1a. Project Name

Improving identity assurance and patient match quality through interoperable Digital Identity and Patient Matching capabilities

1b. Project ID

1717

1c. Is Your Project an Investigative Project (aka PSS-Lite)?

No

1d. Is your Project Artifact being Reaffirmed or proceeding to Normative directly after being either Informative or STU?

No

1e. Today's Date

1f. Name of standard being reaffirmed

1g. Project Artifact Information

1h. ISO/IEC Standard to Adopt

1i. Does the standard include excerpted text from one or more ISO, IEC or ISO/IEC standards, but is not an identical or modified adoption?

1j. Unit of Measure

2a. Primary/Sponsor WG

Patient Administration

2d. Project Facilitator

Carmen Smiley, Julie Maas

2e. Other Interested Parties (and roles)

HL7 Community Based Care and Privacy WG
HL7 Public Health WG
HL7 Payer/Provider Information Exchange WG

2f. Modeling Facilitator

2g. Publishing Facilitator

TBD

2h. Vocabulary Facilitator

N/A

2i. Domain Expert Representative

2j. Business Requirements Analyst

Jim St. Clair

2k. Conformance Facilitator

David Pyke

2l. Other Facilitators

2m. Implementers

Optum (TBD), EMR Direct, Lumedic (TBD)

3a. Project Scope

Patient Identity Management in Healthcare today relies primarily on Patient Matching approaches with the relatively newer trend of Digital Identity Management picking up momentum, especially in the last year. While these two approaches have been largely considered distinct and separate, there is an opportunity to develop guidance on how implementers and organizations can leverage their Patient Matching and Digital Identity capabilities together to improve match quality and overall identity assurance in FHIR transactions.

The Operation-patient-match - FHIR v4.0.1 (https://www.hl7.org/fhir/operation-patient-match.html) today is primarily focused on Patient matching within an organization frequently using a Master Patient Index approach. This project will develop artifacts to profile the Patient match operation for use across organizations, incorporating elements of identity verification and the use of digital identities in workflows and information exchange. These workflows include exchanges between patients and organizations, with or without the use of an intermediary.

The information exchanged and resultant matching must meet the following requirements:
- Consistent with regulatory requirements for Patient Access and other permitted purposes, etc.
- May occur as part of a synchronous workflow
- Meets practical business needs of providers/payers/vendors that require patient identity confidence in their workflows

Existing SMART authentication workflows with OpenID Connect enable some information about the fhirUser to be conveyed, but there are gaps which limit a responder's ability to perform a high quality match. Additionally, registration and check-in practices achieve some level of identity assurance today, but this could be better characterized, variability harmonized, and stronger assurance could be indicated when appropriate.

This project is intended to develop artifacts (FHIR implementation guides, guidance documentation, reference implementations, etc.) to inform and or/execute a cross organizational or internal patient match via FHIR when requested for a permitted purpose or authorized by the Patient directly or by the Patient’s delegate. This will include identity verification guidance, best practice matching recommendations, and match workflow examples, to enable those who are requesting a match in health records to securely share or make discoverable attributes such as verified address(es), email address, mobile number, date of birth, facial photo, and possibly other attributes and identifiers. The IG may incorporate elements from other industry best practices, as this group will seek to harmonize identity and matching efforts already under way elsewhere in the industry and in the broader global community.

Representative Use Case: A patient holds physical and/or electronic pieces of identity evidence, which can be used to verify their unique identity and generate a corresponding digital identity. Applications could also bind authenticators to such identities and leverage best practice methods for authentication and proof of possession. These digital identities could be used as alternatives to the physical identity evidence and deployed in increasingly digital workflows. This IG would provide a reference for practices that can be used across organizational boundaries to communicate about these digital identities and associated attributes, enabling their best use and increasing confidence in cross organizational matching while preserving patient privacy and data security.

The effort will focus on the US Realm, intending to be compatible with NIST 800-63-3.

This FHIR implementation guide will use the US Core profiles. If this FHIR implementation guide is unable to use a US Core profile, we will follow the Cross Group Projects WG's variance request process, and provide the US Realm Steering Committee an approved rationale for deviation in the implementation guide where applicable.

Attachments

3b. Project Need

This project is intended to enhance interoperability among patient matching and digital identity management approaches. It will leverage and build on existing and emerging standards and augment with best practices for identity verification. This is currently a gap not addressed directly by other identity related efforts.

3c. Security Risk

No

3d. External Drivers

3e. Objectives/Deliverables and Target Dates

Connectathon May 2021
Connectathon September 2021
Ballot for STU1 January 2022
Reconciliation for STU1 – Jan - April 2022
Publication STU1 – May 2022
Ballot for STU2 – Jan 2023
Ballot Reconciliation – Jan – April 2023
Publication – May 2023
Ballot for Normative – Jan 2025
Ballot Reconciliation – Jan-April 2025
Publish Normative – May 2025

3f. Common Names / Keywords / Aliases:

FAST Identity / Patient matching / Digital Identity / record linkage / Patient Identifiers / unique patient identification / identity resolution

3g. Lineage

3h. Project Dependencies

3i. HL7-Managed Project Document Repository URL:

https://confluence.hl7.org/display/PA/Interoperable+Digital+Identity+and+Patient+Matching+Capabilities

3j. Backwards Compatibility

N/A

3k. Additional Backwards Compatibility Information (if applicable)

3l. Using Current V3 Data Types?

N/A

3l. Reason for not using current V3 data types?

3m. External Vocabularies

No

3n. List of Vocabularies

3o. Earliest prior release and/or version to which the compatibility applies

4a. Products

FHIR Implementation Guide

4b. For FHIR IGs and FHIR Profiles, what product version(s) will the profiles apply to?

FHIR R4+

4c. FHIR Profiles Version

4d. Please define your New Product Definition

4d. Please define your New Product Family

5a. Project Intent

Implementation Guide (IG) will be created/modified

5a. White Paper Type

5a. Is the project adopting/endorsing an externally developed IG?

No

5a. Externally developed IG is to be (select one)

5a. Specify external organization

5a. Revising Current Standard Info

5b. Project Ballot Type

STU to Normative

5c. Additional Ballot Info

5d. Joint Copyright

No

5e. I understand I must submit a Joint Copyright Letter of Agreement to the TSC in order for the PSS to receive TSC approval.

no

6a. External Project Collaboration

ONC FHIR at Scale Taskforce (FAST), Vaccination Credential Initiative, CARIN Alliance, Good Health Pass, PACIO Project, ONC Advancing Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) Health IT Enabled Tools and Data Interoperability project, Trust Over IP Foundation

6b. Content Already Developed

10%

6c. Content externally developed?

No

6d. List Developers of Externally Developed Content

6e. Is this a hosted (externally funded) project?

Yes

6f. Stakeholders

Clinical and Public Health Laboratories, Immunization Registries, Quality Reporting Agencies, Regulatory Agency, Standards Development Organizations (SDOs), Payors, Other

6f. Other Stakeholders

Public Health Organizations, Trust networks/HIEs, Consumer and Privacy Advocates, state agencies, federal agencies

6g. Vendors

Pharmaceutical, EHR, PHR, Equipment, Health Care IT, Clinical Decision Support Systems, Lab, HIS, Other

6g. Other Vendors

Medical Device (including wearables)

6h. Providers

Clinical and Public Health Laboratories, Emergency Services, Local and State Departments of Health, Medical Imaging Service, Healthcare Institutions (hospitals, long term care, home care, mental health), Other

6h. Other Providers

Care Delivery, Care Management and Care Coordination Organizations
Social Services, Community Health Services

6i. Realm

U.S. Realm Specific

7d. US Realm Approval Date

Jun 22, 2021

7a. Management Group(s) to Review PSS

FHIR

7b. Sponsoring WG Approval Date

Jun 09, 2021

7c. Co-Sponsor Approval Date

7c. Co-Sponsor 2 Approval Date

7c. Co-Sponsor 3 Approval Date

7c. Co-Sponsor 4 Approval Date

7c. Co-Sponsor 5 Approval Date

7c. Co-Sponsor 6 Approval Date

7c. Co-Sponsor 7 Approval Date

7c. Co-Sponsor 8 Approval Date

7c. Co-Sponsor 9 Approval Date

7c. Co-Sponsor 10 Approval Date

7e. CDA MG Approval Date

7f. FMG Approval Date

Jun 16, 2021

7g. V2 MG Approval Date

7h. Architecture Review Board Approval Date

7i. Steering Division Approval Date

7j. TSC Approval Date



Version

12

Modifier

Dana Marcelonis

Modify Date

Aug 26, 2021 01:26

1a. Project Name

Improving identity assurance and patient match quality through interoperable Digital Identity and Patient Matching capabilities

1b. Project ID

1717

1c. Is Your Project an Investigative Project (aka PSS-Lite)?

No

1d. Is your Project Artifact now proceeding to Normative directly or after being either Informative or STU?

No

2a. Primary/Sponsor WG

Patient Administration

2d. Project Facilitator

Carmen Smiley, Julie Maas

2e. Other Interested Parties (and roles)

HL7 Community Based Care and Privacy WG
HL7 Public Health WG
HL7 Payer/Provider Information Exchange WG

2g. Publishing Facilitator

TBD

2h. Vocabulary Facilitator

N/A

2j. Business Requirements Analyst

Jim St. Clair

2k. Conformance Facilitator

David Pyke

2m. Implementers

Optum (TBD), EMR Direct, Lumedic (TBD)

3a. Project Scope

Patient Identity Management in Healthcare today relies primarily on Patient Matching approaches with the relatively newer trend of Digital Identity Management picking up momentum, especially in the last year. While these two approaches have been largely considered distinct and separate, there is an opportunity to develop guidance on how implementers and organizations can leverage their Patient Matching and Digital Identity capabilities together to improve match quality and overall identity assurance in FHIR transactions.

The Operation-patient-match - FHIR v4.0.1 (https://www.hl7.org/fhir/operation-patient-match.html) today is primarily focused on Patient matching within an organization frequently using a Master Patient Index approach. This project will develop artifacts to profile the Patient match operation for use across organizations, incorporating elements of identity verification and the use of digital identities in workflows and information exchange. These workflows include exchanges between patients and organizations, with or without the use of an intermediary.

The information exchanged and resultant matching must meet the following requirements:
- Consistent with regulatory requirements for Patient Access and other permitted purposes, etc.
- May occur as part of a synchronous workflow
- Meets practical business needs of providers/payers/vendors that require patient identity confidence in their workflows

Existing SMART authentication workflows with OpenID Connect enable some information about the fhirUser to be conveyed, but there are gaps which limit a responder's ability to perform a high quality match. Additionally, registration and check-in practices achieve some level of identity assurance today, but this could be better characterized, variability harmonized, and stronger assurance could be indicated when appropriate.

