AU eRequesting Implementation Guide
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## Home

Official URL: http://hl7.org.au/fhir/ereq/ImplementationGuide/hl7.fhir.au.ereq | Version: 0.4.0-preview
IG Standards status: Draft | Maturity Level: 0 | Computable Name: AUeRequestingImplementationGuide
Copyright/Legal: Used by permission of HL7 International, all rights reserved Creative Commons License. HL7 Australia© 2024+; Licensed Under Creative Commons No Rights Reserved.

#### AU eRequesting 0.4.0-preview for testing

This June 2025 preview snapshot supports testing of AU eRequesting prior to Ballot of AU eRequesting R1.

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

Testing AU eRequesting 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 eRequesting and provide essential feedback.

### Introduction

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

AU eRequesting defines the data model and RESTful API interactions that set minimum expectations for placing and accessing electronic requests.

The focus of AU eRequesting Release 1 (R1) is support of pathology and medical imaging requests in community-based care provision, with consideration for future use beyond this scope.

### Project background

This implementation guide is under development through the AU eRequesting 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 Sparked AU FHIR Accelerator includes:

- AU eRequesting Data for Interoperability - clinician focussed data requirements
- AU eRequesting FHIR Implementation Guide - HL7 Australia technical data access and exchange specification

The Australian eRequesting Data for Interoperability (AUeReqDI) is focused on an agreement of the minimum data required to support standardised eRequesting within the Australian health context, and forms a common language foundation that allows systems to exchange semantically accurate data for eRequests. AUeReqDI outputs form a set of data requirements to be considered and referred to as part of the development and definition of AU eRequesting.

AU eRequesting R1 is in currently in development. We are working towards a Ballot for Working Standard August 2025.

#### Join the AU eRequesting Technical Design Group

See How to Register - Participant Information for information on how to participate in the AU Core Technical Design Group and Clinical Design Group as part of Sparked, the Australian FHIR Accelerator.

Visit the HL7 Australia - AU eRequesting Technical Design Group Home

#### Discuss an issue in chat.fhir.org

If you have a question, feature request, or proposed change, the best place to start is Zulip e.g. the Australia stream https://chat.fhir.org/#narrow/stream/179173-australia.

#### Identify future work or raise discussion points

To identify future work or raise discussion points, you can post in the Australia stream https://chat.fhir.org/#narrow/stream/179173-australia or raise specification feedback through a Jira issue tracker.

##### Discuss with the team

Once the issue is logged, you should discuss with the team on chat.fhir.org in the australia > AU Request topic before attempting to make changes yourself. It’s important to coordinate with the other people working on the project. When everyone has agreed on a course of action, IG changes should be submitted as a pull request for review in the AU eRequesting repository.

### Dependencies

IG | Package | FHIR | Comment
--- | --- | --- | ---
AU eRequesting Implementation Guide | hl7.fhir.au.ereq#0.4.0-preview | R4 |
HL7 Terminology (THO) | hl7.terminology.r4#6.4.0 | R4 | Automatically added as a dependency - all IGs depend on HL7 Terminology
FHIR Extensions Pack | hl7.fhir.uv.extensions.r4#5.2.0 | R4 |
AU Base Implementation Guide | hl7.fhir.au.base#6.0.0-draft | R4 |
AU Core Implementation Guide | hl7.fhir.au.core#2.0.0-draft | R4 |
SMART App Launch | hl7.fhir.uv.smart-app-launch#2.1.0 | R4 |
HL7 Terminology (THO) | hl7.terminology.r4#5.0.0 | R4 |
International Patient Access | hl7.fhir.uv.ipa#1.1.0 | R4 |
HL7 Terminology (THO) | hl7.terminology.r4#6.2.0 | R4 |
SMART App Launch | hl7.fhir.uv.smart-app-launch#2.0.0 | R4 |
International Patient Summary Implementation Guide | hl7.fhir.uv.ips#2.0.0-ballot | R4 |
HL7 Terminology (THO) | hl7.terminology.r4#6.0.2 | R4 |
FHIR Extensions Pack | hl7.fhir.uv.extensions.r4#5.1.0 | R4 |

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-draft This implementation guide is provided to support the use of FHIR®© in an Australian context. (built Sun, Jun 15, 2025 07:39+0000+00:00)

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.core#2.0.0-draft 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 Mon, Jun 16, 2025 05:29+0000+00:00)

Package hl7.fhir.uv.extensions.r4#5.1.0 This IG defines the global extensions - the ones defined for everyone. These extensions are always in scope wherever FHIR is being used (built Sat, Apr 27, 2024 18:39+1000+10:00)

### AU eRequesting FHIR RESTful interactions

The RESTful interaction requirements for AU eRequesting actors, such as read and search operations, are outlined in the AU eRequesting CapabilityStatements. AU eRequesting Actors and their respective CapabilityStatements are defined in Actors and Capabilities.

The diagram below illustrates the interactions between the various actors:

Figure 1: FHIR RESTful interactions

Note: AU eRequesting Actor interactions will transition with the introduction of the Task resource, which will become central to fulfilment.

### AU eRequesting typical sequence

The AU eRequesting Placer actor can create and update ServiceRequest details by calling the AU eRequesting Server actor.

The AU eRequesting Patient actor can search for ServiceRequest details by calling the AU eRequesting Server actor.

The AU eRequesting Filler actor can retrieve ServiceRequest details by calling the AU eRequesting Server actor.

Actors operate in a typical sequence where placers initiate a request by creating (and updating) service requests, patients may access details of their requests and fillers retrieve service request details to enable fulfilment of the requests.

This sequence is shown in the diagram below:

Figure 2: Actors Typical Sequence

### 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: This page describes the set of rules to claim conformance to this guide
- Guidance: These pages list the guidance for this guide.
  - Sex and Gender: This page provides guidance on the representation of sex, gender, and related concepts.
  - AU eRequesting Data for Interoperability Mappings: This page maps AUeReqDI data groups and elements to FHIR artefacts in AU eRequesting.
  - Relationships to Other Specifications: This page provides guidance on the relationship between AU eRequesting, AUeReqDI, and other implementation guides.
  - AU Variance Statement: This page documents variance from AU Base and AU Core.
  - Future of AU eRequesting: This page outlines the approach to developing AU eRequesting and yearly update cycle.
- Use Cases: This page describes the use cases in scope of eRequesting R1.
- Security and Privacy: This page documents the AU eRequesting general security and privacy 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 support electronic requesting. Each profile page includes a narrative description and guidance, formal definition and a “Notes” section which summarises the supported search transactions for each profile. Although the guidance typically focuses on the profiled elements, it may also may focus on un-profiled elements to aid with implementation.
  - Search Parameters: This page lists the search parameters defined in this guide for use in AU eRequesting operations.
  - Terminology: This page lists the value sets and code systems supported in this guide.
  - Actors and Capabilities: This page defines the AU eRequesting actors and their respective CapabilityStatements.
- Examples: This page lists all the examples used in this guide.
- Support: These pages provide supporting material for implementation of AU eRequesting.
  - Downloads: This page provides links to downloadable artefacts.
  - License and Legal: This page outlines the license and legal requirements for material in AU eRequesting.
- 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:

- Sparked HL7 AU Technical Design Group
- HL7 Australia FHIR Working Group
- Australian FHIR Implementers Community

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