A Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) is a globally unique string of characters that provides a simple and extensible means for identifying a resource. URIs are used to identify a namespace or the location of a resource. URIs are human-readable and offer the potential for resolvability. The HL7 FHIR® specification recommends using URIs to have all resources resolvable and to comply with the FHIR RESTful paradigm.
URI Registration Process
- Requestor shall first check that the URI does not already exist in the Canadian URI Project, Jurisdictional Registry (if exists) or HL7 FHIR Specification.
- FHIR URIs must not be proposed for Subsets to be published on the Terminology Gateway as they will be generated automatically.
- Requestor shall contact the owner or respresentative for either:
- Jurisdictional URI, requestor shall contact Jurisdictional Representative who will post a suggested URI in accordance with the URI guidelines, to the HL7 International forum and FHIR Solution Architecture Workstream forum
- Non-jurisdictional URI, requestor shall contact the owner or responsible body who will post a suggested URI in accordance with the URI guidelines, to the HL7 International forum and FHIR Solution Architecture Workstream forum
- Forum posts shall have the following format:
Subject: New URI Request- Description: “A description of the URI”
- Responsible Body & Contact Information
- Proposed FHIR URI: URI as per URI Guidelines
- Existing OID (if exists)
- To be published (optional): Jurisidictional repository/ Canadian URI Registry
- There will be a wait period of five business days for the communities to react to the forum post with comments, questions or requests for clarification.
- Update Forum post will be updated with the new URI.
- Publishing the URI in the Canadian URI Registry and Jurisdictional Registry. This is highly recommended to prevent any misuse or duplication of URIs but it is optional.
See a flowchart of the FHIR URI Registration Process (pdf).