Introduction

Formed in August 2020, the initial Terms of Reference of this Work Group are to produce an Implementation Guide to support the use of HL7® FHIR® R4 in a New Zealand context.  This FHIR R4 Resource will contain the base FHIR implementation rules for New Zealand. It is an ‘abstract’ artefact from which all other FHIR Implementation Guides in this territory will be derived. It is intended to be a ‘living’ artefact that will be enhanced and maintained, based on feedback and usage experience from the FHIR Implementation Community mainly, but not restricted, to within New Zealand.

Background

The most recent Affiliate Agreement signed by HL7 New Zealand, and effective from Jan,1 2020 to Dec 31, 2021 contains the following clause at Section 6.10.2 …

“HL7 International grants the Affiliate the exclusive right to determine and/or publish the HL7 FHIR Implementation Guides in its Territory that are considered to be the base FHIR implementation rules for the Affiliate’s territory. These are usually called (in English): “HL7 FHIR (country) Base Implementation Guide”.

It is envisaged that each Affiliate will create a single FHIR R4 Implementation Guide Resource , capable of rendering as Web Pages for presentation purposes and published in the FHIR Registry. This might consist of:

• Extensions – are additional Resource elements are added for local use, covering data requirements specific to New Zealand.
• Terminologies – defined or referenced Code Systems, Value Sets and Concept Maps for the New Zealand context.
• Naming Systems – curated Namespaces for NZ Identifiers (e.g. NHI) and Code Systems (e.g. Ethnicity).
• Profiles – specify constraints and extensions to core FHIR resources and datatypes for New Zealand use.

Governance & Decision-Making Processes

Co-Chairs: Daniel Thompson (HL7NZ Board Member) and Peter Sergent (HL7NZ Vice-Chair).

Membership: Open, although membership of HL7NZ is encouraged.

Group Mailing List: Contact HL7 New Zealand to join this list.

Meetings: Held fortnightly, at 12pm on Fridays, via Zoom.

Quorum: 4 attendees, including 1 Co-Chair.

Voting Rules: Simple majority of attendees (NB prior to publication, each version of the HL7 FHIR NZ Base Implementation Guide will be subject to a formal ballot of HL7NZ Members).

Agendas & Minutes: HL7 New Zealand Confluence Page  (NB an HL7 International Confluence Account is required for access).

Current Work

HL7® FHIR® New Zealand Base Implementation Guide (DRAFT)

The Group is currently working to identify and determine the NZ-specific extensions to the HL7® FHIR® Specification that are considered to have a scope of use beyond individual projects or products.

Requests for additions to this list should be sent to HL7 New Zealand. In determining whether to add an Extension to this Registry the following will be considered by the Work Group…

1. Whether the extension has been published elsewhere, notably the FHIR Registry.
2. Feedback from the FHIR Implementer Community – principally, but not limited to, New Zealand.
3. The potential scope of use (NB at the request of a member, HL7 New Zealand may also host a valid NZ Extension that is considered outside the scope this Registry).
4. The extension URL must consist of the Base Address of  http://hl7.org.nz/fhir/StructureDefinition/ followed by the extension ID.
5. The extension definition must be created and/or validated by this Work Group and include the following attributes…