EU Health Data API
0.1.0 - ci-build 150

EU Health Data API, published by HL7 Europe. This guide is not an authorized publication; it is the continuous build for version 0.1.0 built by the FHIR (HL7® FHIR® Standard) CI Build. This version is based on the current content of https://github.com/euridice-org/eu-health-data-api/ and changes regularly. See the Directory of published versions

Patient Matching

Overview

Patient lookup using IHE PDQm (Patient Demographics Query for Mobile). This transaction allows consumers to locate the correct Patient resource on a provider before querying for health information.

This specification inherits directly from IHE PDQm with one constraint: the identifier search parameter is required for patient search.

Patient.Search should be used when a patient identifier (e.g. National ID) is available and trusted. If an identifier is not available, Patient.$match should be used to perform a demographics search operation.

Actor Roles

Actor Role
Consumer Find a patient record in the Access Provider system based on identifier or demographics information
Document/Resource Access Provider Return its patient record information based on identifier or demographics queries from a consumer.

Transaction Options

Providers support one or both of the following patient identification mechanisms:

1. Mobile Patient Demographics Query [ITI-78] (Required)

Patient search using the IHE PDQm ITI-78 transaction. This specification constrains ITI-78 to require the identifier parameter.

GET [base]/Patient?identifier=[system]|[value]

This approach covers the majority of European use cases where patient identifiers (MRN, national ID) are available.

Required Search Parameters:

Parameter Type Expectation Description
identifier token SHALL Patient identifier (e.g., national ID, MRN)

Optional Search Parameters:

Providers MAY support additional PDQm search parameters per ITI-78:

Parameter Type Expectation Description
family string SHOULD Patient family name
given string SHOULD Patient given name
birthdate date SHOULD Patient date of birth
_id token SHOULD Patient logical ID

2. Patient Demographics Match [ITI-119] (Optional)

Patient $match operation for fuzzy demographic matching using IHE PDQm ITI-119:

POST [base]/Patient/$match

The request body contains a Parameters resource with demographic information. The server responds with candidate matches and confidence scores.

This option is used when identifier-based lookup is not possible (e.g., cross-border scenarios where the consumer does not have the patient's local identifier).

Provider Requirements

Actor Transaction Optionality
Consumer Mobile Patient Demographics Query [ITI-78] O
  Patient Demographics Match [ITI-119] O
Provider Mobile Patient Demographics Query [ITI-78] R
  Patient Demographics Match [ITI-119] O

Providers are RECOMMENDED to implement the $match operation in addition to the patient search for scenarios where identifier is not available.

Open Issue #2: We are seeking input on this patient lookup approach. See Patient Lookup Strategy for discussion.

Authorization

When grouped with IUA actors:

  • Consumer uses Get Access Token [ITI-71] with appropriate scope
  • Provider enforces authorization via Incorporate Access Token [ITI-72]

Example

sequenceDiagram
    participant Consumer
    participant Provider as Access Provider

    Consumer->>Provider: GET /Patient?identifier=urn:oid:...|12345
    Provider-->>Consumer: Bundle with Patient resource(s)

    Note over Consumer: Consumer uses Patient.id<br/>for subsequent queries

Patient lookup applies to both Document Exchange and Resource Access patterns.

References