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Secure messaging enables interoperability and seamless confidential information sharing between healthcare providers. The Agency in collaboration with its industry partners has developed national secure messaging standards and artefacts based on a set of Australian and international standards. These define several roles that can be implemented by clinical information and secure messaging systems to enable secure, reliable, interoperable exchange of clinical documents between Australian healthcare providers.  

Blueprint

The National Secure Messaging Network (NSMN) Blueprint describes the proposed operation of a national standards-based network of interoperable systems to allow any healthcare provider in Australia to discover any other healthcare provider and securely deliver clinical messages to them. The blueprint describes the key roles within the secure messaging national network and the capabilities required of each role, as well as providing examples of how specific implementations might fulfil those roles. 

Conformance Assessment Scheme

The NSMN Conformance Assessment Scheme is a set of requirements and conformance assessment documents and processes. It is underpinned by the Interoperability Specification and provides the means for parties considering participating in the NSMN to clearly understand how they can do so, the capabilities required of their systems, and how they can demonstrate solution readiness. 

Key resources

Australian Digital Health Agency

Secure Messaging v2.0

  • Specifications | EP-3806:2023
  • The Agency’s Secure Messaging product provides software developers with information and tools to assist in the implementation of the roles in the NSMN Blueprint.
  • Download Secure Messaging v2.0

HL7 Australia

Provider Directory FHIR Implementation Guide

  • Specifications | FHIR PD
  • The HL7 Australia Provider Directory FHIR Implementation Guide is a RESTful API for searching directories of healthcare services and healthcare providers.
  • View the FHIR PD Specification.

Diagnostics and Referral Messaging Localisation of HL7 Version 2.4

  • Specifications | HL7AUSD-STD-OO-ADRM-2021.1
  • Australian localisation of the international HL7 V2 Standard covering the Laboratory/Diagnostics/Clinical result reporting, laboratory/radiology ordering specification and patient referral.
  • Download / view the HL7AUSD-STD-OO-ADRM-2021.1 Specification. For more information HL7 V2 Work Group.

Standards Australia

E-health secure message delivery 

  • Specifications | ATS-5822
  • ATS-5822 defines a set of interfaces and associated application behaviours suitable for sending clinical messages over the Internet using standard Web services protocols.
  • Download ATS-5822 from the SAI Global web site.

E-health XML secured payload profiles 

  • Specifications | ATS-5821
  • ATS-5821 defines a set of interoperable mechanisms for representing secured XML data, including digital signing and encryption of secure messages.
  • Download ATS-5821 from the SAI Global web site.

E-health web services profiles

  • Specifications | ATS-5820
  • ATS-5820 defines a set of interoperable mechanisms using SOAP Web services for interconnecting computer systems in digital health applications.
  • Download ATS-5820 from the SAI Global web site.

Technical Tools

Clinical Package Validator

  • Tool to check conformance of:
    • HL7 v2.4 messages (ACK^I12, ACK^O01, ACK^R01, ORM^O01, ORR^O02, ORU^R01, REF^I12)
    • HL7 v2.3.1 messages (ACK^T02, MDM^T02)
    • Packaged CDA documents
    • SMD messages
  • Download the latest version of the Clinical Package Validator.

CDA creation and packaging tool

  • Tool for generating and signing CDA documents, creating CDA zip packages, and creating MDM-T02 messages.
  • See the "Clinical Document Packaging Client Library" tool on the ADHA's Open Source Sample Code Directory.

CDA rendering tool

MDM message tool

SMD messaging tools

 

Developer guides

NASH SHA-2 Certificates - Developer Guide

This Developer Guide is for the use of developers whose products connect to the Healthcare Identifiers (HI) Service, My Health Record, Electronic Prescribing and Secure Messaging with a National Authentication Service for Health (NASH) PKI Certificate.

National Secure Messaging Network - FAQs

Information about NSMN solution design, Provider Directories, message formats, message content, reference data, testing, technical support, standards, terminology and more.

Resources

eProcurement v1.6.1

Services
ID
EP-1727:2014
Type
Product
Version
1.6.1
Status
Active
eProcurement provides a standardised messaging format to electronically communicate standardised and accurate product and price data between Australian health departments and private hospital providers. The messages contain technical and business requirements for common procurement messages including purchase order, purchase order response, advanced…

Secure Messaging Integration Toolkit v1.2.5

Services
ID
EP-2730:2018
Type
Product
Version
1.2.5
Status
Active
The Secure Messaging Integration Toolkit contains libraries for B2B connectivity to Secure Message Delivery (SMD) and Endpoint Location Services (ELS), providing sample code for all operations, as well as a Medical Document Management (MDM) library to create the payload for SMD. It also includes secure messaging conformance test tools, which support the…

Secure Messaging v2.0

Services
ID
EP-3806:2023
Type
Standard
Product
Version
2.0
Status
Active
The v2.0 release of the Secure Messaging end product reflects the introduction of the: National Secure Messaging Network Blueprint; and National Secure Messaging Network Interoperability Specification The Blueprint describes the key roles within the secure messaging national network and the capabilities required of each role, as well as providing examples…