Health Connect Australia Provider Directory FHIR Implementation Guide

No data is entered directly into Health Connect; all directory content is sourced from authoritative systems including PCA, HI-Service, and NHSD.

HC Professional Registration Number (PRN)

The HC Professional Registration Number (PRN) profile defines an identifier for a healthcare practitioner’s professional registration, as recorded in the Health Connect provider directory context. This identifier is used to capture the registration number assigned by a professional association or peak body, particularly for practitioners who are not Ahpra-registered, and is recorded against the HPI-I record.

Usage notes

• This is a profile of the identifier element on HC Practitioner and HC PractitionerRole.
• Use this profile when a practitioner's professional registration number is issued by a non-Ahpra professional association or peak body.
• Cardinality differences: HC Practitioner allows 0 to many PRN identifiers (0..*), while HC PractitionerRole allows only 0 to 1 PRN identifier (0..1).
• The PRN should be used in addition to, or instead of, an Ahpra registration number, depending on the practitioner’s registration status.
• Ensure that the system and value are populated according to the assigning authority’s requirements for accurate identification and interoperability.
• The PRN enables implementers to distinguish between different types of practitioner registration numbers and to support directory queries, reconciliation, and validation.

Key requirements

• The profile fixes the type element to the v2 identifier code PRN (Provider number) from the v2-0203 code system (this is implemented in the profile as type = $v2-0203-int#PRN). Implementations SHOULD use the following coding when constructing the type element:

    {
        "coding": [
            {
                "system": "http://terminology.hl7.org/CodeSystem/v2-0203",
                "code": "PRN",
                "display": "Provider number"
            }
        ]
    }
  

• The system element is mandatory (cardinality 1.. in the profile) and is constrained to http://ns.electronichealth.net.au/hc/id/prn. Publishers MUST use this URI as the system value for all PRN instances.
• The value element is mandatory (cardinality 1..) and holds the practitioner’s registration number as assigned by the authority (for example 1234567).
• The assigner element is not constrained by this profile (it may be populated to reference the issuing organisation where available, but it is not required). Implementers are encouraged to populate assigner to improve provenance and traceability when the issuing Organization resource is available.
• Ensure all required elements (type, system, value) are populated according to the assigning authority’s rules to support interoperability and accurate identification.

Implementers must ensure that the HC Professional Registration Number is used only for valid, assigned registration numbers and that all required elements are present and correct. This supports accurate practitioner identification and data integrity across the Health Connect directory.

• Key Elements Table
• Differential Table
• Snapshot Table
• Statistics/References
• All

Name	Flags	Card.	Type	Description & Constraints    Filter: Bindings Constraints Obligations
Identifier		0..*	Identifier	Professional Registration Number
use	?!Σ	0..1	code	usual | official | temp | secondary | old (If known) Binding: IdentifierUse (required): Identifies the purpose for this identifier, if known .
type	SΣ	1..1	CodeableConcept	Coded identifier type for professional registration number Binding: Identifier Type Codes (extensible): A coded type for an identifier that can be used to determine which identifier to use for a specific purpose. Required Pattern: At least the following
id		0..1	string	Unique id for inter-element referencing
extension		0..*	Extension	Additional content defined by implementations
coding		1..*	Coding	Code defined by a terminology system Fixed Value: (Complex)
id		0..1	string	Unique id for inter-element referencing
extension		0..*	Extension	Additional content defined by implementations
system		1..1	uri	Identity of the terminology system Fixed Value: http://terminology.hl7.org/CodeSystem/v2-0203
version		0..1	string	Version of the system - if relevant
code		1..1	code	Symbol in syntax defined by the system Fixed Value: PRN
display		0..1	string	Representation defined by the system
userSelected		0..1	boolean	If this coding was chosen directly by the user
text		0..1	string	Plain text representation of the concept
system	SΣ	0..1	uri	Professional registration number system. Example General: http://www.acme.com/identifiers/patient
value	SΣ	1..1	string	Professional registration number value. Example General: 123456
assigner	SΣ	0..1	Reference(Organization)	Organization that issued id (may be just text)
display	SΣ	0..1	string	Text alternative for the Organization
Documentation for this format

Terminology Bindings

Path	Status	Usage	ValueSet	Version	Source
Identifier.use	Base	required	IdentifierUse	📍4.0.1	FHIR Std.
Identifier.type	Base	extensible	IdentifierType	📍4.0.1	FHIR Std.

