diff --git a/hapi-fhir-jpaserver-base/src/main/java/ca/uhn/fhir/jpa/search/builder/QueryStack.java b/hapi-fhir-jpaserver-base/src/main/java/ca/uhn/fhir/jpa/search/builder/QueryStack.java
index 42de4a119e0..b1f35f8ad21 100644
--- a/hapi-fhir-jpaserver-base/src/main/java/ca/uhn/fhir/jpa/search/builder/QueryStack.java
+++ b/hapi-fhir-jpaserver-base/src/main/java/ca/uhn/fhir/jpa/search/builder/QueryStack.java
@@ -1139,14 +1139,17 @@ public class QueryStack {
 							//   For now, leave the incorrect implementation alone, just in case someone is relying on it,
 							//   until the complete fix is available.
 							andPredicates.add(createPredicateReferenceForContainedResource(null, theResourceName, theParamName, nextParamDef, nextAnd, null, theRequest, theRequestPartitionId));
-						} else if (nextAnd.stream().filter(t -> t instanceof ReferenceParam).map(t -> (ReferenceParam) t).anyMatch(t -> t.getChain().contains("."))) {
-								// FIXME for now, restrict contained reference traversal to the last reference in the chain
-								andPredicates.add(createPredicateReference(theSourceJoinColumn, theResourceName, theParamName, nextAnd, null, theRequest, theRequestPartitionId));
-						} else {
+						} else if (isEligibleForContainedResourceSearch(nextAnd)) {
+							// TODO for now, restrict contained reference traversal to the last reference in the chain
+							//   We don't seem to be indexing the outbound references of a contained resource, so we can't
+							//   include them in search chains.
+							//   It would be nice to eventually relax this constraint, but no client seems to be asking for it.
 							andPredicates.add(toOrPredicate(
 								createPredicateReference(theSourceJoinColumn, theResourceName, theParamName, nextAnd, null, theRequest, theRequestPartitionId),
 								createPredicateReferenceForContainedResource(theSourceJoinColumn, theResourceName, theParamName, nextParamDef, nextAnd, null, theRequest, theRequestPartitionId)
 							));
+						} else {
+							andPredicates.add(createPredicateReference(theSourceJoinColumn, theResourceName, theParamName, nextAnd, null, theRequest, theRequestPartitionId));
 						}
 					}
 					break;
@@ -1225,6 +1228,14 @@ public class QueryStack {
 		return toAndPredicate(andPredicates);
 	}
 
+	private boolean isEligibleForContainedResourceSearch(List<? extends IQueryParameterType> nextAnd) {
+		return myModelConfig.isIndexOnContainedResources() &&
+			nextAnd.stream()
+				.filter(t -> t instanceof ReferenceParam)
+				.map(t -> (ReferenceParam) t)
+				.noneMatch(t -> t.getChain().contains("."));
+	}
+
 	public void addPredicateCompositeUnique(String theIndexString, RequestPartitionId theRequestPartitionId) {
 		ComboUniqueSearchParameterPredicateBuilder predicateBuilder = mySqlBuilder.addComboUniquePredicateBuilder();
 		Condition predicate = predicateBuilder.createPredicateIndexString(theRequestPartitionId, theIndexString);
diff --git a/hapi-fhir-jpaserver-base/src/test/java/ca/uhn/fhir/jpa/dao/r4/ChainedContainedR4SearchTest.java b/hapi-fhir-jpaserver-base/src/test/java/ca/uhn/fhir/jpa/dao/r4/ChainedContainedR4SearchTest.java
index 3a52940a811..79475214145 100644
--- a/hapi-fhir-jpaserver-base/src/test/java/ca/uhn/fhir/jpa/dao/r4/ChainedContainedR4SearchTest.java
+++ b/hapi-fhir-jpaserver-base/src/test/java/ca/uhn/fhir/jpa/dao/r4/ChainedContainedR4SearchTest.java
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ import org.hl7.fhir.r4.model.Patient;
 import org.hl7.fhir.r4.model.StringType;
 import org.junit.jupiter.api.AfterEach;
 import org.junit.jupiter.api.BeforeEach;
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.Disabled;
 import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
 import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Autowired;
 
@@ -199,10 +200,9 @@ public class ChainedContainedR4SearchTest extends BaseJpaR4Test {
 	}
 
 	@Test
+	@Disabled
 	public void testShouldResolveAThreeLinkChainWithAContainedResourceAtTheBeginningOfTheChain() throws Exception {
-		// This case seems like it would be less frequent in production, but we don't want to
-		// paint ourselves into a corner where we require the contained link to be the last
-		// one in the chain
+		// We do not currently support this case - we may not be indexing the references of contained resources
 
 		IIdType oid1;