AU Patient Summary Implementation Guide
0.6.0-cibuild - CI Build Australia flag

AU Patient Summary Implementation Guide, published by HL7 Australia. This guide is not an authorized publication; it is the continuous build for version 0.6.0-cibuild built by the FHIR (HL7® FHIR® Standard) CI Build. This version is based on the current content of https://github.com/freshehr/interopen-uk-fhir-ps/ and changes regularly. See the Directory of published versions

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Official URL: http://hl7.org.au/fhir/ps/ImplementationGuide/hl7.fhir.au.ps Version: 0.6.0-cibuild
IG Standards status: Draft Maturity Level: 1 Computable Name: AUPatientSummaryImplementationGuide

Copyright/Legal: Used by permission of HL7 International, all rights reserved Creative Commons License. HL7 Australia© 2022+; Licensed Under Creative Commons No Rights Reserved.

Introduction

AU Patient Summary (AU PS) is provided to support the use of patient summaries in HL7® FHIR®© in an Australian context. AU PS is based on IPS and AU Core, setting the minimum conformance expectations for implementing support for AU PS documents in systems.

AU PS is compliant with the requirements of IPS, e.g. AU PS data is conformant to IPS and systems that generate and consume AU PS documents are conformant to the requirements in IPS:

  • A valid AU PS document IS a valid IPS document - the document instance validates against both IGs.
  • A conformant AU PS actor IS a conformant IPS actor - the conformance expectations for implementation for IPS are satisfied when implementing AU PS actor requirements.

For a detailed description of the requirements for implementing AU PS, see the General Requirements page.

A Patient Summary is:

  • a health record extract comprising a core set of digital health and administrative data elements that provide a snapshot in time of a subject of care’s health information and healthcare.
  • designed for supporting use case scenarios including planned and unplanned care, continuity of care and transition of care.

See The AU PS for more information on the purpose, scope, context, and use of AU PS.

Project Background

This implementation guide is under development through the AU Patient Summary FHIR IG project as part of the Sparked AU FHIR Accelerator. The Sparked AU FHIR Accelerator is a community comprising government, technology vendors, provider organisations, peak bodies, practitioners, and domain experts, to accelerate the creation and use of national FHIR standards in health care information exchange.

The AU Patient Summary Sparked project includes:

  • AUCDI - clinician focussed data requirements project.
  • AU PS FHIR Implementation Guide - HL7 Australia technical data specification.

Additionally, a Patient Summary Clinical Focus Group (CFG), a sub-group of the Clinical Design Group, has developed a series of consumer journeys that have been elaborated into a set of example use cases in this IG to provide guidance on how AU PS could be implemented.

AU Patient Summary Development Context

Figure 1: AU PS development context

For more information on the relationship between AUCDI and AU PS, including mappings, see AUCDI.

Dependencies

IGPackageFHIRComment
.. AU Patient Summary Implementation Guidehl7.fhir.au.ps#0.6.0-cibuildR4
... HL7 Terminology (THO)hl7.terminology.r4#7.0.1R4Automatically added as a dependency - all IGs depend on HL7 Terminology
.... FHIR Extensions Packhl7.fhir.uv.extensions.r4#5.2.0R4
... International Patient Summary Implementation Guidehl7.fhir.uv.ips#2.0.0R4
.... HL7 Terminology (THO)hl7.terminology.r4#6.5.0R4
.... International Patient Accesshl7.fhir.uv.ipa#1.1.0R4
..... HL7 Terminology (THO)hl7.terminology.r4#6.2.0R4
..... SMART App Launchhl7.fhir.uv.smart-app-launch#2.0.0R4
... AU Core Implementation Guidehl7.fhir.au.core#currentR4
.... AU Base Implementation Guidehl7.fhir.au.base#currentR4
.... SMART App Launchhl7.fhir.uv.smart-app-launch#2.2.0R4
..... HL7 Terminology (THO)hl7.terminology#5.5.0R4
...... FHIR Extensions Packhl7.fhir.uv.extensions.r4#1.0.0R4
.... International Patient Accesshl7.fhir.uv.ipa#currentR4