Constraints

Id	Grade	Path(s)	Description	Expression
ele-1	error	**ALL** elements	All FHIR elements must have a @value or children	hasValue() or (children().count() > id.count())

This structure is derived from Identifier

Name	Flags	Card.	Type	Description & Constraints    Filter: Bindings Constraints Obligations
Identifier		0..*	Identifier	Professional Registration Number
type	S	1..1	CodeableConcept	Coded identifier type for professional registration number Required Pattern: At least the following
coding		1..*	Coding	Code defined by a terminology system Fixed Value: (Complex)
system		1..1	uri	Identity of the terminology system Fixed Value: http://terminology.hl7.org/CodeSystem/v2-0203
code		1..1	code	Symbol in syntax defined by the system Fixed Value: PRN
system	S	0..1	uri	Professional registration number system.
value	S	1..1	string	Professional registration number value.
assigner	S	0..1	Reference(Organization)	Organization that issued id (may be just text)
display	S	0..1	string	Text alternative for the Organization
Documentation for this format

Name	Flags	Card.	Type	Description & Constraints    Filter: Bindings Constraints Obligations
Identifier		0..*	Identifier	Professional Registration Number
id		0..1	string	Unique id for inter-element referencing
extension		0..*	Extension	Additional content defined by implementations Slice: Unordered, Open by value:url
use	?!Σ	0..1	code	usual | official | temp | secondary | old (If known) Binding: IdentifierUse (required): Identifies the purpose for this identifier, if known .
type	SΣ	1..1	CodeableConcept	Coded identifier type for professional registration number Binding: Identifier Type Codes (extensible): A coded type for an identifier that can be used to determine which identifier to use for a specific purpose. Required Pattern: At least the following
id		0..1	string	Unique id for inter-element referencing
extension		0..*	Extension	Additional content defined by implementations
coding		1..*	Coding	Code defined by a terminology system Fixed Value: (Complex)
id		0..1	string	Unique id for inter-element referencing
extension		0..*	Extension	Additional content defined by implementations
system		1..1	uri	Identity of the terminology system Fixed Value: http://terminology.hl7.org/CodeSystem/v2-0203
version		0..1	string	Version of the system - if relevant
code		1..1	code	Symbol in syntax defined by the system Fixed Value: PRN
display		0..1	string	Representation defined by the system
userSelected		0..1	boolean	If this coding was chosen directly by the user
text		0..1	string	Plain text representation of the concept
system	SΣ	0..1	uri	Professional registration number system. Example General: http://www.acme.com/identifiers/patient
value	SΣ	1..1	string	Professional registration number value. Example General: 123456
period	Σ	0..1	Period	Time period when id is/was valid for use
assigner	SΣ	0..1	Reference(Organization)	Organization that issued id (may be just text)
id		0..1	string	Unique id for inter-element referencing
extension		0..*	Extension	Additional content defined by implementations Slice: Unordered, Open by value:url
reference	ΣC	0..1	string	Literal reference, Relative, internal or absolute URL
type	Σ	0..1	uri	Type the reference refers to (e.g. "Patient") Binding: ResourceType (extensible): Aa resource (or, for logical models, the URI of the logical model).
identifier	Σ	0..1	Identifier	Logical reference, when literal reference is not known
display	SΣ	0..1	string	Text alternative for the Organization
Documentation for this format

Terminology Bindings

Path	Status	Usage	ValueSet	Version	Source
Identifier.use	Base	required	IdentifierUse	📍4.0.1	FHIR Std.
Identifier.type	Base	extensible	IdentifierType	📍4.0.1	FHIR Std.
Identifier.assigner.​type	Base	extensible	ResourceType	📍4.0.1	FHIR Std.

Constraints

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

Key Elements View

Name	Flags	Card.	Type	Description & Constraints    Filter: Bindings Constraints Obligations
Identifier		0..*	Identifier	Professional Registration Number
use	?!Σ	0..1	code	usual | official | temp | secondary | old (If known) Binding: IdentifierUse (required): Identifies the purpose for this identifier, if known .
type	SΣ	1..1	CodeableConcept	Coded identifier type for professional registration number Binding: Identifier Type Codes (extensible): A coded type for an identifier that can be used to determine which identifier to use for a specific purpose. Required Pattern: At least the following
id		0..1	string	Unique id for inter-element referencing
extension		0..*	Extension	Additional content defined by implementations
coding		1..*	Coding	Code defined by a terminology system Fixed Value: (Complex)
id		0..1	string	Unique id for inter-element referencing
extension		0..*	Extension	Additional content defined by implementations
system		1..1	uri	Identity of the terminology system Fixed Value: http://terminology.hl7.org/CodeSystem/v2-0203
version		0..1	string	Version of the system - if relevant
code		1..1	code	Symbol in syntax defined by the system Fixed Value: PRN
display		0..1	string	Representation defined by the system
userSelected		0..1	boolean	If this coding was chosen directly by the user
text		0..1	string	Plain text representation of the concept
system	SΣ	0..1	uri	Professional registration number system. Example General: http://www.acme.com/identifiers/patient
value	SΣ	1..1	string	Professional registration number value. Example General: 123456
assigner	SΣ	0..1	Reference(Organization)	Organization that issued id (may be just text)
display	SΣ	0..1	string	Text alternative for the Organization
Documentation for this format