This project is intended to develop artifacts (FHIR implementation guides, guidance documentation, reference implementations, etc.) to inform and or/execute a cross organizational or internal patient match via FHIR when requested for a permitted purpose or authorized by the Patient directly or by the Patient’s delegate. This will include identity verification guidance, best practice matching recommendations, and match workflow examples, to enable those who are requesting a match in health records to securely share or make discoverable attributes such as verified address(es), email address, mobile number, date of birth, facial photo, and possibly other attributes and identifiers. The IG may incorporate elements from other industry best practices, as this group will seek to harmonize identity and matching efforts already under way elsewhere in the industry and in the broader global community.

Representative Use Case: A patient holds physical and/or electronic pieces of identity evidence, which can be used to verify their unique identity and generate a corresponding digital identity. Applications could also bind authenticators to such identities and leverage best practice methods for authentication and proof of possession. These digital identities could be used as alternatives to the physical identity evidence and deployed in increasingly digital workflows. This IG would provide a reference for practices that can be used across organizational boundaries to communicate about these digital identities and associated attributes, enabling their best use and increasing confidence in cross organizational matching while preserving patient privacy and data security.

The effort will focus on the US Realm, intending to be compatible with NIST 800-63-3.

This FHIR implementation guide will use the US Core profiles. If this FHIR implementation guide is unable to use a US Core profile, we will follow the Cross Group Projects WG's variance request process, and provide the US Realm Steering Committee an approved rationale for deviation in the implementation guide where applicable.

3b. Project Need

This project is intended to enhance interoperability among patient matching and digital identity management approaches. It will leverage and build on existing and emerging standards and augment with best practices for identity verification. This is currently a gap not addressed directly by other identity related efforts.

3c. Security Risk

No

3e. Objectives/Deliverables and Target Dates

Connectathon May 2021
Connectathon September 2021
Ballot for STU1 January 2022
Reconciliation for STU1 – Jan - April 2022
Publication STU1 – May 2022
Ballot for STU2 – Jan 2023
Ballot Reconciliation – Jan – April 2023
Publication – May 2023
Ballot for Normative – Jan 2025
Ballot Reconciliation – Jan-April 2025
Publish Normative – May 2025

3f. Common Names / Keywords / Aliases:

FAST Identity / Patient matching / Digital Identity / record linkage / Patient Identifiers / unique patient identification / identity resolution

3i. HL7-Managed Project Document Repository URL:

https://confluence.hl7.org/display/PA/Interoperable+Digital+Identity+and+Patient+Matching+Capabilities

3j. Backwards Compatibility

N/A

3l. Using Current V3 Data Types?

N/A

3m. External Vocabularies

No

4a. Products

FHIR Implementation Guide

4b. For FHIR IGs and FHIR Profiles, what product version(s) will the profiles apply to?

FHIR R4+

5a. Project Intent

Implementation Guide (IG) will be created/modified

5a. Is the project adopting/endorsing an externally developed IG?

No

5b. Project Ballot Type

STU to Normative

5d. Joint Copyright

No

6a. External Project Collaboration

ONC FHIR at Scale Taskforce (FAST), Vaccination Credential Initiative, CARIN Alliance, Good Health Pass, PACIO Project, ONC Advancing Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) Health IT Enabled Tools and Data Interoperability project, Trust Over IP Foundation

6b. Content Already Developed

10%

6c. Content externally developed?

No

6e. Is this a hosted (externally funded) project?

Yes

6f. Stakeholders

Clinical and Public Health Laboratories, Immunization Registries, Quality Reporting Agencies, Regulatory Agency, Standards Development Organizations (SDOs), Payors, Other

6f. Other Stakeholders

Public Health Organizations, Trust networks/HIEs, Consumer and Privacy Advocates, state agencies, federal agencies

6g. Vendors

Pharmaceutical, EHR, PHR, Equipment, Health Care IT, Clinical Decision Support Systems, Lab, HIS, Other

6g. Other Vendors

Medical Device (including wearables)

6h. Providers

Clinical and Public Health Laboratories, Emergency Services, Local and State Departments of Health, Medical Imaging Service, Healthcare Institutions (hospitals, long term care, home care, mental health), Other

6h. Other Providers

Care Delivery, Care Management and Care Coordination Organizations
Social Services, Community Health Services

6i. Realm

U.S. Realm Specific

7a. Management Group(s) to Review PSS

FHIR

7b. Sponsoring WG Approval Date

Jun 09, 2021

7d. US Realm Approval Date

Jun 22, 2021

7f. FMG Approval Date

Jun 16, 2021

Version

11

Modifier

Dana Marcelonis

Modify Date

Jun 22, 2021 21:15

1a. Project Name

Improving identity assurance and patient match quality through interoperable Digital Identity and Patient Matching capabilities

1b. Project ID

1717

1c. Is Your Project an Investigative Project (aka PSS-Lite)?

No

1d. Is your Project Artifact now proceeding to Normative directly or after being either Informative or STU?

No

2a. Primary/Sponsor WG

Patient Administration

2d. Project Facilitator

Meena Jambulingam, Carmen Smiley, Julie Maas

2e. Other Interested Parties (and roles)

HL7 Community Based Care and Privacy WG
HL7 Public Health WG
HL7 Payer/Provider Information Exchange WG

2g. Publishing Facilitator

TBD

2h. Vocabulary Facilitator

N/A

2j. Business Requirements Analyst

Jim St. Clair

2k. Conformance Facilitator

David Pyke

2m. Implementers

Optum, EMR Direct, Lumedic (TBD)

3a. Project Scope

Patient Identity Management in Healthcare today relies primarily on Patient Matching approaches with the relatively newer trend of Digital Identity Management picking up momentum, especially in the last year. While these two approaches have been largely considered distinct and separate, there is an opportunity to develop guidance on how implementers and organizations can leverage their Patient Matching and Digital Identity capabilities together to improve match quality and overall identity assurance in FHIR transactions.

The Operation-patient-match - FHIR v4.0.1 (https://www.hl7.org/fhir/operation-patient-match.html) today is primarily focused on Patient matching within an organization frequently using a Master Patient Index approach. This project will develop artifacts to profile the Patient match operation for use across organizations, incorporating elements of identity verification and the use of digital identities in workflows and information exchange. These workflows include exchanges between patients and organizations, with or without the use of an intermediary.

The information exchanged and resultant matching must meet the following requirements:
- Consistent with regulatory requirements for Patient Access and other permitted purposes, etc.
- May occur as part of a synchronous workflow
- Meets practical business needs of providers/payers/vendors that require patient identity confidence in their workflows

Existing SMART authentication workflows with OpenID Connect enable some information about the fhirUser to be conveyed, but there are gaps which limit a responder's ability to perform a high quality match. Additionally, registration and check-in practices achieve some level of identity assurance today, but this could be better characterized, variability harmonized, and stronger assurance could be indicated when appropriate.

This project is intended to develop artifacts (FHIR implementation guides, guidance documentation, reference implementations, etc.) to inform and or/execute a cross organizational or internal patient match via FHIR when requested for a permitted purpose or authorized by the Patient directly or by the Patient’s delegate. This will include identity verification guidance, best practice matching recommendations, and match workflow examples, to enable those who are requesting a match in health records to securely share or make discoverable attributes such as verified address(es), email address, mobile number, date of birth, facial photo, and possibly other attributes and identifiers. The IG may incorporate elements from other industry best practices, as this group will seek to harmonize identity and matching efforts already under way elsewhere in the industry and in the broader global community.

Representative Use Case: A patient holds physical and/or electronic pieces of identity evidence, which can be used to verify their unique identity and generate a corresponding digital identity. Applications could also bind authenticators to such identities and leverage best practice methods for authentication and proof of possession. These digital identities could be used as alternatives to the physical identity evidence and deployed in increasingly digital workflows. This IG would provide a reference for practices that can be used across organizational boundaries to communicate about these digital identities and associated attributes, enabling their best use and increasing confidence in cross organizational matching while preserving patient privacy and data security.

The effort will focus on the US Realm, intending to be compatible with NIST 800-63-3.

This FHIR implementation guide will use the US Core profiles. If this FHIR implementation guide is unable to use a US Core profile, we will follow the Cross Group Projects WG's variance request process, and provide the US Realm Steering Committee an approved rationale for deviation in the implementation guide where applicable.

3b. Project Need

This project is intended to enhance interoperability among patient matching and digital identity management approaches. It will leverage and build on existing and emerging standards and augment with best practices for identity verification. This is currently a gap not addressed directly by other identity related efforts.

3c. Security Risk

No

3e. Objectives/Deliverables and Target Dates

Connectathon May 2021
Connectathon September 2021
Ballot for STU1 January 2022
Reconciliation for STU1 – Jan - April 2022
Publication STU1 – May 2022
Ballot for STU2 – Jan 2023
Ballot Reconciliation – Jan – April 2023
Publication – May 2023
Ballot for Normative – Jan 2025
Ballot Reconciliation – Jan-April 2025
Publish Normative – May 2025

3f. Common Names / Keywords / Aliases:

FAST Identity / Patient matching / Digital Identity / record linkage / Patient Identifiers / unique patient identification / identity resolution

3i. HL7-Managed Project Document Repository URL:

https://confluence.hl7.org/display/PA/Interoperable+Digital+Identity+and+Patient+Matching+Capabilities

3j. Backwards Compatibility

N/A

3l. Using Current V3 Data Types?

N/A

3m. External Vocabularies

No

4a. Products

FHIR Implementation Guide

4b. For FHIR IGs and FHIR Profiles, what product version(s) will the profiles apply to?

FHIR R4+

5a. Project Intent

Implementation Guide (IG) will be created/modified

5a. Is the project adopting/endorsing an externally developed IG?

No

5b. Project Ballot Type

STU to Normative

5d. Joint Copyright

No

6a. External Project Collaboration

ONC FHIR at Scale Taskforce (FAST), Vaccination Credential Initiative, CARIN Alliance, Good Health Pass, PACIO Project, ONC Advancing Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) Health IT Enabled Tools and Data Interoperability project, Trust Over IP Foundation

6b. Content Already Developed

10%

6c. Content externally developed?

No

6e. Is this a hosted (externally funded) project?

