Update Patient

Updates an existing patient. The update process differs based on the current status of the patient.

PATCH /patients/{id}

Update Patient

cURL

curl --request PATCH \
  --url https://api.usecobalt.com/v1/patients/{id} \
  --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  --header 'access_token: <api-key>' \
  --header 'client_id: <api-key>' \
  --header 'client_secret: <api-key>' \
  --data '
{
  "address_city": "<string>",
  "address_line2": "<string>",
  "address_state": "<string>",
  "address_street": "<string>",
  "address_zip": "<string>",
  "cell_phone": "<string>",
  "dob": "2023-12-25",
  "email": "<string>",
  "first_name": "<string>",
  "insurance_name": "<string>",
  "insurance_subscriber_number": "<string>",
  "last_name": "<string>",
  "phone": "<string>",
  "referred_to_provider_id": "<string>",
  "referring_provider_first_name": "<string>",
  "referring_provider_last_name": "<string>",
  "referring_provider_id": "<string>"
}
'

200

{
  "success": true,
  "message": "<string>"
}

Use the Cobalt id in the URL path. The {id} parameter should be the Cobalt patient ID returned from API responses or GET endpoints, not the MRN or EHR ID.

The update process differs based on the current status of the patient:

1. Updating Pending or Failed Patients

For patients with a status of ‘pending’ or ‘failed’, the patient does not yet exist in the EHR. You can update any attribute, and the new values will be used the next time the patient creation runs.

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
Any patient attribute	varies	No	Any attribute of the patient can be updated. All fields are optional.

2. Updating Active Patients

For patients with a status of ‘active’ (already created in the EHR), you can update the patient’s contact information, address, and provider assignments. The change is queued and applied to the EHR asynchronously; the patient’s status will move to ‘pending_update’ while the update is in flight and back to ‘active’ once the EHR write completes.

Contact & Address Fields

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
phone	string	No	Home phone, formatted as 222-333-4444.
cell_phone	string	No	Cell phone, formatted as 222-333-4444.
email	string	No	Patient email address.
address_street	string	No	Street address line 1.
address_line2	string	No	Address line 2 (apartment, suite, unit, etc.).
address_city	string	No	City.
address_state	string	No	Two-letter state code (e.g. CA). DC is accepted.
address_zip	string	No	ZIP code. Accepts 5-digit (12345) or ZIP+4 (12345-6789) formats.
save_previous_address	boolean	No	When true (default), the patient’s current address is saved as address history in the EHR before the new address is applied. Set to false to overwrite without preserving history. eClinicalWorks only.

Provider Fields (eClinicalWorks Only)

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
referring_provider_first_name	string	No	Referring provider’s first name. Must be used with referring_provider_last_name.
referring_provider_last_name	string	No	Referring provider’s last name. Must be used with referring_provider_first_name.
referring_provider_id	string	No	Cobalt referring provider UUID (from GET /v1/referring-providers). Looks up the provider’s name and contact info for more accurate matching.
pcp_first_name	string	No	PCP’s first name. Must be used with pcp_last_name.
pcp_last_name	string	No	PCP’s last name. Must be used with pcp_first_name.
pcp_id	string	No	Cobalt referring provider UUID (from GET /v1/referring-providers). Looks up the provider’s name and contact info for more accurate matching.
referred_to_provider_id	string	No	Rendering provider EHR ID — use the ehr_id value from GET /v1/providers (not the id).

Provider updates are all-or-nothing. If a provider name cannot be resolved in the EMR, the entire update request fails — no fields (including contact/address fields in the same request) will be applied. Use referring_provider_id or pcp_id instead of names when possible, as ID-based resolution is more reliable.

At least one data field must be provided.

Example Request for Updating a Pending/Failed Patient

curl -X PATCH https://api.usecobalt.com/v1/patients/65ed04f9d25fca3876f367d9ad94e3c3 \
-H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
-H 'client_id: ci_live_198908HJDKJSH98789OHKJL' \
-H 'client_secret: cs_live_9827hofdsklOYYHJLJh' \
-H 'access_token: 493JKLHIU98789hLKH9HHJH' \
-d '{
    "phone": "555-987-6543",
    "insurance_name": "Aetna",
    "insurance_subscriber_number": "ABC987654321"
}'