Terminology Bindings

Path	Status	Usage	ValueSet	Version	Source
Identifier.use	Base	required	IdentifierUse	📍4.0.1	FHIR Std.
Identifier.type	Base	extensible	IdentifierType	📍4.0.1	FHIR Std.

Constraints

Id	Grade	Path(s)	Description	Expression
ele-1	error	**ALL** elements	All FHIR elements must have a @value or children	hasValue() or (children().count() > id.count())

Differential View

This structure is derived from Identifier

Name	Flags	Card.	Type	Description & Constraints    Filter: Bindings Constraints Obligations
Identifier		0..*	Identifier	Professional Registration Number
type	S	1..1	CodeableConcept	Coded identifier type for professional registration number Required Pattern: At least the following
coding		1..*	Coding	Code defined by a terminology system Fixed Value: (Complex)
system		1..1	uri	Identity of the terminology system Fixed Value: http://terminology.hl7.org/CodeSystem/v2-0203
code		1..1	code	Symbol in syntax defined by the system Fixed Value: PRN
system	S	0..1	uri	Professional registration number system.
value	S	1..1	string	Professional registration number value.
assigner	S	0..1	Reference(Organization)	Organization that issued id (may be just text)
display	S	0..1	string	Text alternative for the Organization
Documentation for this format

Snapshot View

Name	Flags	Card.	Type	Description & Constraints    Filter: Bindings Constraints Obligations
Identifier		0..*	Identifier	Professional Registration Number
id		0..1	string	Unique id for inter-element referencing
extension		0..*	Extension	Additional content defined by implementations Slice: Unordered, Open by value:url
use	?!Σ	0..1	code	usual | official | temp | secondary | old (If known) Binding: IdentifierUse (required): Identifies the purpose for this identifier, if known .
type	SΣ	1..1	CodeableConcept	Coded identifier type for professional registration number Binding: Identifier Type Codes (extensible): A coded type for an identifier that can be used to determine which identifier to use for a specific purpose. Required Pattern: At least the following
id		0..1	string	Unique id for inter-element referencing
extension		0..*	Extension	Additional content defined by implementations
coding		1..*	Coding	Code defined by a terminology system Fixed Value: (Complex)
id		0..1	string	Unique id for inter-element referencing
extension		0..*	Extension	Additional content defined by implementations
system		1..1	uri	Identity of the terminology system Fixed Value: http://terminology.hl7.org/CodeSystem/v2-0203
version		0..1	string	Version of the system - if relevant
code		1..1	code	Symbol in syntax defined by the system Fixed Value: PRN
display		0..1	string	Representation defined by the system
userSelected		0..1	boolean	If this coding was chosen directly by the user
text		0..1	string	Plain text representation of the concept
system	SΣ	0..1	uri	Professional registration number system. Example General: http://www.acme.com/identifiers/patient
value	SΣ	1..1	string	Professional registration number value. Example General: 123456
period	Σ	0..1	Period	Time period when id is/was valid for use
assigner	SΣ	0..1	Reference(Organization)	Organization that issued id (may be just text)
id		0..1	string	Unique id for inter-element referencing
extension		0..*	Extension	Additional content defined by implementations Slice: Unordered, Open by value:url
reference	ΣC	0..1	string	Literal reference, Relative, internal or absolute URL
type	Σ	0..1	uri	Type the reference refers to (e.g. "Patient") Binding: ResourceType (extensible): Aa resource (or, for logical models, the URI of the logical model).
identifier	Σ	0..1	Identifier	Logical reference, when literal reference is not known
display	SΣ	0..1	string	Text alternative for the Organization
Documentation for this format

Terminology Bindings

Path	Status	Usage	ValueSet	Version	Source
Identifier.use	Base	required	IdentifierUse	📍4.0.1	FHIR Std.
Identifier.type	Base	extensible	IdentifierType	📍4.0.1	FHIR Std.
Identifier.assigner.​type	Base	extensible	ResourceType	📍4.0.1	FHIR Std.

Constraints

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

This structure is derived from Identifier

Summary

Mandatory: 2 elements
Must-Support: 5 elements