Yes

6f. Stakeholders

Clinical and Public Health Laboratories, Immunization Registries, Quality Reporting Agencies, Regulatory Agency, Standards Development Organizations (SDOs), Payors, Other

6f. Other Stakeholders

Public Health Organizations, Trust networks/HIEs, Consumer and Privacy Advocates, state agencies, federal agencies

6g. Vendors

Pharmaceutical, EHR, PHR, Equipment, Health Care IT, Clinical Decision Support Systems, Lab, HIS, Other

6g. Other Vendors

Medical Device (including wearables)

6h. Providers

Clinical and Public Health Laboratories, Emergency Services, Local and State Departments of Health, Medical Imaging Service, Healthcare Institutions (hospitals, long term care, home care, mental health), Other

6h. Other Providers

Care Delivery, Care Management and Care Coordination Organizations
Social Services, Community Health Services

6i. Realm

U.S. Realm Specific

7a. Management Group(s) to Review PSS

FHIR

7b. Sponsoring WG Approval Date

Jun 09, 2021

7d. US Realm Approval Date

Jun 22, 2021

7f. FMG Approval Date

Jun 16, 2021

Version

10

Modifier

Anne Wizauer

Modify Date

Jun 22, 2021 21:06

1a. Project Name

Improving identity assurance and patient match quality through interoperable Digital Identity and Patient Matching capabilities

1b. Project ID

1717

1c. Is Your Project an Investigative Project (aka PSS-Lite)?

No

1d. Is your Project Artifact now proceeding to Normative directly or after being either Informative or STU?

No

2a. Primary/Sponsor WG

Patient Administration

2d. Project Facilitator

Meena Jambulingam, Carmen Smiley, Julie Maas

2e. Other Interested Parties (and roles)

HL7 Community Based Care and Privacy WG
HL7 Public Health WG
HL7 Payer/Provider Information Exchange WG

2g. Publishing Facilitator

TBD

2h. Vocabulary Facilitator

N/A

2j. Business Requirements Analyst

Jim St. Clair

2k. Conformance Facilitator

David Pyke

2m. Implementers

Optum, EMR Direct, Lumedic (TBD)

3a. Project Scope

Patient Identity Management in Healthcare today relies primarily on Patient Matching approaches with the relatively newer trend of Digital Identity Management picking up momentum, especially in the last year. While these two approaches have been largely considered distinct and separate, there is an opportunity to develop guidance on how implementers and organizations can leverage their Patient Matching and Digital Identity capabilities together to improve match quality and overall identity assurance in FHIR transactions.

The Operation-patient-match - FHIR v4.0.1 (https://www.hl7.org/fhir/operation-patient-match.html) today is primarily focused on Patient matching within an organization frequently using a Master Patient Index approach. This project will develop artifacts to profile the Patient match operation for use across organizations, incorporating elements of identity verification and the use of digital identities in workflows and information exchange. These workflows include exchanges between patients and organizations, with or without the use of an intermediary.

The information exchanged and resultant matching must meet the following requirements:
- Consistent with regulatory requirements for Patient Access and other permitted purposes, etc.
- May occur as part of a synchronous workflow
- Meets practical business needs of providers/payers/vendors that require patient identity confidence in their workflows

Existing SMART authentication workflows with OpenID Connect enable some information about the fhirUser to be conveyed, but there are gaps which limit a responder's ability to perform a high quality match. Additionally, registration and check-in practices achieve some level of identity assurance today, but this could be better characterized, variability harmonized, and stronger assurance could be indicated when appropriate.

This project is intended to develop artifacts (FHIR implementation guides, guidance documentation, reference implementations, etc.) to inform and or/execute a cross organizational or internal patient match via FHIR when requested for a permitted purpose or authorized by the Patient directly or by the Patient’s delegate. This will include identity verification guidance, best practice matching recommendations, and match workflow examples, to enable those who are requesting a match in health records to securely share or make discoverable attributes such as verified address(es), email address, mobile number, date of birth, facial photo, and possibly other attributes and identifiers. The IG may incorporate elements from other industry best practices, as this group will seek to harmonize identity and matching efforts already under way elsewhere in the industry and in the broader global community.

Representative Use Case: A patient holds physical and/or electronic pieces of identity evidence, which can be used to verify their unique identity and generate a corresponding digital identity. Applications could also bind authenticators to such identities and leverage best practice methods for authentication and proof of possession. These digital identities could be used as alternatives to the physical identity evidence and deployed in increasingly digital workflows. This IG would provide a reference for practices that can be used across organizational boundaries to communicate about these digital identities and associated attributes, enabling their best use and increasing confidence in cross organizational matching while preserving patient privacy and data security.

The effort will focus on the US Realm, intending to be compatible with NIST 800-63-3.

3b. Project Need

This project is intended to enhance interoperability among patient matching and digital identity management approaches. It will leverage and build on existing and emerging standards and augment with best practices for identity verification. This is currently a gap not addressed directly by other identity related efforts.

3c. Security Risk

No

3e. Objectives/Deliverables and Target Dates

Connectathon May 2021
Connectathon September 2021
Ballot for STU1 January 2022
Reconciliation for STU1 – Jan - April 2022
Publication STU1 – May 2022
Ballot for STU2 – Jan 2023
Ballot Reconciliation – Jan – April 2023
Publication – May 2023
Ballot for Normative – Jan 2025
Ballot Reconciliation – Jan-April 2025
Publish Normative – May 2025

3f. Common Names / Keywords / Aliases:

FAST Identity / Patient matching / Digital Identity / record linkage / Patient Identifiers / unique patient identification / identity resolution

3i. HL7-Managed Project Document Repository URL:

https://confluence.hl7.org/display/PA/Interoperable+Digital+Identity+and+Patient+Matching+Capabilities

3j. Backwards Compatibility

N/A

3l. Using Current V3 Data Types?

N/A

3m. External Vocabularies

No

4a. Products

FHIR Implementation Guide

4b. For FHIR IGs and FHIR Profiles, what product version(s) will the profiles apply to?

FHIR R4+

5a. Project Intent

Implementation Guide (IG) will be created/modified

5a. Is the project adopting/endorsing an externally developed IG?

No

5b. Project Ballot Type

STU to Normative

5d. Joint Copyright

No

6a. External Project Collaboration

ONC FHIR at Scale Taskforce (FAST), Vaccination Credential Initiative, CARIN Alliance, Good Health Pass, PACIO Project, ONC Advancing Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) Health IT Enabled Tools and Data Interoperability project, Trust Over IP Foundation

6b. Content Already Developed

10%

6c. Content externally developed?

No

6e. Is this a hosted (externally funded) project?

Yes

6f. Stakeholders

Clinical and Public Health Laboratories, Immunization Registries, Quality Reporting Agencies, Regulatory Agency, Standards Development Organizations (SDOs), Payors, Other

6f. Other Stakeholders

Public Health Organizations, Trust networks/HIEs, Consumer and Privacy Advocates, state agencies, federal agencies

6g. Vendors

Pharmaceutical, EHR, PHR, Equipment, Health Care IT, Clinical Decision Support Systems, Lab, HIS, Other

6g. Other Vendors

Medical Device (including wearables)

6h. Providers

Clinical and Public Health Laboratories, Emergency Services, Local and State Departments of Health, Medical Imaging Service, Healthcare Institutions (hospitals, long term care, home care, mental health), Other

6h. Other Providers

Care Delivery, Care Management and Care Coordination Organizations
Social Services, Community Health Services

6i. Realm

U.S. Realm Specific

7a. Management Group(s) to Review PSS

FHIR

7b. Sponsoring WG Approval Date

Jun 09, 2021

7d. US Realm Approval Date

Jun 22, 2021

7f. FMG Approval Date

Jun 16, 2021

Version

9

Modifier

Dave Hamill

Modify Date

Jun 21, 2021 13:13

1a. Project Name

Improving identity assurance and patient match quality through interoperable Digital Identity and Patient Matching capabilities

1b. Project ID

1717

1c. Is Your Project an Investigative Project (aka PSS-Lite)?

No

1d. Is your Project Artifact now proceeding to Normative directly or after being either Informative or STU?

No

2a. Primary/Sponsor WG

Patient Administration

2d. Project Facilitator

Meena Jambulingam, Carmen Smiley, Julie Maas

2e. Other Interested Parties (and roles)

HL7 Community Based Care and Privacy WG
HL7 Public Health WG
HL7 Payer/Provider Information Exchange WG

2g. Publishing Facilitator

TBD

2h. Vocabulary Facilitator

N/A

2j. Business Requirements Analyst

Jim St. Clair

2k. Conformance Facilitator

David Pyke

2m. Implementers

Optum, EMR Direct, Lumedic (TBD)

3a. Project Scope

Patient Identity Management in Healthcare today relies primarily on Patient Matching approaches with the relatively newer trend of Digital Identity Management picking up momentum, especially in the last year. While these two approaches have been largely considered distinct and separate, there is an opportunity to develop guidance on how implementers and organizations can leverage their Patient Matching and Digital Identity capabilities together to improve match quality and overall identity assurance in FHIR transactions.

The Operation-patient-match - FHIR v4.0.1 (https://www.hl7.org/fhir/operation-patient-match.html) today is primarily focused on Patient matching within an organization frequently using a Master Patient Index approach. This project will develop artifacts to profile the Patient match operation for use across organizations, incorporating elements of identity verification and the use of digital identities in workflows and information exchange. These workflows include exchanges between patients and organizations, with or without the use of an intermediary.

The information exchanged and resultant matching must meet the following requirements:
- Consistent with regulatory requirements for Patient Access and other permitted purposes, etc.
- May occur as part of a synchronous workflow
- Meets practical business needs of providers/payers/vendors that require patient identity confidence in their workflows

Existing SMART authentication workflows with OpenID Connect enable some information about the fhirUser to be conveyed, but there are gaps which limit a responder's ability to perform a high quality match. Additionally, registration and check-in practices achieve some level of identity assurance today, but this could be better characterized, variability harmonized, and stronger assurance could be indicated when appropriate.

This project is intended to develop artifacts (FHIR implementation guides, guidance documentation, reference implementations, etc.) to inform and or/execute a cross organizational or internal patient match via FHIR when requested for a permitted purpose or authorized by the Patient directly or by the Patient’s delegate. This will include identity verification guidance, best practice matching recommendations, and match workflow examples, to enable those who are requesting a match in health records to securely share or make discoverable attributes such as verified address(es), email address, mobile number, date of birth, facial photo, and possibly other attributes and identifiers. The IG may incorporate elements from other industry best practices, as this group will seek to harmonize identity and matching efforts already under way elsewhere in the industry and in the broader global community.

Representative Use Case: A patient holds physical and/or electronic pieces of identity evidence, which can be used to verify their unique identity and generate a corresponding digital identity. Applications could also bind authenticators to such identities and leverage best practice methods for authentication and proof of possession. These digital identities could be used as alternatives to the physical identity evidence and deployed in increasingly digital workflows. This IG would provide a reference for practices that can be used across organizational boundaries to communicate about these digital identities and associated attributes, enabling their best use and increasing confidence in cross organizational matching while preserving patient privacy and data security.

