Location

Epic equivalent: Patient registration addresses / Facility address records / Provider contact info

The location table holds geographic and address data for patients, care sites, and providers. In Epic, this comes from patient registration addresses and facility records. In OMOP, other tables (person, care_site, provider) reference location_id to indicate where something or someone is located.

Epic-to-OMOP Field Mapping

Field reference (click to expand)

OMOP Field	Epic Equivalent	What It Captures
location_id	Address ID	Unique identifier
address_1, address_2	Street address	Typically suppressed in de-identified datasets
city	City	City name
state	State	State/province code (e.g., "GA")
zip	ZIP / postal code	5- or 9-digit code
county	County	May be derived from ZIP
location_source_value	Original address ID	Local ID from the source system
country_concept_id	Country	OMOP concept for country
latitude, longitude	Geo-coordinates	For geospatial analysis (not always populated)

What to Watch For

Common pitfalls

De-identification limits access

Address fields are often partially or fully removed under HIPAA. Only select Emory staff have full access to this table.

ZIP alone may not be enough

Many SDoH analyses require linking ZIP to census tract, ADI, or SVI indices — this must be done outside OMOP.

Location is not care site

location holds addresses. care_site and provider reference location_id for their physical location.

Research Patterns

Question	Tables Involved
Patients in rural ZIP codes	person.location_id + location.zip + rural-urban crosswalk
Regional variation in hypertension treatment	drug_exposure + person.location_id + location.state
Medically underserved care site locations	care_site.location_id + location.zip
Outcomes by neighborhood deprivation index	location.zip + external ADI/SVI mapping
Distance from home to cancer center	person.location_id + location.latitude/longitude + geodistance