of OPERATION_ID. You need this value in the next step.

Response

{
  "name": "projects/PROJECT_ID/locations/LOCATION/datasets/DATASET_ID/operations/OPERATION_ID"
}

Viewing the LRO status

To view the status of the bulk-delete operation, use the operations.get method with the operation name returned from the bulkDelete call.

REST

Before using any of the request data, make the following replacements:

• PROJECT_ID: the ID of your Google Cloud project
• LOCATION: the dataset location
• DATASET_ID: the FHIR store's parent dataset
• OPERATION_ID: the ID returned from the long-running operation

To send your request, choose one of these options:

curl

Note: The following command assumes that you have logged in to the gcloud CLI with your user account by running gcloud init or gcloud auth login , or by using Cloud Shell, which automatically logs you into the gcloud CLI . You can check the currently active account by running gcloud auth list.

Execute the following command:

curl -X GET \
     -H "Authorization: Bearer $(gcloud auth print-access-token)" \
     "https://healthcare.googleapis.com/v1alpha2/projects/PROJECT_ID/locations/LOCATION/datasets/DATASET_ID/operations/OPERATION_ID"

PowerShell

Note: The following command assumes that you have logged in to the gcloud CLI with your user account by running gcloud init or gcloud auth login . You can check the currently active account by running gcloud auth list.

Execute the following command:

$cred = gcloud auth print-access-token
$headers = @{ "Authorization" = "Bearer $cred" }

Invoke-WebRequest `
    -Method GET `
    -Headers $headers `
    -Uri "https://healthcare.googleapis.com/v1alpha2/projects/PROJECT_ID/locations/LOCATION/datasets/DATASET_ID/operations/OPERATION_ID" | Select-Object -Expand Content

If the request is successful, the server returns a response with the status of the operation in JSON format:

Response

{
  "name": "projects/PROJECT_ID/locations/LOCATION/datasets/DATASET_ID/operations/OPERATION_ID",
  "metadata": {
    "@type": "type.googleapis.com/google.cloud.healthcare.v1beta1.OperationMetadata",
    "apiMethodName": "google.cloud.healthcare.v1beta1.fhir.FhirStoreService.BulkDelete",
    "createTime": "CREATE_TIME",
    "endTime": "END_TIME",
    "counter": {
      "success": "SUCCESS_COUNT"
    }
  },
  "done": true,
  "response": {
    "@type": "type.googleapis.com/google.protobuf.Empty"
  }
}

Tracking deleted resources

When the bulk-delete operation completes, if a gcsDestination was specified, a summary file is generated in Cloud Storage. This file contains a list of the resource IDs for the current version resources that were deleted during the operation.

Limitations

Referential integrity is not guaranteed during a bulk-delete operation. It is recommended to use this operation only when referential integrity is not required or is known to be satisfied after the operation.