AU Core Implementation Guide
2.0.0-preview - Preview Australia flag

This page is part of the AU Core (v2.0.0-preview: QA Preview) based on FHIR (HL7® FHIR® Standard) R4. This version is a pre-release. The current official version is 1.0.0. For a full list of available versions, see the Directory of published versions

Home

Official URL: http://hl7.org.au/fhir/core/ImplementationGuide/hl7.fhir.au.core Version: 2.0.0-preview
IG Standards status: Trial-use Maturity Level: 2 Computable Name: AUCoreImplementationGuide

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

AU Core 2.0.0-preview for Testing

This November 2025 preview snapshot incorporates the normative changes from AU Core 2.0.0-ballot. This snapshot supports testing of AU Core 2.0.0 prior to publication.

Key updates and changes in this version are shown in the AU Core Change Log.

Testing plays a crucial role in the development of AU Core. It helps to build an AU Core that is aligned with its intended purpose and is practical, and responsive to the diverse needs of various stakeholders.

Testing AU Core helps identify issues, challenges, or gaps in the specification, enabling its improvement. During testing, implementers test their FHIR resources, software products, and/or proof of concepts with AU Core and provide essential feedback.

To learn more about testing AU Core or express your interest in participating, see AU Core FHIR IG Testing.

Introduction

AU Core is provided to support the use of HL7® FHIR®© in an Australian context. It sets the minimum expectations on FHIR resources to support conformance and implementation in systems.

AU Core defines the data model and RESTful API interactions that set minimum expectations for a system to record, update, search, and retrieve core digital health and administrative information.

AU Core uses AU Base representations, where available, as the basis for profiles that define the FHIR resources to be supported, along with their elements, extensions, vocabularies, and value sets, and how they are used is defined. It also documents the minimum FHIR RESTful interactions for each resource type to access data. AU Core promotes interoperability and adoption through common implementation and provides the basis for further implementation guide development for specific use cases.

There are two different ways to implement AU Core:

  1. Profile Only Support: systems support only the resources as profiled by AU Core to represent digital health information.
  2. Profile Support + Interaction Support: systems support the resources as profiled by AU Core to represent digital health information (Profile Support) and the RESTful FHIR API interactions defined for it (Interaction Support).

In this regard it is similar in nature to other national core specifications such as US Core FHIR Implementation Guide and international FHIR specifications such as International Patient Access FHIR Implementation Guide.

For a detailed description of the different ways to implement AU Core see the Conformance Requirements page.

Project Background

This implementation guide is under development through the AU Core 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 Core Sparked project includes:

  • AUCDI - clinician focussed data requirements project.
  • AU Core FHIR Implementation Guide - HL7 Australia technical data access and exchange specification.

AUCDI aims to define requirements underlying the standardisation of the capture, structure, usage, and exchange of health data to counteract the current fragmentation of Australia’s health data systems. The AUCDI forms a basis for clinical data requirements for AU Core.

Dependencies

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.au.base#6.0.0-preview

This implementation guide is provided to support the use of FHIR®© in an Australian context. (built Wed, Nov 26, 2025 07:22+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#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.uv.tools.r4#0.8.0

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, Aug 5, 2025 20:09+1000+10:00)

Usage

AU Core is particularly useful in defining:

  • A testable level of system conformance
  • Assumed support by client applications
  • The basis of downstream implementation guides

Implementation of capabilities defined in AU Core enables specifications, applications and business logic to be developed with confidence.

This document is a working specification that may be directly implemented by FHIR®© system producers.

FHIR®© Connectathon events are key to the verification of the guide as being suitable for implementation. This implementation guide will be used as the basis for Australian Connectathon events.

AU Core Actors

The following actors are part of AU Core:

AU Core Requestor

A system that creates and initiates a data access request to retrieve core digital health and administrative information. The AU Core Requestor is the client in a client-server interaction.

AU Core Responder

A system that responds to the data access request submitted by requesters, providing responses to requests for core digital health and administrative information. The AU Core Responder is the server in a client-server interaction.

AU Core FHIR RESTful Interactions

For systems that support AU Core FHIR RESTful interactions (Profile Support + Interaction Support), the interaction requirements, such as read and search operations, are detailed in the AU Core Requester and AU Core Responder CapabilityStatements.

The following are simple examples of AU Core FHIR RESTful interactions between AU Core Requester and AU Core Responder actors:

Example of a FHIR RESTful read interaction

FHIR RESTful read interaction example


Figure 1: Read a Patient using the logical id

Example of a FHIR RESTful search interaction

FHIR RESTful search interaction example


Figure 2: Search for patients that match a family name

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 Core profiles.
    • General Requirements: This page defines requirements common to all actors and profiles used in this guide including how CapabilityStatements are used to claim conformance. This page defines the expectations for mandatory and Must Support elements in AU Core Profiles.
    • Declaring Conformance: This page describes how to declare conformance to AU Core.
  • Guidance: These pages list the guidance for this guide.
  • Security and Privacy: This page documents the AU Core 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, formal definition and a "Notes" section that summarises the supported search transactions for each profile. Guidance typically focuses on the profiled elements but can include guidance on un-profiled elements to aid with implementation.
    • Search Parameters: This page lists the search parameters extended for use in this guide for use in AU Core operations.
    • Terminology: This page lists the value sets and code systems supported in this guide.
    • Capability Statements: This page defines the expected FHIR capabilities of AU Core Responders and Requesters.
    • Actor Definitions: This page defines the AU Core actors, AU Core Responder and AU Core Requester.
  • Examples: This page lists all the examples used in this guide.
  • Support: These pages provide supporting material for implementation of AU Core.
    • Downloads: This page provides links to downloadable artefacts.
    • License and Legal: This page outlines the license and legal requirements for material in AU Core.
  • 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.