The effort will focus on the US Realm, intending to be compatible with NIST 800-63-3.

3b. Project Need

This project is intended to enhance interoperability among patient matching and digital identity management approaches. It will leverage and build on existing and emerging standards and augment with best practices for identity verification. This is currently a gap not addressed directly by other identity related efforts.

3c. Security Risk

No

3e. Objectives/Deliverables and Target Dates

Connectathon May 2021
Connectathon September 2021
Ballot for STU1 January 2022
Reconciliation for STU1 – Jan - April 2022
Publication STU1 – May 2022
Ballot for STU2 – Jan 2023
Ballot Reconciliation – Jan – April 2023
Publication – May 2023
Ballot for Normative – Jan 2025
Ballot Reconciliation – Jan-April 2025
Publish Normative – May 2025

3f. Common Names / Keywords / Aliases:

FAST Identity / Patient matching / Digital Identity / record linkage / Patient Identifiers / unique patient identification / identity resolution

3i. HL7-Managed Project Document Repository URL:

https://confluence.hl7.org/display/PA/Interoperable+Digital+Identity+and+Patient+Matching+Capabilities

3j. Backwards Compatibility

N/A

3l. Using Current V3 Data Types?

N/A

3m. External Vocabularies

No

4a. Products

FHIR Implementation Guide

4b. For FHIR IGs and FHIR Profiles, what product version(s) will the profiles apply to?

FHIR R4+

5a. Project Intent

Implementation Guide (IG) will be created/modified

5a. Is the project adopting/endorsing an externally developed IG?

No

5b. Project Ballot Type

STU to Normative

5d. Joint Copyright

No

6a. External Project Collaboration

ONC FHIR at Scale Taskforce (FAST), Vaccination Credential Initiative, CARIN Alliance, Good Health Pass, PACIO Project, ONC Advancing Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) Health IT Enabled Tools and Data Interoperability project, Trust Over IP Foundation

6b. Content Already Developed

10%

6c. Content externally developed?

No

6e. Is this a hosted (externally funded) project?

Yes

6f. Stakeholders

Clinical and Public Health Laboratories, Immunization Registries, Quality Reporting Agencies, Regulatory Agency, Standards Development Organizations (SDOs), Payors, Other

6f. Other Stakeholders

Public Health Organizations, Trust networks/HIEs, Consumer and Privacy Advocates, state agencies, federal agencies

6g. Vendors

Pharmaceutical, EHR, PHR, Equipment, Health Care IT, Clinical Decision Support Systems, Lab, HIS, Other

6g. Other Vendors

Medical Device (including wearables)

6h. Providers

Clinical and Public Health Laboratories, Emergency Services, Local and State Departments of Health, Medical Imaging Service, Healthcare Institutions (hospitals, long term care, home care, mental health), Other

6h. Other Providers

Care Delivery, Care Management and Care Coordination Organizations
Social Services, Community Health Services

6i. Realm

U.S. Realm Specific

7a. Management Group(s) to Review PSS

FHIR

7b. Sponsoring WG Approval Date

Jun 09, 2021

7f. FMG Approval Date

Jun 16, 2021

Version

8

Modifier

Dana Marcelonis

Modify Date

Jun 17, 2021 19:57

1a. Project Name

Improving identity assurance and patient match quality through interoperable Digital Identity and Patient Matching capabilities

1c. Is Your Project an Investigative Project (aka PSS-Lite)?

No

1d. Is your Project Artifact now proceeding to Normative directly or after being either Informative or STU?

No

2a. Primary/Sponsor WG

Patient Administration

2d. Project Facilitator

Meena Jambulingam, Carmen Smiley, Julie Maas

2e. Other Interested Parties (and roles)

HL7 Community Based Care and Privacy WG
HL7 Public Health WG
HL7 Payer/Provider Information Exchange WG

2g. Publishing Facilitator

TBD

2h. Vocabulary Facilitator

N/A

2j. Business Requirements Analyst

Jim St. Clair

2k. Conformance Facilitator

David Pyke

2m. Implementers

Optum, EMR Direct, Lumedic (TBD)

3a. Project Scope

Patient Identity Management in Healthcare today relies primarily on Patient Matching approaches with the relatively newer trend of Digital Identity Management picking up momentum, especially in the last year. While these two approaches have been largely considered distinct and separate, there is an opportunity to develop guidance on how implementers and organizations can leverage their Patient Matching and Digital Identity capabilities together to improve match quality and overall identity assurance in FHIR transactions.

The Operation-patient-match - FHIR v4.0.1 (https://www.hl7.org/fhir/operation-patient-match.html) today is primarily focused on Patient matching within an organization frequently using a Master Patient Index approach. This project will develop artifacts to profile the Patient match operation for use across organizations, incorporating elements of identity verification and the use of digital identities in workflows and information exchange. These workflows include exchanges between patients and organizations, with or without the use of an intermediary.

The information exchanged and resultant matching must meet the following requirements:
- Consistent with regulatory requirements for Patient Access and other permitted purposes, etc.
- May occur as part of a synchronous workflow
- Meets practical business needs of providers/payers/vendors that require patient identity confidence in their workflows

Existing SMART authentication workflows with OpenID Connect enable some information about the fhirUser to be conveyed, but there are gaps which limit a responder's ability to perform a high quality match. Additionally, registration and check-in practices achieve some level of identity assurance today, but this could be better characterized, variability harmonized, and stronger assurance could be indicated when appropriate.

This project is intended to develop artifacts (FHIR implementation guides, guidance documentation, reference implementations, etc.) to inform and or/execute a cross organizational or internal patient match via FHIR when requested for a permitted purpose or authorized by the Patient directly or by the Patient’s delegate. This will include identity verification guidance, best practice matching recommendations, and match workflow examples, to enable those who are requesting a match in health records to securely share or make discoverable attributes such as verified address(es), email address, mobile number, date of birth, facial photo, and possibly other attributes and identifiers. The IG may incorporate elements from other industry best practices, as this group will seek to harmonize identity and matching efforts already under way elsewhere in the industry and in the broader global community.

Representative Use Case: A patient holds physical and/or electronic pieces of identity evidence, which can be used to verify their unique identity and generate a corresponding digital identity. Applications could also bind authenticators to such identities and leverage best practice methods for authentication and proof of possession. These digital identities could be used as alternatives to the physical identity evidence and deployed in increasingly digital workflows. This IG would provide a reference for practices that can be used across organizational boundaries to communicate about these digital identities and associated attributes, enabling their best use and increasing confidence in cross organizational matching while preserving patient privacy and data security.

The effort will focus on the US Realm, intending to be compatible with NIST 800-63-3.

3b. Project Need

This project is intended to enhance interoperability among patient matching and digital identity management approaches. It will leverage and build on existing and emerging standards and augment with best practices for identity verification. This is currently a gap not addressed directly by other identity related efforts.

3c. Security Risk

No

3e. Objectives/Deliverables and Target Dates

Connectathon May 2021
Connectathon September 2021
Ballot for STU1 January 2022
Reconciliation for STU1 – Jan - April 2022
Publication STU1 – May 2022
Ballot for STU2 – Jan 2023
Ballot Reconciliation – Jan – April 2023
Publication – May 2023
Ballot for Normative – Jan 2025
Ballot Reconciliation – Jan-April 2025
Publish Normative – May 2025

3f. Common Names / Keywords / Aliases:

FAST Identity / Patient matching / Digital Identity / record linkage / Patient Identifiers / unique patient identification / identity resolution

3i. HL7-Managed Project Document Repository URL:

https://confluence.hl7.org/display/PA/Interoperable+Digital+Identity+and+Patient+Matching+Capabilities

3j. Backwards Compatibility

N/A

3l. Using Current V3 Data Types?

N/A

3m. External Vocabularies

No

4a. Products

FHIR Implementation Guide

4b. For FHIR IGs and FHIR Profiles, what product version(s) will the profiles apply to?

FHIR R4+

5a. Project Intent

Implementation Guide (IG) will be created/modified

5a. Is the project adopting/endorsing an externally developed IG?

No

5b. Project Ballot Type

STU to Normative

5d. Joint Copyright

No

6a. External Project Collaboration

ONC FHIR at Scale Taskforce (FAST), Vaccination Credential Initiative, CARIN Alliance, Good Health Pass, PACIO Project, ONC Advancing Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) Health IT Enabled Tools and Data Interoperability project, Trust Over IP Foundation

6b. Content Already Developed

10%

6c. Content externally developed?

No

6e. Is this a hosted (externally funded) project?

Yes

6f. Stakeholders

Clinical and Public Health Laboratories, Immunization Registries, Quality Reporting Agencies, Regulatory Agency, Standards Development Organizations (SDOs), Payors, Other

6f. Other Stakeholders

Public Health Organizations, Trust networks/HIEs, Consumer and Privacy Advocates, state agencies, federal agencies

6g. Vendors

Pharmaceutical, EHR, PHR, Equipment, Health Care IT, Clinical Decision Support Systems, Lab, HIS, Other

6g. Other Vendors

Medical Device (including wearables)

6h. Providers

Clinical and Public Health Laboratories, Emergency Services, Local and State Departments of Health, Medical Imaging Service, Healthcare Institutions (hospitals, long term care, home care, mental health), Other

6h. Other Providers

Care Delivery, Care Management and Care Coordination Organizations
Social Services, Community Health Services

6i. Realm

U.S. Realm Specific

7a. Management Group(s) to Review PSS

FHIR

7b. Sponsoring WG Approval Date

Jun 09, 2021

7f. FMG Approval Date

Jun 16, 2021

Version

7

Modifier

Dana Marcelonis

Modify Date

Jun 17, 2021 19:48

1a. Project Name

Improving identity assurance and patient match quality through interoperable Digital Identity and Patient Matching capabilities

1c. Is Your Project an Investigative Project (aka PSS-Lite)?

No

1d. Is your Project Artifact now proceeding to Normative directly or after being either Informative or STU?

No

2a. Primary/Sponsor WG

Patient Administration

2d. Project Facilitator

Meena Jambulingam, Carmen Smiley, Julie Maas

2e. Other Interested Parties (and roles)

HL7 Community Based Care and Privacy WG
HL7 Public Health WG
HL7 Payer/Provider Information Exchange WG

2g. Publishing Facilitator

TBD

2h. Vocabulary Facilitator

N/A

2j. Business Requirements Analyst

Jim St. Clair

2k. Conformance Facilitator

David Pyke

2m. Implementers

Optum, EMR Direct, Lumedic (TBD)

3a. Project Scope

Patient Identity Management in Healthcare today relies primarily on Patient Matching approaches with the relatively newer trend of Digital Identity Management picking up momentum, especially in the last year. While these two approaches have been largely considered distinct and separate, there is an opportunity to develop guidance on how implementers and organizations can leverage their Patient Matching and Digital Identity capabilities together to improve match quality and overall identity assurance in FHIR transactions.

