MedicalClinic vs. Physician

Question

Can anyone specifically differentiate when it is appropriate to use the http://schema.org/MedicalClinic versus the http://schema.org/Physician.

The schema.org defines each as:

Physician - A doctor's office
MedicalClinic - A medical clinic

The issue of contention: To my understanding a medical clinic is a medical business that consists of multiple physicians and other credentialed individuals.

However, isn't it possible for a physician to work for a medical clinic that's made up of a single physician & other professionals? In the case, one physician & other credentialed individuals, is it a clinic or an office?

Does clinic imply the act of treatment whereas office implies solely the act of diagnosis?

Can anyone clear this up for me?

Answer 1

From a practical point of view, after comparing both schemas:

• both inherits Thing > Organization > LocalBusiness > MedicalOrganization properties
• Each type properties
  • MedicalClinic:
    • availableService
    • medicalSpecialty
  • Physician
    • availableService
    • medicalSpecialty
    • hospitalAffiliation

So the only difference is hospitalAffiliation which is of Thing > Place > CivicStructure > Hospital type.

So if it is appropriate to fill the property hospitalAffiliation with a Hospital type use the http://schema.org/Physician, if it has no sense to use it, use the http://schema.org/MedicalClinic type.