Example Request for Updating an Active Patient’s Contact Info

curl -X PATCH https://api.usecobalt.com/v1/patients/65ed04f9d25fca3876f367d9ad94e3c3 \
-H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
-H 'client_id: ci_live_198908HJDKJSH98789OHKJL' \
-H 'client_secret: cs_live_9827hofdsklOYYHJLJh' \
-H 'access_token: 493JKLHIU98789hLKH9HHJH' \
-d '{
    "phone": "555-987-6543",
    "cell_phone": "555-987-6544",
    "email": "[e-mail]"
}'

Example Request for Updating an Active Patient’s Address

curl -X PATCH https://api.usecobalt.com/v1/patients/65ed04f9d25fca3876f367d9ad94e3c3 \
-H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
-H 'client_id: ci_live_198908HJDKJSH98789OHKJL' \
-H 'client_secret: cs_live_9827hofdsklOYYHJLJh' \
-H 'access_token: 493JKLHIU98789hLKH9HHJH' \
-d '{
    "address_street": "456 New St",
    "address_line2": "Apt 7",
    "address_city": "Austin",
    "address_state": "TX",
    "address_zip": "78701"
}'

To update the address without saving the previous address as history, pass save_previous_address: false:

curl -X PATCH https://api.usecobalt.com/v1/patients/65ed04f9d25fca3876f367d9ad94e3c3 \
-H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
-H 'client_id: ci_live_198908HJDKJSH98789OHKJL' \
-H 'client_secret: cs_live_9827hofdsklOYYHJLJh' \
-H 'access_token: 493JKLHIU98789hLKH9HHJH' \
-d '{
    "address_street": "456 New St",
    "address_city": "Austin",
    "address_state": "TX",
    "address_zip": "78701",
    "save_previous_address": false
}'

Example Request for Updating an Active Patient’s Providers

curl -X PATCH https://api.usecobalt.com/v1/patients/65ed04f9d25fca3876f367d9ad94e3c3 \
-H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
-H 'client_id: ci_live_198908HJDKJSH98789OHKJL' \
-H 'client_secret: cs_live_9827hofdsklOYYHJLJh' \
-H 'access_token: 493JKLHIU98789hLKH9HHJH' \
-d '{
    "referring_provider_id": "e35e82b85df58f08a9b38e06a91e9f1a",
    "pcp_id": "223ecd1b29e546ca9db6b391eb49b213",
    "referred_to_provider_id": "82749"
}'

Or using names instead of IDs:

curl -X PATCH https://api.usecobalt.com/v1/patients/65ed04f9d25fca3876f367d9ad94e3c3 \
-H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
-H 'client_id: ci_live_198908HJDKJSH98789OHKJL' \
-H 'client_secret: cs_live_9827hofdsklOYYHJLJh' \
-H 'access_token: 493JKLHIU98789hLKH9HHJH' \
-d '{
    "referring_provider_first_name": "Jane",
    "referring_provider_last_name": "Doe",
    "pcp_first_name": "Robert",
    "pcp_last_name": "Johnson"
}'

Example Response

{
    "success": true,
    "message": "Patient update queued."
}

Only include the fields you want to update in the request body. Omitted fields will remain unchanged.

Authorizations

client_id · string · header · required

client_secret · string · header · required

access_token · string · header · required

Path Parameters

id · string · required

The patient's ID

Body

application/json

Option 1

Option 2

Updates for pending/failed patients. Any allowed attribute can be updated; values are used the next time patient creation runs against the EHR.

address_city · string

address_line2 · string

Address line 2 (apartment, suite, unit, etc.)

address_state · string

address_street · string

address_zip · string

cell_phone · string

dob · string<date>

email · string

Patient email address

first_name · string

insurance_name · string

insurance_sequence · enum<string>

Available options: primary, secondary, tertiary

insurance_subscriber_number · string

last_name · string

phone · string

referred_to_provider_id · string

The ehr_id of the provider this patient is being referred to (rendering provider). Use the ehr_id from GET /v1/providers

referring_provider_first_name · string

First name of the referring provider

referring_provider_last_name · string

Last name of the referring provider

referring_provider_id · string

The id of a referring provider from GET /v1/referring-providers (UUID without dashes). Can be used instead of referring_provider_first_name and referring_provider_last_name. Currently only supported for eClinicalWorks.

sex · enum<string>

Available options: male, female, unknown

Response

200 - application/json

Successful response

success · boolean

message · string