The Operation-patient-match - FHIR v4.0.1 (https://www.hl7.org/fhir/operation-patient-match.html) today is primarily focused on Patient matching within an organization frequently using a Master Patient Index approach. This project will develop artifacts to profile the Patient match operation for use across organizations, incorporating elements of identity verification and the use of digital identities in workflows and information exchange. These workflows include exchanges between patients and organizations, with or without the use of an intermediary.

The information exchanged and resultant matching must meet the following requirements:
- Consistent with regulatory requirements for Patient Access and other permitted purposes, etc.
- May occur as part of a synchronous workflow
- Meets practical business needs of providers/payers/vendors that require patient identity confidence in their workflows

Existing SMART authentication workflows with OpenID Connect enable some information about the fhirUser to be conveyed, but there are gaps which limit a responder's ability to perform a high quality match. Additionally, registration and check-in practices achieve some level of identity assurance today, but this could be better characterized, variability harmonized, and stronger assurance could be indicated when appropriate.

This project is intended to develop artifacts (FHIR implementation guides, guidance documentation, reference implementations, etc.) to inform and or/execute a cross organizational or internal patient match via FHIR when requested for a permitted purpose or authorized by the Patient directly or by the Patient’s delegate. This will include identity verification guidance, best practice matching recommendations, and match workflow examples, to enable those who are requesting a match in health records to securely share or make discoverable attributes such as verified address(es), email address, mobile number, date of birth, facial photo, and possibly other attributes and identifiers. The IG may incorporate elements from other industry best practices, as this group will seek to harmonize identity and matching efforts already under way elsewhere in the industry and in the broader global community.

Representative Use Case: A patient holds physical and/or electronic pieces of identity evidence, which can be used to verify their unique identity and generate a corresponding digital identity. Applications could also bind authenticators to such identities and leverage best practice methods for authentication and proof of possession. These digital identities could be used as alternatives to the physical identity evidence and deployed in increasingly digital workflows. This IG would provide a reference for practices that can be used across organizational boundaries to communicate about these digital identities and associated attributes, enabling their best use and increasing confidence in cross organizational matching while preserving patient privacy and data security.

The effort will focus on the US Realm, intending to be compatible with NIST 800-63-3.

3b. Project Need

This project is intended to enhance interoperability among patient matching and digital identity management approaches. It will leverage and build on existing and emerging standards and augment with best practices for identity verification. This is currently a gap not addressed directly by other identity related efforts.

3c. Security Risk

No

3e. Objectives/Deliverables and Target Dates

Connectathon May 2021
Connectathon September 2021
Ballot for STU1 January 2022
Reconciliation for STU1 – Jan - April 2022
Publication STU1 – May 2022
Ballot for STU2 – Jan 2023
Ballot Reconciliation – Jan – April 2023
Publication – May 2023
Ballot for Normative – Jan 2025
Ballot Reconciliation – Jan-April 2025
Publish Normative – May 2025

3f. Common Names / Keywords / Aliases:

FAST Identity / Patient matching / Digital Identity / record linkage / Patient Identifiers / unique patient identification / identity resolution

3i. HL7-Managed Project Document Repository URL:

TBD

3j. Backwards Compatibility

N/A

3l. Using Current V3 Data Types?

N/A

3m. External Vocabularies

No

4a. Products

FHIR Implementation Guide

4b. For FHIR IGs and FHIR Profiles, what product version(s) will the profiles apply to?

FHIR R4+

5a. Project Intent

Implementation Guide (IG) will be created/modified

5a. Is the project adopting/endorsing an externally developed IG?

No

5b. Project Ballot Type

STU to Normative

5d. Joint Copyright

No

6a. External Project Collaboration

ONC FHIR at Scale Taskforce (FAST), Vaccination Credential Initiative, CARIN Alliance, Good Health Pass, PACIO Project, ONC Advancing Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) Health IT Enabled Tools and Data Interoperability project, Trust Over IP Foundation

6b. Content Already Developed

10%

6c. Content externally developed?

No

6e. Is this a hosted (externally funded) project?

Yes

6f. Stakeholders

Clinical and Public Health Laboratories, Immunization Registries, Quality Reporting Agencies, Regulatory Agency, Standards Development Organizations (SDOs), Payors, Other

6f. Other Stakeholders

Public Health Organizations, Trust networks/HIEs, Consumer and Privacy Advocates, state agencies, federal agencies

6g. Vendors

Pharmaceutical, EHR, PHR, Equipment, Health Care IT, Clinical Decision Support Systems, Lab, HIS, Other

6g. Other Vendors

Medical Device (including wearables)

6h. Providers

Clinical and Public Health Laboratories, Emergency Services, Local and State Departments of Health, Medical Imaging Service, Healthcare Institutions (hospitals, long term care, home care, mental health), Other

6h. Other Providers

Care Delivery, Care Management and Care Coordination Organizations
Social Services, Community Health Services

6i. Realm

U.S. Realm Specific

7a. Management Group(s) to Review PSS

FHIR

7b. Sponsoring WG Approval Date

Jun 09, 2021

7f. FMG Approval Date

Jun 16, 2021

Version

6

Modifier

Dana Marcelonis

Modify Date

Jun 09, 2021 20:26

1a. Project Name

Improving identity assurance and patient match quality through interoperable Digital Identity and Patient Matching capabilities

1c. Is Your Project an Investigative Project (aka PSS-Lite)?

No

1d. Is your Project Artifact now proceeding to Normative directly or after being either Informative or STU?

No

2a. Primary/Sponsor WG

Patient Administration

2d. Project Facilitator

Meena Jambulingam, Carmen Smiley, Julie Maas

2e. Other Interested Parties (and roles)

HL7 Community Based Care and Privacy WG
HL7 Public Health WG
HL7 Payer/Provider Information Exchange WG

2g. Publishing Facilitator

TBD

2h. Vocabulary Facilitator

N/A

2j. Business Requirements Analyst

Jim St. Clair

2k. Conformance Facilitator

David Pyke

2m. Implementers

Optum, EMR Direct, Lumedic (TBD)

3a. Project Scope

Patient Identity Management in Healthcare today relies primarily on Patient Matching approaches with the relatively newer trend of Digital Identity Management picking up momentum, especially in the last year. While these two approaches have been largely considered distinct and separate, there is an opportunity to develop guidance on how implementers and organizations can leverage their Patient Matching and Digital Identity capabilities together to improve match quality and overall identity assurance in FHIR transactions.

The Operation-patient-match - FHIR v4.0.1 (https://www.hl7.org/fhir/operation-patient-match.html) today is primarily focused on Patient matching within an organization frequently using a Master Patient Index approach. This project will develop artifacts to profile the Patient match operation for use across organizations, incorporating elements of identity verification and the use of digital identities in workflows and information exchange. These workflows include exchanges between patients and organizations, with or without the use of an intermediary.

The information exchanged and resultant matching must meet the following requirements:
- Consistent with regulatory requirements for Patient Access and other permitted purposes, etc.
- May occur as part of a synchronous workflow
- Meets practical business needs of providers/payers/vendors that require patient identity confidence in their workflows

Existing SMART authentication workflows with OpenID Connect enable some information about the fhirUser to be conveyed, but there are gaps which limit a responder's ability to perform a high quality match. Additionally, registration and check-in practices achieve some level of identity assurance today, but this could be better characterized, variability harmonized, and stronger assurance could be indicated when appropriate.

This project is intended to develop artifacts (FHIR implementation guides, guidance documentation, reference implementations, etc.) to inform and or/execute a cross organizational or internal patient match via FHIR when requested for a permitted purpose or authorized by the Patient directly or by the Patient’s delegate. This will include identity verification guidance, best practice matching recommendations, and match workflow examples, to enable those who are requesting a match in health records to securely share or make discoverable attributes such as verified address(es), email address, mobile number, date of birth, facial photo, and possibly other attributes and identifiers. The IG may incorporate elements from other industry best practices, as this group will seek to harmonize identity and matching efforts already under way elsewhere in the industry and in the broader global community.

Representative Use Case: A patient holds physical and/or electronic pieces of identity evidence, which can be used to verify their unique identity and generate a corresponding digital identity. Applications could also bind authenticators to such identities and leverage best practice methods for authentication and proof of possession. These digital identities could be used as alternatives to the physical identity evidence and deployed in increasingly digital workflows. This IG would provide a reference for practices that can be used across organizational boundaries to communicate about these digital identities and associated attributes, enabling their best use and increasing confidence in cross organizational matching while preserving patient privacy and data security.

The effort will focus on the US Realm, intending to be compatible with NIST 800-63-3.

3b. Project Need

This project is intended to enhance interoperability among patient matching and digital identity management approaches. It will leverage and build on existing and emerging standards and augment with best practices for identity verification. This is currently a gap not addressed directly by other identity related efforts.

3c. Security Risk

No

3e. Objectives/Deliverables and Target Dates

Connectathon May 2021
Connectathon September 2021
Ballot for STU1 January 2022
Reconciliation for STU1 – Jan - April 2022
Publication STU1 – May 2022
Ballot for STU2 – Jan 2023
Ballot Reconciliation – Jan – April 2023
Publication – May 2023
Ballot for Normative – Jan 2025
Ballot Reconciliation – Jan-April 2025
Publish Normative – May 2025

3f. Common Names / Keywords / Aliases:

FAST Identity / Patient matching / Digital Identity / record linkage / Patient Identifiers / unique patient identification / identity resolution

3i. HL7-Managed Project Document Repository URL:

TBD

3j. Backwards Compatibility

N/A

3l. Using Current V3 Data Types?

N/A

3m. External Vocabularies

No

4a. Products

FHIR Implementation Guide

4b. For FHIR IGs and FHIR Profiles, what product version(s) will the profiles apply to?

FHIR R4+

5a. Project Intent

Implementation Guide (IG) will be created/modified

5a. Is the project adopting/endorsing an externally developed IG?

No

5b. Project Ballot Type

STU to Normative

5d. Joint Copyright

No

6a. External Project Collaboration

ONC FHIR at Scale Taskforce (FAST), Vaccination Credential Initiative, CARIN Alliance, Good Health Pass, PACIO Project, ONC Advancing Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) Health IT Enabled Tools and Data Interoperability project, Trust Over IP Foundation

6b. Content Already Developed

10%

6c. Content externally developed?

No

6e. Is this a hosted (externally funded) project?

