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Identifier Policy

The Ontario Patient Summary uses URIs whenever Object Identifiers are required. URIs (Uniform Resource Identifiers) are globally unique identifiers for individual objects, as well as for value sets, code systems, profiles, namespaces, and more. URIs are the preferred object identifiers for FHIR objects, and are usually represented as URLs. All URIs used in Ontario Health projects must conform to Ontario Health's URI Management Policy.

For more information, or to obtain the proper URLs for use in this project, contact Ontario Health at DigitalHealthStandards@OntarioHealth.ca

The base namespace for global identifier such as the system identifier for Ontario Health Card Number will be referred to as "[id-system-global-base]" throughout the specification.

The base namespace for a local identifier such as a Patient Medical Record Number (MRN) Assigning Authority will be referred to as "[id-system-local-base]" throughout the specification.

The base namespace for local code systems will be referred to as "[code-system-local-base]" throughout the specification.

Due to the evolving FHIR standard and its developing framework and governance, implementers should recognize that these identifiers may change if identifier registration becomes governed nationally or internationally. Implementers are recommended to implement URIs using configurable variables.

Table - Identifier Variables