FAQs - Health Connect Australia Provider Directory FHIR IG (HCAPD FHIR IG) Kick-off Meeting
Can organisations create their own FHIR resource extensions for supporting private sector vendor service interactions?
The HCAPD FHIR IG has been designed for the purpose of supporting the HCA Provider Directory project requirements. The FHIR IG does not prohibit implementation outside of HCA and the profiles themselves do not prohibit additional extensions. Initially, we will not consider additional extensions, but nothing we are doing would prevent us from supporting this in future, if a decision is made to pursue that.
Are stakeholders able to implement their own directory service based on the published IG specifications?
The HCAPD FHIR IG is unencumbered and implementers who see value in adopting it for their own directory services are welcome do so. That said, it should be noted that at this time the Agency cannot guarantee that new requirements and/or change requests from outside the HCA PD's needs can be accommodated; and nor can the Agency guarantee that breaking (non-backward compatible) changes will not arise in future versions of the HCAPD FHIR IG .
The key attribute of data quality is impacted by technical and non-technical factors.
There is a focus on the technical, but should there be more detail about how it's expected to improve data quality? Consider making assumptions in descriptions explicit so stakeholders can get a fuller perspective of the tasks and success factors to realise the stated objectives.
Data quality is a strategic objective because accurate, complete, and timely information is essential for safe clinical decisions, efficient workflows, and trusted digital health services. Without reliable data, interoperability and innovation cannot deliver their intended benefits. Improving data quality requires both technical and non-technical measures such as:
- Technical: Standards such as FHIR Implementation Guides enforce consistent data structures, mandatory fields, and terminology bindings, supported by automated validation and conformance testing. These reduce ambiguity and errors in data exchange.
- Non-technical: Success depends on provider compliance, timely updates to source systems, strong governance and accountability, education and cultural change, and monitoring through audits and feedback loops.
What use cases have been envisaged in the design of this directory?
There is a perception that various directories are being/have been developed to meet only particular use cases.
The key use case being addressed by the FHIR IG is to provide a standards-based API for the Health Connect Australia Provider Directory which aims to provide a single access point to comprehensive information about healthcare providers and healthcare organisations that exists across multiple directories and source systems today.
What is the position on responsibility and liability for the currency of directory data?
Responsibility for data currency primarily rests with providers and source authorities. The directory will implement safeguards to minimise risk, including:
- Regular synchronisation with source systems.
- Displaying the date and time of the last update.
- Integration with PCA.
- Audit processes.
While these measures enhance accuracy, no directory can guarantee 100% currency. Liability for incorrect or outdated information remains with the providers and source authorities that supply the data, not with the Health Connect Provider Directory.
Future policy may require providers to maintain certain information in the directory as part of participation requirements or access to digital health capabilities. Consultation will inform these developments.
Will the authorization service APIs and access control requirements for providers be published in the IG or separately?
How will a verified provider be authorised to access the PD?
The IG will likely outline the requirement for the requestor to obtain an access token from the Health Connect Authorisation Service. Full detail of what will be included in this IG regarding Authorization is still to be confirmed, but we note this information needs to be made available to implementers.
Will there be any co-relations in the Health Provider Directory and the Online Test Catalogue (Pathology Tests)?
To support consumers with making the decision, I want to find a health provider who can perform a specified test/panel etc.
This capability is not included in Release 1. However, it may be considered in future releases to support eRequesting and enhance consumer and provider decision making. We recognise the value of helping consumers and providers find services based on specific tests, and this will inform our roadmap discussions.
Is the authorisation method standards aligned with SMART on FHIR backend since for a FHIR server?
Whilst the solution does use OAuth with Access Tokens and scopes, it does not align to the SMART on FHIR backend services specification in that it does not pre-authorise clients and does not expose its connection metadata using a “well-known/smart configuration”.
What about Primary Care (is that wat you referred to as "privates")?
There was no mention of Primary Care providers. It seemed the national service was being targeted at the hospital sector.