Yes

6f. Stakeholders

Clinical and Public Health Laboratories, Immunization Registries, Quality Reporting Agencies, Regulatory Agency, Standards Development Organizations (SDOs), Payors, Other

6f. Other Stakeholders

Public Health Organizations, Trust networks/HIEs, Consumer and Privacy Advocates, state agencies, federal agencies

6g. Vendors

Pharmaceutical, EHR, PHR, Equipment, Health Care IT, Clinical Decision Support Systems, Lab, HIS, Other

6g. Other Vendors

Medical Device (including wearables)

6h. Providers

Clinical and Public Health Laboratories, Emergency Services, Local and State Departments of Health, Medical Imaging Service, Healthcare Institutions (hospitals, long term care, home care, mental health), Other

6h. Other Providers

Care Delivery, Care Management and Care Coordination Organizations
Social Services, Community Health Services

6i. Realm

U.S. Realm Specific

7a. Management Group(s) to Review PSS

FHIR

7b. Sponsoring WG Approval Date

Jun 09, 2021

Version

5

Modifier

Dana Marcelonis

Modify Date

May 28, 2021 16:13

1a. Project Name

Improving identity assurance and patient match quality through interoperable Digital Identity and Patient Matching capabilities

1c. Is Your Project an Investigative Project (aka PSS-Lite)?

No

1d. Is your Project Artifact now proceeding to Normative directly or after being either Informative or STU?

No

2a. Primary/Sponsor WG

Patient Administration

2d. Project Facilitator

Meena Jambulingam, Carmen Smiley, Julie Maas

2e. Other Interested Parties (and roles)

HL7 Community Based Care and Privacy WG
HL7 Public Health WG
HL7 Payer/Provider Information Exchange WG

2g. Publishing Facilitator

TBD

2h. Vocabulary Facilitator

N/A

2j. Business Requirements Analyst

Jim St. Clair

2k. Conformance Facilitator

David Pyke

2m. Implementers

Optum, EMR Direct, Lumedic (TBD)

3a. Project Scope

Patient Identity Management in Healthcare today relies primarily on Patient Matching approaches with the relatively newer trend of Digital Identity Management picking up momentum, especially in the last year. While these two approaches have been largely considered distinct and separate, there is an opportunity to develop guidance on how implementers and organizations can leverage their Patient Matching and Digital Identity capabilities together to improve match quality and overall identity assurance in FHIR transactions.

The Operation-patient-match - FHIR v4.0.1 (https://www.hl7.org/fhir/operation-patient-match.html) today is primarily focused on Patient matching within an organization frequently using a Master Patient Index approach. This project will develop artifacts to profile the Patient match operation for use across organizations, incorporating elements of identity verification and the use of digital identities in workflows and information exchange. These workflows include exchanges between patients and organizations, with or without the use of an intermediary.

The information exchanged and resultant matching must meet the following requirements:
- Consistent with regulatory requirements for Patient Access and other permitted purposes, etc.
- May occur as part of a synchronous workflow
- Meets practical business needs of providers/payers/vendors that require patient identity confidence in their workflows

Existing SMART authentication workflows with OpenID Connect enable some information about the fhirUser to be conveyed, but there are gaps which limit a responder's ability to perform a high quality match. Additionally, registration and check-in practices achieve some level of identity assurance today, but this could be better characterized, variability harmonized, and stronger assurance could be indicated when appropriate.

This project is intended to develop artifacts (FHIR implementation guides, guidance documentation, reference implementations, etc.) to inform and or/execute a cross organizational or internal patient match via FHIR when requested for a permitted purpose or authorized by the Patient directly or by the Patient’s delegate. This will include identity verification guidance, best practice matching recommendations, and match workflow examples, to enable those who are requesting a match in health records to securely share or make discoverable attributes such as verified address(es), email address, mobile number, date of birth, facial photo, and possibly other attributes and identifiers. The IG may incorporate elements from other industry best practices, as this group will seek to harmonize identity and matching efforts already under way elsewhere in the industry and in the broader global community.

Representative Use Case: A patient holds physical and/or electronic pieces of identity evidence, which can be used to verify their unique identity and generate a corresponding digital identity. Applications could also bind authenticators to such identities and leverage best practice methods for authentication and proof of possession. These digital identities could be used as alternatives to the physical identity evidence and deployed in increasingly digital workflows. This IG would provide a reference for practices that can be used across organizational boundaries to communicate about these digital identities and associated attributes, enabling their best use and increasing confidence in cross organizational matching while preserving patient privacy and data security.

The effort will focus on the US Realm, intending to be compatible with NIST 800-63-3.

3b. Project Need

This project is intended to enhance interoperability among patient matching and digital identity management approaches. It will leverage and build on existing and emerging standards and augment with best practices for identity verification. This is currently a gap not addressed directly by other identity related efforts.

3c. Security Risk

No

3e. Objectives/Deliverables and Target Dates

Connectathon May 2021
Connectathon September 2021
Ballot for STU1 January 2022
Reconciliation for STU1 – Jan - April 2022
Publication STU1 – May 2022
Ballot for STU2 – Jan 2023
Ballot Reconciliation – Jan – April 2023
Publication – May 2023
Ballot for Normative – Jan 2025
Ballot Reconciliation – Jan-April 2025
Publish Normative – May 2025

3f. Common Names / Keywords / Aliases:

FAST Identity / Patient matching / Digital Identity / record linkage / Patient Identifiers / unique patient identification / identity resolution

3i. HL7-Managed Project Document Repository URL:

TBD

3j. Backwards Compatibility

N/A

3l. Using Current V3 Data Types?

N/A

3m. External Vocabularies

No

4a. Products

FHIR Implementation Guide

4b. For FHIR IGs and FHIR Profiles, what product version(s) will the profiles apply to?

FHIR R4+

5a. Project Intent

Implementation Guide (IG) will be created/modified

5a. Is the project adopting/endorsing an externally developed IG?

No

5b. Project Ballot Type

STU to Normative

5d. Joint Copyright

No

6a. External Project Collaboration

ONC FHIR at Scale Taskforce (FAST), Vaccination Credential Initiative, CARIN Alliance, Good Health Pass, PACIO Project, ONC Advancing Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) Health IT Enabled Tools and Data Interoperability project, Trust Over IP Foundation

6b. Content Already Developed

10%

6c. Content externally developed?

No

6e. Is this a hosted (externally funded) project?

Yes

6f. Stakeholders

Clinical and Public Health Laboratories, Immunization Registries, Quality Reporting Agencies, Regulatory Agency, Standards Development Organizations (SDOs), Payors, Other

6f. Other Stakeholders

Public Health Organizations, Trust networks/HIEs, Consumer and Privacy Advocates, state agencies, federal agencies

6g. Vendors

Pharmaceutical, EHR, PHR, Equipment, Health Care IT, Clinical Decision Support Systems, Lab, HIS, Other

6g. Other Vendors

Medical Device (including wearables)

6h. Providers

Clinical and Public Health Laboratories, Emergency Services, Local and State Departments of Health, Medical Imaging Service, Healthcare Institutions (hospitals, long term care, home care, mental health), Other

6h. Other Providers

Care Delivery, Care Management and Care Coordination Organizations
Social Services, Community Health Services

6i. Realm

U.S. Realm Specific

7a. Management Group(s) to Review PSS

FHIR

Version

4

Modifier

Dana Marcelonis

Modify Date

May 27, 2021 18:38

1a. Project Name

Improving identity assurance and patient match quality through interoperable Digital Identity and Patient Matching capabilities

1c. Is Your Project an Investigative Project (aka PSS-Lite)?

No

1d. Is your Project Artifact now proceeding to Normative directly or after being either Informative or STU?

No

2a. Primary/Sponsor WG

Patient Administration

2d. Project Facilitator

Meena Jambulingam, Carmen Smiley, Julie Maas

2e. Other Interested Parties (and roles)

HL7 Community Based Care and Privacy WG
HL7 Public Health WG
HL7 Payer/Provider Information Exchange WG

2g. Publishing Facilitator

TBD

2h. Vocabulary Facilitator

TBD

2j. Business Requirements Analyst

Jim St. Clair

2k. Conformance Facilitator

David Pyke

2m. Implementers

Optum, EMR Direct, Lumedic (TBD)

3a. Project Scope

Patient Identity Management in Healthcare today relies primarily on Patient Matching approaches with the relatively newer trend of Digital Identity Management picking up momentum, especially in the last year. While these two approaches have been largely considered distinct and separate, there is an opportunity to develop guidance on how implementers and organizations can leverage their Patient Matching and Digital Identity capabilities together to improve match quality and overall identity assurance in FHIR transactions.

The Operation-patient-match - FHIR v4.0.1 (https://www.hl7.org/fhir/operation-patient-match.html) today is primarily focused on Patient matching within an organization frequently using a Master Patient Index approach. This project will develop artifacts to profile the Patient match operation for use across organizations, incorporating elements of identity verification and the use of digital identities in workflows and information exchange. These workflows include exchanges between patients and organizations, with or without the use of an intermediary.

The information exchanged and resultant matching must meet the following requirements:
- Consistent with regulatory requirements for Patient Access and other permitted purposes, etc.
- May occur as part of a synchronous workflow
- Meets practical business needs of providers/payers/vendors that require patient identity confidence in their workflows

Existing SMART authentication workflows with OpenID Connect enable some information about the fhirUser to be conveyed, but there are gaps which limit a responder's ability to perform a high quality match. Additionally, registration and check-in practices achieve some level of identity assurance today, but this could be better characterized, variability harmonized, and stronger assurance could be indicated when appropriate.

This project is intended to develop artifacts (FHIR implementation guides, guidance documentation, reference implementations, etc.) to inform and or/execute a cross organizational or internal patient match via FHIR when requested for a permitted purpose or authorized by the Patient directly or by the Patient’s delegate. This will include identity verification guidance, best practice matching recommendations, and match workflow examples, to enable those who are requesting a match in health records to securely share or make discoverable attributes such as verified address(es), email address, mobile number, date of birth, facial photo, and possibly other attributes and identifiers. The IG may incorporate elements from other industry best practices, as this group will seek to harmonize identity and matching efforts already under way elsewhere in the industry and in the broader global community.

Representative Use Case: A patient holds physical and/or electronic pieces of identity evidence, which can be used to verify their unique identity and generate a corresponding digital identity. Applications could also bind authenticators to such identities and leverage best practice methods for authentication and proof of possession. These digital identities could be used as alternatives to the physical identity evidence and deployed in increasingly digital workflows. This IG would provide a reference for practices that can be used across organizational boundaries to communicate about these digital identities and associated attributes, enabling their best use and increasing confidence in cross organizational matching while preserving patient privacy and data security.

The effort will focus on the US Realm, intending to be compatible with NIST 800-63-3.

3b. Project Need

This project is intended to enhance interoperability among patient matching and digital identity management approaches. It will leverage and build on existing and emerging standards and augment with best practices for identity verification. This is currently a gap not addressed directly by other identity related efforts.