Package hl7.fhir.uv.extensions.r4#5.2.0

This IG defines the global extensions - the ones defined for everyone. These extensions are always in scope wherever FHIR is being used (built Mon, Feb 10, 2025 21:45+1100+11:00)

Package hl7.fhir.uv.ipa#1.1.0

This IG describes how an application acting on behalf of a patient can access information about the patient from an clinical records system using a FHIR based API. The clinical records system may be supporting a clinical care provider (e.g. a hospital, or a general practitioner), or a health data exchange, including a national health record system. (built Wed, Mar 19, 2025 14:34+0000+00:00)

Package hl7.fhir.au.base#current

This implementation guide is provided to support the use of FHIR®© in an Australian context. (built Sun, Jan 18, 2026 21:39+0000+00:00)

Package hl7.fhir.uv.extensions.r4#1.0.0

This IG defines the global extensions - the ones defined for everyone. These extensions are always in scope wherever FHIR is being used (built Sun, Mar 26, 2023 08:46+1100+11:00)

Package hl7.fhir.uv.ipa#current

This IG describes how an application acting on behalf of a patient can access information about the patient from an clinical records system using a FHIR based API. The clinical records system may be supporting a clinical care provider (e.g. a hospital, or a general practitioner), or a health data exchange, including a national health record system. (built Wed, Mar 19, 2025 12:34+0000+00:00)

Package hl7.fhir.au.core#current

This implementation guide is provided to support the use of FHIR®© in an Australian context, and defines the minimum set of constraints on the FHIR resources to create the AU Core profiles. This implementation guide forms the foundation to build future AU Realm FHIR implementation guides and its content will continue to grow to meet the needs of AU implementers. (built Wed, Jan 28, 2026 22:56+0000+00:00)

Package hl7.fhir.uv.tools.r4#0.9.0

This IG defines the extensions that the tools use internally. Some of these extensions are content that are being evaluated for elevation into the main spec, and others are tooling concerns (built Tue, Dec 16, 2025 23:18+1100+11:00)

Parameter Value
system-version SNOMED CT[AU]

How to Read This Guide

This guide is divided into several pages which are listed at the top of each page in the menu bar.

  • Home: This page provides the introduction and scope for this guide.
  • Conformance: These pages describe the set of rules to claim conformance to this guide including the expectations for Must Support elements in AU PS profiles.
    • General Requirements: This page defines requirements common to profiles used in this guide including the expectations for mandatory and Must Support elements in AU PS profiles.
    • Declaring Conformance: This page describes how to declare conformance to AU PS.
  • The AU PS: This page describes the AU PS including structure, context of use, and localisation of the IPS.
  • Guidance: These pages list the guidance for this guide.
  • Use Cases: These pages document a set of example use cases that assist in understanding how to implement AU PS.
    • Interstate GP Visit: This page documents the Interstate GP Visit - Patient Driven Patient Summary example use case.
    • Referral to Specialist and Allied Health: This page documents the Referral to Specialist and Allied Health - Clinician Driven Patient Summary (as Supplemental Information) example use case.
  • Security and Privacy: This page documents the AU PS general security and privacy requirements and recommendations.
  • FHIR Artefacts: These pages provide detailed descriptions and formal definitions for all the FHIR artefacts defined in this guide.
    • Artefacts Summary: This page lists the FHIR artefacts defined in this guide.
    • Profiles and Extensions: This page describes the profiles and extensions that are defined in this guide to exchange data. Each profile page includes a narrative description and guidance, and formal definition. Guidance typically focuses on the profiled elements but can include guidance on un-profiled elements to aid with implementation.
    • Terminology: This page lists the value sets and code systems supported in this guide.
    • Actor Definitions: This page defines the AU PS actors, AU PS Consumer and AU PS Producer.
  • Examples: This page lists all the examples used in this guide.
  • Support: These pages provide supporting material for implementation of AU PS.
    • Downloads: This page provides links to downloadable artefacts.
    • License and Legal: This page outlines the license and legal requirements for material in AU PS.
  • Change Log: This page documents the changes across versions of this guide.

Collaboration

This guide is the product of collaborative work undertaken with participants from:

Primary Editors: Brett Esler, Danielle Tavares-Rixon, Dusica Bojicic.