The directory is designed to take a broad view of the health sector, not just hospitals. It aims to capture all healthcare organisations and providers, including those in primary care, acute care, aged care, community, allied health, and specialist practices.
Are there SLAs for real-time use?
Yes. SLAs are defined under the project’s Non-Functional Requirements (NFR).
Will Provider Connect become a source of the truth for all Provider details by location?
Legacy systems generate billing errors particularly when the wrong provider by location is chosen. This particularly occurs when a provider services several locations yet uses an individual provider number. Legacy systems often don’t display the complete information that allows a user to make the right choice.
We download information from Medicare via a batch process and manually reconcile information within the respective systems. We have advanced building an eRequesting solution built on the FHIR AU core standard including a specimen collection process. Can we consider automation and timeliness of the provider process, inclusive of copy to reporting?
Like the future My Health Record we are using the Smile Digital Health Repository and Iris for Health at the Integration Layer. Currently I have two integration analysts undertaking the necessary work including HL7™ 2.3.1 to/from FHIR and the other building FHIR to/from GP Practice Management solutions.
Consider real time integration to/from Provider Connect and eventually other systems, registries to drive the adoption of true person-centred care and better evidence-based practice.
The Health Connect Australia (HCA) Provider Directory is a national directory designed to support discoverability of comprehensive information about healthcare providers and services, including but not limited to their communication endpoints, Medicare provider numbers and locations. It builds on the healthcare identifier infrastructure/Data (HPI-O’s and HPI-I’s) and introduces capabilities such as:
- Rich data attributes for services and practitioners (e.g., service types, languages spoken, communication preferences).
- Metadata about providers and services (e.g. record creation date, update history).
- Interoperability through FHIR for easier integration with clinical and administrative systems.
- Future flexibility to include broader provider types as policy evolves.
Importantly, the HCA Provider Directory is being designed to be the best point for connecting to real-time provider information. It will include validated Medicare provider numbers, which directly supports the use case you described around reducing billing errors and improving automation for providers working across multiple locations and organisations.
Are ACCHO, or Affiliates involved in this dialogue?
If there is not, are there any opportunities? Where does the current Health Provider Directory (HPD) fit? You have indicated community consultation is open till late Feb 26, where do we find information regarding this consultation?
ACCHO Sector Involvement: The current consultation is focused on the draft FHIR
Implementation Guide, which is technical in nature and primarily targeted at software vendors and other implementers. Community consultation on the FHIR specification is happening in accordance with the Australian FHIR Community Process (AFCP)(link is external). That said, we see value in broader engagement, including ACCHOs and Affiliates, and would welcome your participation.
We can work with you to identify the most appropriate way for the sector to contribute, whether through direct feedback, representation in workshops, or a dedicated discussion.
Relationship with the Current Health Provider Directory (HPD):
The Agency is working with Services Australia to assume responsibility as the service operator for the Healthcare Provider Directory (HPD). The HPD provides the foundational healthcare identifier infrastructure that underpins the Health Connect Australia Provider Directory. Building on this foundation, the HCA Provider Directory will deliver additional capabilities, including:
- Enhanced discoverability of healthcare services and practitioners.
- Support for richer data such as service types, languages spoken, and communication preferences.
- Interoperability through modern standards (FHIR) for easier integration with clinical and administrative systems.
- Future flexibility to include broader provider types as policy evolves.
Community Consultation Details:
The FHIR IG is available at https://github.com/AuDigitalHealth/HealthConnect.
The consultation period is open until late February 2026, and next steps include:
- Regular conference calls to discuss any technical feedback received, with the next one expected on the week of 15-Dec. Even though we’re expecting the calls to be technical in nature, we will also have representatives from the project leadership team to answer non-technical questions.
- The second version of the FHIR Implementation Guide will be released in Jan-26 at a date to be confirmed later in December.
- We will accept contributions to the FHIR Implementation Guide until the end of Feb-26.
For more information please visit: https://developer.digitalhealth.gov.au/resources/services/health-connect-australia