# Common Components FHIR Implementation Guide

26.0.0 - Trial

Common Components 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/common-components/ and changes regularly. See the Directory of published versions

## Guidance

## Criteria for Inclusion in this Implementation Guide

The following practical criteria are used to determine whether a component (profile, extension, value set, etc.) is included in this Implementation Guide (IG):

1. Cross-IG Usage
   The component is used by two or more Implementation Guides (IGs), or there is a clear plan for adoption by multiple IGs. This ensures shared components are centrally maintained and reduces duplication.

2. Redundancy Reduction
   Inclusion of the component will reduce overall redundancy across Agency IGs, consolidating common patterns or definitions.

3. Demonstrated Need
   There is a real-world use case or implementation requirement such that the component needs to be included.

4. Quality and Documentation
   The use cases for the component must be clearly documented and include at least one example.

5. Governance Approval
   The component has been reviewed and approved by the IG governance group or designated authority.

Components not meeting these criteria may be excluded or deferred until requirements are satisfied.

## Principles of Use and Change Management

### Profiling and Deriving

When subordinate IGs require changes to a shared component, updates should be made in the common components IG so that all dependent IGs benefit where appropriate. Subordinate IGs should derive their profiles from the common component first, and only apply bespoke profiling locally if absolutely necessary. This ensures consistency and reduces duplication across IGs.

### Use cases

All common components should name their IG implementations in associated narrative for justification towards inclusion.