Interoperable Digital Identity and Patient Matching, published by HL7 International / Patient Administration. This guide is not an authorized publication; it is the continuous build for version 3.0.0-current built by the FHIR (HL7® FHIR® Standard) CI Build. This version is based on the current content of https://github.com/HL7/fhir-identity-matching-ig/ and changes regularly. See the Directory of published versions

Glossary

Authenticator Assurance Level (AAL): A measure of the strength of an authentication mechanism and, therefore, the confidence in it, as defined in NIST 800-63A in terms of three levels: AAL1 (Some confidence), AAL2 (High confidence), AAL3 (Very high confidence).

Credential: An object or data structure that authoritatively binds an identity, via an identifier or identifiers, and (optionally) additional attributes to at least one authenticator possessed and controlled by a cardholder or subscriber.

Sources: NIST SP 800-63-3, NIST SP 1800-17c

Credential Service Provider (CSP): A trusted entity that issues or registers subscriber tokens and issues electronic credentials to subscribers. The CSP may encompass registration authorities (RAs) and verifiers that it operates. A CSP may be an independent third party or may issue credentials for its own use.

Source(s): NIST SP 800-63-3

Identity Assurance Level (IAL): A category that conveys the degree of confidence that the applicant’s claimed identity is their real identity, more and more superseding LoA.

Level of Assurance (LoA): Describes four levels of identity assurance (LoA1-4) and references NIST 800-63-2 technical standards and guidelines, which are developed for agencies to use in identifying the appropriate authentication technologies that meet their requirements.

Medicare Beneficiary Identifier (MBI): An alphanumeric code assigned by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to Medicare beneficiaries for purposes of identifying a covered individual for purposes of Medicare transactions like billing, eligibility status, and claim status. The MBI appears on a beneficiary identification card and replaces the Health Insurance Claim Numbers (HICNs), which included the beneficiary's Social Security Number. The MBI is a unique, randomly generated, non-intelligent 11-character code made up only of numbers and uppercase letters (no special characters). The MBI doesn’t use the letters S, L, O, I, B, and Z to avoid confusion between some letters and numbers (e.g., between “0” and “O”).

Patient Matching: Patient matching helps address interoperability by determining whether records - both those held within a single facility and those in different healthcare organizations – correctly refer to a specific individual. Matching methods use demographic information, such as name and date of birth.

Patient Mediated: Patient or their authorized representative authorizes access to their data by a third party when it is under patient’s management and not the data creator’s management (e.g., a consumer app enables the patient to manage their own data)