3c. Security Risk

No

3e. Objectives/Deliverables and Target Dates

Connectathon May 2021
Connectathon September 2021
Ballot for STU1 January 2022
Reconciliation for STU1 – Jan - April 2022
Publication STU1 – May 2022
Ballot for STU2 – Jan 2023
Ballot Reconciliation – Jan – April 2023
Publication – May 2023
Ballot for Normative – Jan 2025
Ballot Reconciliation – Jan-April 2025
Publish Normative – May 2025

3f. Common Names / Keywords / Aliases:

FAST Identity / Patient matching / Digital Identity / record linkage / Patient Identifiers / unique patient identification / identity resolution

3i. HL7-Managed Project Document Repository URL:

TBD

3j. Backwards Compatibility

N/A

3l. Using Current V3 Data Types?

N/A

3m. External Vocabularies

No

4a. Products

FHIR Implementation Guide

4b. For FHIR IGs and FHIR Profiles, what product version(s) will the profiles apply to?

FHIR R4+

5a. Project Intent

Implementation Guide (IG) will be created/modified

5a. Is the project adopting/endorsing an externally developed IG?

No

5b. Project Ballot Type

STU to Normative

5d. Joint Copyright

No

6a. External Project Collaboration

ONC FHIR at Scale Taskforce (FAST), Vaccination Credential Initiative, CARIN Alliance, Good Health Pass, PACIO Project, ONC Advancing Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) Health IT Enabled Tools and Data Interoperability project, Trust Over IP Foundation

6b. Content Already Developed

10%

6c. Content externally developed?

No

6e. Is this a hosted (externally funded) project?

Yes

6f. Stakeholders

Clinical and Public Health Laboratories, Immunization Registries, Quality Reporting Agencies, Regulatory Agency, Standards Development Organizations (SDOs), Payors, Other

6f. Other Stakeholders

Public Health Organizations, Trust networks/HIEs, Consumer and Privacy Advocates, state agencies, federal agencies

6g. Vendors

Pharmaceutical, EHR, PHR, Equipment, Health Care IT, Clinical Decision Support Systems, Lab, HIS, Other

6g. Other Vendors

Medical Device (including wearables)

6h. Providers

Clinical and Public Health Laboratories, Emergency Services, Local and State Departments of Health, Medical Imaging Service, Healthcare Institutions (hospitals, long term care, home care, mental health), Other

6h. Other Providers

Care Delivery, Care Management and Care Coordination Organizations
Social Services, Community Health Services

6i. Realm

U.S. Realm Specific

7a. Management Group(s) to Review PSS

FHIR

Version

3

Modifier

Dana Marcelonis

Modify Date

May 27, 2021 18:37

1a. Project Name

Improving identity assurance and patient match quality through interoperable Digital Identity and Patient Matching capabilities

1c. Is Your Project an Investigative Project (aka PSS-Lite)?

No

1d. Is your Project Artifact now proceeding to Normative directly or after being either Informative or STU?

No

2a. Primary/Sponsor WG

Patient Administration

2d. Project Facilitator

Meena Jambulingam, Carmen Smiley, Julie Maas

2e. Other Interested Parties (and roles)

HL7 Community Based Care and Privacy WG
HL7 Public Health WG
Payer/Provider Information Exchange WG

2g. Publishing Facilitator

TBD

2h. Vocabulary Facilitator

TBD

2j. Business Requirements Analyst

Jim St. Clair

2k. Conformance Facilitator

David Pyke

2m. Implementers

Optum, EMR Direct, Lumedic (TBD)

3a. Project Scope

Patient Identity Management in Healthcare today relies primarily on Patient Matching approaches with the relatively newer trend of Digital Identity Management picking up momentum, especially in the last year. While these two approaches have been largely considered distinct and separate, there is an opportunity to develop guidance on how implementers and organizations can leverage their Patient Matching and Digital Identity capabilities together to improve match quality and overall identity assurance in FHIR transactions.

The Operation-patient-match - FHIR v4.0.1 (https://www.hl7.org/fhir/operation-patient-match.html) today is primarily focused on Patient matching within an organization frequently using a Master Patient Index approach. This project will develop artifacts to profile the Patient match operation for use across organizations, incorporating elements of identity verification and the use of digital identities in workflows and information exchange. These workflows include exchanges between patients and organizations, with or without the use of an intermediary.

The information exchanged and resultant matching must meet the following requirements:
- Consistent with regulatory requirements for Patient Access and other permitted purposes, etc.
- May occur as part of a synchronous workflow
- Meets practical business needs of providers/payers/vendors that require patient identity confidence in their workflows

Existing SMART authentication workflows with OpenID Connect enable some information about the fhirUser to be conveyed, but there are gaps which limit a responder's ability to perform a high quality match. Additionally, registration and check-in practices achieve some level of identity assurance today, but this could be better characterized, variability harmonized, and stronger assurance could be indicated when appropriate.

This project is intended to develop artifacts (FHIR implementation guides, guidance documentation, reference implementations, etc.) to inform and or/execute a cross organizational or internal patient match via FHIR when requested for a permitted purpose or authorized by the Patient directly or by the Patient’s delegate. This will include identity verification guidance, best practice matching recommendations, and match workflow examples, to enable those who are requesting a match in health records to securely share or make discoverable attributes such as verified address(es), email address, mobile number, date of birth, facial photo, and possibly other attributes and identifiers. The IG may incorporate elements from other industry best practices, as this group will seek to harmonize identity and matching efforts already under way elsewhere in the industry and in the broader global community.

Representative Use Case: A patient holds physical and/or electronic pieces of identity evidence, which can be used to verify their unique identity and generate a corresponding digital identity. Applications could also bind authenticators to such identities and leverage best practice methods for authentication and proof of possession. These digital identities could be used as alternatives to the physical identity evidence and deployed in increasingly digital workflows. This IG would provide a reference for practices that can be used across organizational boundaries to communicate about these digital identities and associated attributes, enabling their best use and increasing confidence in cross organizational matching while preserving patient privacy and data security.

The effort will focus on the US Realm, intending to be compatible with NIST 800-63-3.

3b. Project Need

This project is intended to enhance interoperability among patient matching and digital identity management approaches. It will leverage and build on existing and emerging standards and augment with best practices for identity verification. This is currently a gap not addressed directly by other identity related efforts.

3c. Security Risk

No

3e. Objectives/Deliverables and Target Dates

Connectathon May 2021
Connectathon September 2021
Ballot for STU1 January 2022
Reconciliation for STU1 – Jan - April 2022
Publication STU1 – May 2022
Ballot for STU2 – Jan 2023
Ballot Reconciliation – Jan – April 2023
Publication – May 2023
Ballot for Normative – Jan 2025
Ballot Reconciliation – Jan-April 2025
Publish Normative – May 2025

3f. Common Names / Keywords / Aliases:

FAST Identity / Patient matching / Digital Identity / record linkage / Patient Identifiers / unique patient identification / identity resolution

3i. HL7-Managed Project Document Repository URL:

TBD

3j. Backwards Compatibility

N/A

3l. Using Current V3 Data Types?

N/A

3m. External Vocabularies

No

4a. Products

FHIR Implementation Guide

4b. For FHIR IGs and FHIR Profiles, what product version(s) will the profiles apply to?

FHIR R4+

5a. Project Intent

Implementation Guide (IG) will be created/modified

5a. Is the project adopting/endorsing an externally developed IG?

No

5b. Project Ballot Type

STU to Normative

5d. Joint Copyright

No

6a. External Project Collaboration

ONC FHIR at Scale Taskforce (FAST), Vaccination Credential Initiative, CARIN Alliance, Good Health Pass, PACIO Project, ONC Advancing Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) Health IT Enabled Tools and Data Interoperability project, Trust Over IP Foundation

6b. Content Already Developed

10%

6c. Content externally developed?

No

6e. Is this a hosted (externally funded) project?

Yes

6f. Stakeholders

Clinical and Public Health Laboratories, Immunization Registries, Quality Reporting Agencies, Regulatory Agency, Standards Development Organizations (SDOs), Payors, Other

6f. Other Stakeholders

Public Health Organizations, Trust networks/HIEs, Consumer and Privacy Advocates, state agencies, federal agencies

6g. Vendors

Pharmaceutical, EHR, PHR, Equipment, Health Care IT, Clinical Decision Support Systems, Lab, HIS, Other

6g. Other Vendors

Medical Device (including wearables)

6h. Providers

Clinical and Public Health Laboratories, Emergency Services, Local and State Departments of Health, Medical Imaging Service, Healthcare Institutions (hospitals, long term care, home care, mental health), Other

6h. Other Providers

Care Delivery, Care Management and Care Coordination Organizations
Social Services, Community Health Services

6i. Realm

U.S. Realm Specific

7a. Management Group(s) to Review PSS

FHIR

Version

2

Modifier

Jim StClair

Modify Date

May 19, 2021 13:59

1a. Project Name

Improving identity assurance and patient match quality through interoperable Digital Identity and Patient Matching capabilities

1c. Is Your Project an Investigative Project (aka PSS-Lite)?

No

1d. Is your Project Artifact now proceeding to Normative directly or after being either Informative or STU?

No

2a. Primary/Sponsor WG

Patient Administration

2d. Project Facilitator

Meena Jambulingam, Carmen Smiley, Julie Maas

2e. Other Interested Parties (and roles)

HL7 Community Based Care and Privacy WG
HL7 Public Health WG

2g. Publishing Facilitator

TBD

2h. Vocabulary Facilitator

TBD

2j. Business Requirements Analyst

Jim St. Clair

2k. Conformance Facilitator

David Pyke

2m. Implementers

Optum, EMR Direct, Lumedic (TBD)

3a. Project Scope

Patient Identity Management in Healthcare today relies primarily on Patient Matching approaches with the relatively newer trend of Digital Identity Management picking up momentum, especially in the last year. While these two approaches have been largely considered distinct and separate, there is an opportunity to develop guidance on how implementers and organizations can leverage their Patient Matching and Digital Identity capabilities together to improve match quality and overall identity assurance in FHIR transactions.

The Operation-patient-match - FHIR v4.0.1 (https://www.hl7.org/fhir/operation-patient-match.html) today is primarily focused on Patient matching within an organization frequently using a Master Patient Index approach. This project will develop artifacts to profile the Patient match operation for use across organizations, incorporating elements of identity verification and the use of digital identities in workflows and information exchange. These workflows include exchanges between patients and organizations, with or without the use of an intermediary.

