# Health Connect Australia Provider Directory FHIR Implementation Guide

26.0.0 - Snapshot Sparked Testing 20260708

Health Connect Australia Provider Directory FHIR Implementation Guide, published by Australian Digital Health Agency. This guide is not an authorized publication; it is the continuous build for version 26.0.0 built by the FHIR (HL7® FHIR® Standard) CI Build. This version is based on the current content of https://github.com/AuDigitalHealth/HCPD-Snapshot-26.0.0-SPARKED-Testing-20260708/ and changes regularly. See the Directory of published versions

## Extension: Suppression Indicator for Visibility

Official URL: http://digitalhealth.gov.au/fhir/cc/StructureDefinition/suppressed | Version: 26.0.0
Active as of 2026-07-03 | Computable Name: Suppressed
Copyright/Legal: This content is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. See https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Indicates whether the parent resource should be hidden from display in the Provider Directory. Contains coded information about the actor who initiated the suppression and optional control flags.

This extension addresses the business requirement to control visibility of provider directory entries, enabling management of which practitioner roles, organizations, healthcare services, locations, or endpoints should be hidden from public directory searches while maintaining data in the system.

Context of Use

This extension may be used on the following element(s)

- Element ID: `PractitionerRole`
- Element ID: `Organization`
- Element ID: `Practitioner`
- Element ID: `HealthcareService`
- Element ID: `Location`
- Element ID: `Endpoint`

## Usage notes

This extension is used to convey whether the parent resource should be hidden from display in the Provider Directory. It carries coded information about the actor who initiated the suppression.

### Datatype and context

The Suppressed extension is a complex extension that contains information about suppression behavior. It includes a required `suppressedBy` sub-extension (CodeableConcept) that indicates who initiated the suppression requestThe coded values are drawn from the Responsible Party Type CodeSystem.

This extension is profiled on the following HCPD resources: Organization, Practitioner, PractitionerRole, HealthcareService, Location, and Endpoint.

- Being an optional cardinality, when absent the resource is visible in Provider Directory listings
- When present, it indicates the resource is suppressed and identifies who initiated the suppression

### Suppression scenarios

This extension enables several suppression patterns:

1. Practitioner self-suppression:
   - Practitioner with Suppressed extension (practitioner-initiated) automatically hides themselves and cascades to suppress all their roles
2. Organization suppression:
   - Organization with Suppressed extension (organisation-initiated) triggers cascade suppression to all child resources
3. PractitionerRole specific suppression:
   - PractitionerRole with Suppressed extension is hidden without affecting the Practitioner profile
   - Can be initiated by either practitioner-initiated or organisation-initiated codes

### Processing and client obligations

- The default state of this extension, being optional, is that it is not present on a profile and that resource is visible.
- When present, the Suppressed extension indicates the resource should be suppressed from Provider Directory listings.
- Suppressed resources are included in API responses when querying for inactive or all resources; they will be returned alongside active resources rather than being excluded at the API level.
- Implementers SHALL check each returned resource for the presence of the Suppressed extension and SHALL NOT present those resources to end users of the Health Connect Provider Directory.

### Hierarchical suppression model

The HCPD Provider Directory operates on a hierarchical model where certain resources are considered children of others. This hierarchy determines the cascading behavior of suppression and which initiator codes are permitted on each resource type.

Suppression cascade:

- Organization (parent) → HealthcareService, Location, PractitionerRole, Endpoint (children)
  - When the Suppressed extension is present on an Organization, suppression automatically cascades to its child HealthcareService, Location, PractitionerRole, and Endpoint resources

The coded values in Suppressed indicate who has the authority to suppress a resource, with some resources having competing authorities due to their position in the hierarchy.

Resource Type | organisation-initiated | practitioner-initiated
--- | --- | ---
Organization | ✓ | ✗
HealthcareService | ✓ | ✗
Location | ✓ | ✗
Endpoint | ✓ | ✗
PractitionerRole | ✓ | ✓
Practitioner | ✗ | ✓

Usage info

Usages:

- Use this Extension: HCPD Endpoint, HCPD HealthcareService, HCPD Location, HCPD Organization... Show 3 more, HCPD Practitioner, HCPD PractitionerRole and HCPD Service Coverage Area
- Examples for this Extension: Sydney General Hospital SMD Endpoint, Sydney Central Medical Centre, Sydney CBD Mobile Unit Service Area, Organization/example-healthconnect-organization-1... Show 3 more, Practitioner/example-balmain-practitioner-1, Practitioner/example-healthconnect-practitioner-1 and Practitioner/external-hcpd-practitioner-record
- Search Parameters using this Extension: SearchParameterSuppressedBy

You can also check for usages in the FHIR IG Statistics

### Formal Views of Extension Content

Description of Profiles, Differentials, Snapshots, and how the XML and JSON presentations work.

