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 0.2.0-preview built by the FHIR (HL7® FHIR® Standard) CI Build. This version is based on the current content of https://github.com/AuDigitalHealth/HealthConnect/ and changes regularly. See the Directory of published versions

Search Parameters

Page standards status: Informative

Custom Search Parameters

This page lists the custom SearchParameters that have been defined within this Implementation Guide.

Name Description
All Day Search HealthcareServices or PractitionerRoles by whether they are available all day.
End Time Search HealthcareServices or PractitionerRoles by availability end time.
Start Time Search HealthcareServices or PractitionerRoles by availability start time.
Days of Week Search HealthcareServices or PractitionerRoles by days of week availability. Supports multiple days using OR logic.
Endpoint Payload Mime Type Search for Endpoint resources by payloadMimeType.
Endpoint URL Search for Endpoint resources by address (URL).
HC Endpoint Identifier Search an Endpoint record by its HC identifier.
Healthcare Service Billing Search for HealthcareService resources by billing information.
Languages Search HealthcareServices or PractitionerRoles by supported languages/communication methods. Shared across HealthcareService and PractitionerRole.
Location Amenities Search for Location resources by amenities.
Location Physical Type Search for Location resources by physicalType field.
Location Postal Address Search for Location resources by postal address components.
Practitioner's Registered Profession Search a Practitioner record by their registered profession using string values.
Practitioner's Recorded Sex or Gender Search a Practitioner record by their recorded sex or gender.
Practitioner Identifier (R5) Search a Practitioner record by any identifier, including HPI-I and Professional Registration Number (PRN), mimicks R5-style identifier searching. Supports both Practitioner.identifier and Practitioner.qualification.identifier.

Search Modifiers

The Health Connect Provider Directory supports specific search modifiers for string-type search parameters to tailor search functionality:

  • :exact - Performs case-sensitive, exact matching without partial matching. Use this when you need precise lookups with string-type parameters.
  • :contains - Searches for the value anywhere within the string, not just at the beginning. Use this for broader text searches.
  • :iterate - As a modifier to _include and _revinclude enables recursive traversal of reference chains in search results. In this IG, the primary use case for this would be following the Organization.partOf hierarchy to also retrieve all referenced parent organizations in a single query.

Note: Token-type search parameters (such as hcepi) provide exact matching by default and do not require modifiers.

String-Type Parameters with Modifier Support

The following string-type search parameters can be used with the appropriate modifier:

Parameter Resource Types Type Use Case for :exact Use Case for :contains
name (R4) Practitioner string Exact name match (case-sensitive) Recommended: Search for practitioners by partial name matches
regprof Practitioner string Exact profession match (case-sensitive) Recommended: Search for partial profession matches
locmailaddress Location string Not supported Search postal address components
name (R4) Location string Recommended: Partial name/alias search on Locations

Prefix Operators for Time Availability Searches

The Start Time and End Time search parameters support numeric prefix operators, allowing you to search for times before, after, or at a specific value. These parameters use a four-digit numeric format (HHMM, e.g., 0830 for 8:30am, 1700 for 5:00pm).

You can use the following prefixes to control the comparison:

Prefix Meaning Example Description
eq Equal eq0830 Matches exactly 08:30am
ne Not equal ne1700 Matches any time except 5:00pm
gt Greater than gt0900 Matches times after 9:00am
lt Less than lt1200 Matches times before 12:00pm (noon)
ge Greater than or equal ge0800 Matches times at or after 8:00am
le Less than or equal le1700 Matches times at or before 5:00pm

For example, to find HealthcareServices available after 9:00am, search with starttime=gt0900.