The information exchanged and resultant matching must meet the following requirements:
- Consistent with regulatory requirements for Patient Access and other permitted purposes, etc.
- May occur as part of a synchronous workflow
- Meets practical business needs of providers/payers/vendors that require patient identity confidence in their workflows

Existing SMART authentication workflows with OpenID Connect enable some information about the fhirUser to be conveyed, but there are gaps which limit a responder's ability to perform a high quality match. Additionally, registration and check-in practices achieve some level of identity assurance today, but this could be better characterized, variability harmonized, and stronger assurance could be indicated when appropriate.

This project is intended to develop artifacts (FHIR implementation guides, guidance documentation, reference implementations, etc.) to inform and or/execute a cross organizational or internal patient match via FHIR when requested for a permitted purpose or authorized by the Patient directly or by the Patient’s delegate. This will include identity verification guidance, best practice matching recommendations, and match workflow examples, to enable those who are requesting a match in health records to securely share or make discoverable attributes such as verified address(es), email address, mobile number, date of birth, facial photo, and possibly other attributes and identifiers. The IG may incorporate elements from other industry best practices, as this group will seek to harmonize identity and matching efforts already under way elsewhere in the industry and in the broader global community.

Representative Use Case: A patient holds physical and/or electronic pieces of identity evidence, which can be used to verify their unique identity and generate a corresponding digital identity. Applications could also bind authenticators to such identities and leverage best practice methods for authentication and proof of possession. These digital identities could be used as alternatives to the physical identity evidence and deployed in increasingly digital workflows. This IG would provide a reference for practices that can be used across organizational boundaries to communicate about these digital identities and associated attributes, enabling their best use and increasing confidence in cross organizational matching while preserving patient privacy and data security.

The effort will focus on the US Realm, intending to be compatible with NIST 800-63-3.

3b. Project Need

This project is intended to enhance interoperability among patient matching and digital identity management approaches. It will leverage and build on existing and emerging standards and augment with best practices for identity verification. This is currently a gap not addressed directly by other identity related efforts.

3c. Security Risk

No

3e. Objectives/Deliverables and Target Dates

Connectathon May 2021
Connectathon September 2021
Ballot for STU1 January 2022
Reconciliation for STU1 – Jan - April 2022
Publication STU1 – May 2022
Ballot for STU2 – Jan 2023
Ballot Reconciliation – Jan – April 2023
Publication – May 2023
Ballot for Normative – Jan 2025
Ballot Reconciliation – Jan-April 2025
Publish Normative – May 2025

3f. Common Names / Keywords / Aliases:

FAST Identity / Patient matching / Digital Identity / record linkage / Patient Identifiers / unique patient identification / identity resolution

3i. HL7-Managed Project Document Repository URL:

TBD

3j. Backwards Compatibility

N/A

3l. Using Current V3 Data Types?

N/A

3m. External Vocabularies

No

4a. Products

FHIR Implementation Guide

4b. For FHIR IGs and FHIR Profiles, what product version(s) will the profiles apply to?

FHIR R4+

5a. Project Intent

Implementation Guide (IG) will be created/modified

5a. Is the project adopting/endorsing an externally developed IG?

No

5b. Project Ballot Type

STU to Normative

5d. Joint Copyright

No

6a. External Project Collaboration

ONC FHIR at Scale Taskforce (FAST), Vaccination Credential Initiative, CARIN Alliance, Good Health Pass, PACIO Project, ONC Advancing Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) Health IT Enabled Tools and Data Interoperability project, Trust Over IP Foundation

6b. Content Already Developed

10%

6c. Content externally developed?

No

6e. Is this a hosted (externally funded) project?

Yes

6f. Stakeholders

Clinical and Public Health Laboratories, Immunization Registries, Quality Reporting Agencies, Regulatory Agency, Standards Development Organizations (SDOs), Payors, Other

6f. Other Stakeholders

Public Health Organizations, Trust networks/HIEs, Consumer and Privacy Advocates, state agencies, federal agencies

6g. Vendors

Pharmaceutical, EHR, PHR, Equipment, Health Care IT, Clinical Decision Support Systems, Lab, HIS, Other

6g. Other Vendors

Medical Device (including wearables)

6h. Providers

Clinical and Public Health Laboratories, Emergency Services, Local and State Departments of Health, Medical Imaging Service, Healthcare Institutions (hospitals, long term care, home care, mental health), Other

6h. Other Providers

Care Delivery, Care Management and Care Coordination Organizations
Social Services, Community Health Services

6i. Realm

U.S. Realm Specific

7a. Management Group(s) to Review PSS

FHIR

Version

1

Modifier

Dana Marcelonis

Modify Date

May 14, 2021 18:25

1a. Project Name

Improving identity assurance and patient match quality through interoperable Digital Identity and Patient Matching capabilities

1c. Is Your Project an Investigative Project (aka PSS-Lite)?

No

1d. Is your Project Artifact now proceeding to Normative directly or after being either Informative or STU?

No

2a. Primary/Sponsor WG

Patient Administration

2d. Project Facilitator

Meena Jambulingam, Carmen Smiley, Julie Maas

2e. Other Interested Parties (and roles)

HL7 Community Based Care and Privacy WG
HL7 Public Health WG

2g. Publishing Facilitator

TBD

2h. Vocabulary Facilitator

TBD

2j. Business Requirements Analyst

Jim St. Clair

2k. Conformance Facilitator

David Pyke

2m. Implementers

Optum, EMR Direct

3a. Project Scope

Patient Identity Management in Healthcare today relies primarily on Patient Matching approaches with the relatively newer trend of Digital Identity Management picking up momentum, especially in the last year. While these two approaches have been largely considered distinct and separate, there is an opportunity to develop guidance on how implementers and organizations can leverage their Patient Matching and Digital Identity capabilities together to improve match quality and overall identity assurance in FHIR transactions.

The Operation-patient-match - FHIR v4.0.1 (https://www.hl7.org/fhir/operation-patient-match.html) today is primarily focused on Patient matching within an organization frequently using a Master Patient Index approach. This project will develop artifacts to profile the Patient match operation for use across organizations, incorporating elements of identity verification and the use of digital identities in workflows and information exchange. These workflows include exchanges between patients and organizations, with or without the use of an intermediary.

The information exchanged and resultant matching must meet the following requirements:
- Consistent with regulatory requirements for Patient Access and other permitted purposes, etc.
- May occur as part of a synchronous workflow
- Meets practical business needs of providers/payers/vendors that require patient identity confidence in their workflows

Existing SMART authentication workflows with OpenID Connect enable some information about the fhirUser to be conveyed, but there are gaps which limit a responder's ability to perform a high quality match. Additionally, registration and check-in practices achieve some level of identity assurance today, but this could be better characterized, variability harmonized, and stronger assurance could be indicated when appropriate.

This project is intended to develop artifacts (FHIR implementation guides, guidance documentation, reference implementations, etc.) to inform and or/execute a cross organizational or internal patient match via FHIR when requested for a permitted purpose or authorized by the Patient directly or by the Patient’s delegate. This will include identity verification guidance, best practice matching recommendations, and match workflow examples, to enable those who are requesting a match in health records to securely share or make discoverable attributes such as verified address(es), email address, mobile number, date of birth, facial photo, and possibly other attributes and identifiers. The IG may incorporate elements from other industry best practices, as this group will seek to harmonize identity and matching efforts already under way elsewhere in the industry and in the broader global community.

Representative Use Case: A patient holds physical and/or electronic pieces of identity evidence, which can be used to verify their unique identity and generate a corresponding digital identity. Applications could also bind authenticators to such identities and leverage best practice methods for authentication and proof of possession. These digital identities could be used as alternatives to the physical identity evidence and deployed in increasingly digital workflows. This IG would provide a reference for practices that can be used across organizational boundaries to communicate about these digital identities and associated attributes, enabling their best use and increasing confidence in cross organizational matching while preserving patient privacy and data security.

The effort will focus on the US Realm, intending to be compatible with NIST 800-63-3.

3b. Project Need

This project is intended to enhance interoperability among patient matching and digital identity management approaches. It will leverage and build on existing and emerging standards and augment with best practices for identity verification. This is currently a gap not addressed directly by other identity related efforts.

3c. Security Risk

No

3e. Objectives/Deliverables and Target Dates

Connectathon May 2021
Connectathon September 2021
Ballot for STU1 January 2022
Reconciliation for STU1 – Jan - April 2022
Publication STU1 – May 2022
Ballot for STU2 – Jan 2023
Ballot Reconciliation – Jan – April 2023
Publication – May 2023
Ballot for Normative – Jan 2025
Ballot Reconciliation – Jan-April 2025
Publish Normative – May 2025

3f. Common Names / Keywords / Aliases:

FAST Identity / Patient matching / Digital Identity / record linkage / Patient Identifiers / unique patient identification / identity resolution

3i. HL7-Managed Project Document Repository URL:

TBD

3j. Backwards Compatibility

N/A

3l. Using Current V3 Data Types?

N/A

3m. External Vocabularies

No

4a. Products

FHIR Implementation Guide

4b. For FHIR IGs and FHIR Profiles, what product version(s) will the profiles apply to?

FHIR R4+

5a. Project Intent

Implementation Guide (IG) will be created/modified

5a. Is the project adopting/endorsing an externally developed IG?

No

5b. Project Ballot Type

STU to Normative

5d. Joint Copyright

No

6a. External Project Collaboration

ONC FHIR at Scale Taskforce (FAST), Vaccination Credential Initiative, CARIN Alliance, Good Health Pass

6b. Content Already Developed

10%

6c. Content externally developed?

No

6e. Is this a hosted (externally funded) project?

Yes

6f. Stakeholders

Clinical and Public Health Laboratories, Immunization Registries, Quality Reporting Agencies, Regulatory Agency, Standards Development Organizations (SDOs), Payors, Other

6f. Other Stakeholders

Public Health Organizations, Trust networks/HIEs, Consumer and Privacy Advocates

6g. Vendors

Pharmaceutical, EHR, PHR, Equipment, Health Care IT, Clinical Decision Support Systems, Lab, HIS, Other

6g. Other Vendors

Medical Device (including wearables)

6h. Providers

Clinical and Public Health Laboratories, Emergency Services, Local and State Departments of Health, Medical Imaging Service, Healthcare Institutions (hospitals, long term care, home care, mental health), Other

6h. Other Providers

Care Delivery, Care Management and Care Coordination Organizations
Social Services, Community Health Services

6i. Realm

U.S. Realm Specific

7a. Management Group(s) to Review PSS

FHIR

3 Comments

  1. Would like to participate/contribute to this project. how can I get engaged?

    1. Hi Ajay Tipnis, the team is working to schedule a review of this PSS within the PA workgroup and once approved will discuss scheduling a regular project call that will be added to the HL7 calendar.  Thanks!

      1. Ajay Tipnis, this PSS will be reviewed in the Patient Administration workgroup call this afternoon, 6/9/21.  Thanks!