- Differential Table
- Snapshot Table
- Statistics/References
- All

This structure is derived from Extension

Name | Flags | Card. | Type | Description & Constraints Filter: Bindings Constraints Obligations
--- | --- | --- | --- | ---
Extension |  | 0..1 | Extension(4.0.1) | Hide Resource in Directory
extension |  | 1..* | Extension | Extension
Slices for extension |  |  |  | Content/Rules for all slices
extension:suppressedBy | S | 1..1 | Extension | Who initiated the suppression
extension |  | 0..0 |  | Extension
url |  | 1..1 | uri | "suppressedBy"
value[x] | S | 1..1 | CodeableConcept | Value of extension
coding |  | 1..2 | Coding | Code defined by a terminology system Binding: ResponsiblePartyType_VS (26.0.0) (required)
url |  | 1..1 | uri | "http://digitalhealth.gov.au/fhir/cc/StructureDefinition/suppressed"
value[x] |  | 0..0 |  | Value of extension
Documentation for this format

Name | Flags | Card. | Type | Description & Constraints Filter: Bindings Constraints Obligations
--- | --- | --- | --- | ---
Extension |  | 0..1 | Extension(4.0.1) | Hide Resource in Directory Constraints: ext-1
id |  | 0..1 | string | Unique id for inter-element referencing
Slices for extension |  | 1..* | Extension | Extension Slice: Unordered, Open by value:url Constraints: ext-1
extension:suppressedBy | S | 1..1 | Extension | Who initiated the suppression Constraints: ext-1
id |  | 0..1 | string | Unique id for inter-element referencing
extension |  | 0..0 |  | Extension Slice: Unordered, Open by value:url Constraints: ext-1
url |  | 1..1 | uri | "suppressedBy"
value[x] | S | 1..1 | CodeableConcept | Value of extension
id |  | 0..1 | string | Unique id for inter-element referencing
extension |  | 0..* | Extension | Additional content defined by implementations Slice: Unordered, Open by value:url Constraints: ext-1
coding | Σ | 1..2 | Coding | Code defined by a terminology system Binding: ResponsiblePartyType_VS (26.0.0) (required)
text | Σ | 0..1 | string | Plain text representation of the concept
url |  | 1..1 | uri | "http://digitalhealth.gov.au/fhir/cc/StructureDefinition/suppressed"
Documentation for this format

This structure is derived from Extension

Summary

Complex Extension: Indicates whether the parent resource should be hidden from display in the Provider Directory. Contains coded information about the actor who initiated the suppression and optional control flags.

- suppressedBy: CodeableConcept: Identifies the actor who initiated the suppression request (e.g., practitioner, organisation).

Differential View

This structure is derived from Extension

Name | Flags | Card. | Type | Description & Constraints Filter: Bindings Constraints Obligations
--- | --- | --- | --- | ---
Extension |  | 0..1 | Extension(4.0.1) | Hide Resource in Directory
extension |  | 1..* | Extension | Extension
Slices for extension |  |  |  | Content/Rules for all slices
extension:suppressedBy | S | 1..1 | Extension | Who initiated the suppression
extension |  | 0..0 |  | Extension
url |  | 1..1 | uri | "suppressedBy"
value[x] | S | 1..1 | CodeableConcept | Value of extension
coding |  | 1..2 | Coding | Code defined by a terminology system Binding: ResponsiblePartyType_VS (26.0.0) (required)
url |  | 1..1 | uri | "http://digitalhealth.gov.au/fhir/cc/StructureDefinition/suppressed"
value[x] |  | 0..0 |  | Value of extension
Documentation for this format

Snapshot View

Name | Flags | Card. | Type | Description & Constraints Filter: Bindings Constraints Obligations
--- | --- | --- | --- | ---
Extension |  | 0..1 | Extension(4.0.1) | Hide Resource in Directory Constraints: ext-1
id |  | 0..1 | string | Unique id for inter-element referencing
Slices for extension |  | 1..* | Extension | Extension Slice: Unordered, Open by value:url Constraints: ext-1
extension:suppressedBy | S | 1..1 | Extension | Who initiated the suppression Constraints: ext-1
id |  | 0..1 | string | Unique id for inter-element referencing
extension |  | 0..0 |  | Extension Slice: Unordered, Open by value:url Constraints: ext-1
url |  | 1..1 | uri | "suppressedBy"
value[x] | S | 1..1 | CodeableConcept | Value of extension
id |  | 0..1 | string | Unique id for inter-element referencing
extension |  | 0..* | Extension | Additional content defined by implementations Slice: Unordered, Open by value:url Constraints: ext-1
coding | Σ | 1..2 | Coding | Code defined by a terminology system Binding: ResponsiblePartyType_VS (26.0.0) (required)
text | Σ | 0..1 | string | Plain text representation of the concept
url |  | 1..1 | uri | "http://digitalhealth.gov.au/fhir/cc/StructureDefinition/suppressed"
Documentation for this format

This structure is derived from Extension

Summary

Complex Extension: Indicates whether the parent resource should be hidden from display in the Provider Directory. Contains coded information about the actor who initiated the suppression and optional control flags.

- suppressedBy: CodeableConcept: Identifies the actor who initiated the suppression request (e.g., practitioner, organisation).

Other representations of profile: CSV, Excel, Schematron

#### Terminology Bindings

Path | Status | Usage | ValueSet | Version | Source
Extension.extension:suppressedBy.​value[x].coding | Base | required | Responsible Party Type | 📍26.0.0 | This IG

#### Constraints

Id | Grade | Path(s) | Description | Expression
ele-1 | error | Extension, Extension.extension, Extension.extension:suppressedBy, Extension.extension:suppressedBy.value[x], Extension.extension:suppressedBy.value[x].extension, Extension.extension:suppressedBy.value[x].coding, Extension.extension:suppressedBy.value[x].text | All FHIR elements must have a @value or children | `hasValue() or (children().count() > id.count())`
ext-1 | error | Extension, Extension.extension, Extension.extension:suppressedBy, Extension.extension:suppressedBy.value[x].extension | Must have either extensions or value[x], not both | `extension.exists() != value.exists()`