IE (Ireland) Core Implementation Guide
0.3.0 - draft
IE (Ireland) Core Implementation Guide
0.3.0 - draft
IE (Ireland) Core Implementation Guide - Local Development build (v0.3.0) built by the FHIR (HL7® FHIR® Standard) Build Tools. See the Directory of published versions
| Official URL: https://hl7-ie.github.io/ie-core/fhir/ie/core/ImplementationGuide/nostalgic-ie.fhir.core | Version: 0.3.0 | |||
| Draft as of 2026-09-28 | Computable Name: IECore | |||
ℹ️ INFO: aligned with the HIQA draft national standards (September 2026)
Release 0.2.0 "Nostalgic IE", package
nostalgic-ie.fhir.core.This release aligns IE Core with two HIQA consultation drafts: Electronic Prescriptions and Electronic Dispensations and Patient Summary. The drafts will change after consultation, and IE Core will change with them. See HIQA 2026 Alignment, Traceability and Open Issues.
⚠️ WARNING: proof of concept, not for clinical use
- This IG is not affiliated with, or endorsed by, HIQA, the HSE, HSE Standards & Interoperability, HL7 Ireland or the Department of Health.
- It is a draft. It must not be used to exchange real patient data or to make clinical decisions.
- Identifier system URIs, some code systems and the controlled-drug schedule codes are placeholders where no authoritative source exists yet; each one is listed in Open Issues.
- All example patients, practitioners, organisations and identifiers are fictional.
ℹ️ Important Notice:
This Implementation Guide (IG) is a Proof of Concept developed by Nithin Mohan for demonstration and educational purposes only. It illustrates how FHIR adoption could be implemented at a national level, drawing on the author's experience with HL7 V2, V3 CDA, and FHIR, and a practical curiosity to address cross-border healthcare interoperability challenges under the European Health Data Space (EHDS) — viewed through the lens of Ireland's healthcare landscape.
- This IG has no affiliation with, or support from, the HSE, HSE Standards & Interoperability team, or the Department of Health Ireland.
- It is maintained solely at the author's initiative and discretion.
- In the future, this guide may be considered for handover to an appropriate governing body within Ireland for ongoing maintenance.
The IE Core Implementation Guide, based on FHIR Version R4, defines the minimum constraints on FHIR resources to create the IE Core Profiles. It identifies necessary elements, extensions, vocabularies, and value sets, and details their usage. It also documents the minimum FHIR RESTful interactions required for each IE Core Profile to access patient data. Establishing this "floor" of standards promotes interoperability and adoption through common implementation, allowing for further standards development for specific use cases.
⚠️ WARNING — No Warranty or Support
This Implementation Guide and any associated code or artefacts are provided "as is", without warranty of any kind — express or implied. The author makes no guarantees regarding accuracy, completeness, fitness for purpose, or suitability for production use.
- No support will be provided by the author for implementation, integration, or use of any content within this guide.
- Use of this material is entirely at your own risk.
- The author accepts no liability for any outcomes arising from the use or misuse of this guide or its contents.
📋 NOTE — Licensing & Reuse
The concepts, patterns, and approaches described in this IG may be replicated and adapted freely. If you build upon this work, attribution to the original author is appreciated but not required.
IE Core profiles are built on top of the HL7 Europe Base and Core FHIR profiles, ensuring conformance with the European Health Data Space (EHDS) regulation. This layered approach means that every IE Core resource instance automatically satisfies EU Core constraints and is interoperable with other EU Member State implementations. The profiles also align with the International Patient Summary (IPS) standard for cross-border care scenarios via MyHealth@EU.
IE Core is aligned with the HIQA draft Patient Summary standard (September 2026); since v0.1.1 it has also been aligned with the XT-EHR logical model v1.0.0, which introduced a formal Obligations Framework, new base models (EHDSDocument, EHDSDataSet), and mandatory section updates to the Patient Summary and Hospital Discharge Report. See the EHDS & EU Conformance page for the full alignment matrix and FHIR R4/R5 compatibility analysis.
There are two ways to implement IE Core:
For a detailed description of these different usages of IE Core, see the Conformance Requirements page.
The following actors are part of the IE Core IG:
An IE Core Requestor is an application that initiates a data access request to retrieve patient data. The IE Core Requestor is the client in a client-server interaction. The terms "IE Core Requestor" and "Client" are used interchangeably throughout this guide and are not meant to limit this actor to only patient and provider apps. For example, payers and other users can use the same technology.
An IE Core Responder is a system that responds to the data access request providing patient data. The IE Core Responder is the server in a client-server interaction. The terms "IE Core Responder", "Server", and "EHR" are used interchangeably throughout this guide and are not meant to limit this actor to electronic health record systems. For example, HIEs, care coordination platforms, population health systems, etc., can use the same technology.
Below is the list of IE Core Profiles. Each profile identifies which core elements, extensions, vocabularies, and ValueSets SHALL be present in the resource when using this profile. Together, they promote interoperability and adoption through common implementation and provide the floor for standards development for specific use cases.
Irish ePrescription and eDispensation (the HIQA Draft National Standard for Electronic Prescriptions and Electronic Dispensations, HL7 Europe MPD, cross-border ePrescription) are profiled in IE Medication Events (nostalgic-ie.fhir.medication-events), not in IE Core (ADR-009).
| Profile | Description |
|---|---|
| IE Core Patient (Patient Summary) | The HIQA PS patient dataset and nominated contact person |
| IE Core Composition (Patient Summary) and Bundle | The Patient Summary document (HIQA PS Sections 1–19), on HL7 Europe EPS |
| Profile | Description |
|---|---|
| IE Core Patient | Demographics and identifiers for patients in the Irish health system |
| IE Core RelatedPerson | Related persons (family, carers) associated with a patient |
| Profile | Description |
|---|---|
| IE Core Practitioner | Healthcare practitioners with Irish registration numbers (IMC, PSI, NMBI, Dental Council) |
| IE Core PractitionerRole | Roles practitioners perform at organizations |
| IE Core Organization | Healthcare organizations in Ireland |
| IE Core Location | Physical locations where care is delivered |
| Profile | Description |
|---|---|
| IE Core AllergyIntolerance | Allergy and intolerance records |
| IE Core Condition Encounter Diagnosis | Diagnoses made during encounters |
| IE Core Condition Problems and Health Concerns | Problem list and health concerns |
| IE Core Procedure | Clinical procedures performed |
| IE Core CarePlan | Care plans for patient management |
| IE Core CareTeam | Care teams involved in patient care |
| IE Core Goal | Clinical goals for patients |
| IE Core ServiceRequest | Requests for clinical services |
| IE Core Encounter | Healthcare encounters and visits |
| IE Core Flag (Alert) | Substantial medical alerts — maps to EHDSAlert (XT-EHR 1.0.0) |
| Profile | Description |
|---|---|
| IE Core Medication | Medication definitions |
| IE Core MedicationStatement | Medication use statements — maps to EHDSMedicationUse (XT-EHR 1.0.0) |
| IE Core Immunization | Immunization administration records |
| Profile | Description |
|---|---|
| IE Core DiagnosticReport for Lab | Laboratory diagnostic reports |
| IE Core DiagnosticReport for Notes | Clinical report and note exchange |
| IE Core Observation Clinical Result | General clinical result observations |
| IE Core Laboratory Result Observation | Laboratory test results |
| IE Core Simple Observation | Simple clinical observations |
| IE Core Specimen | Specimen information for lab testing |
| Profile | Description |
|---|---|
| IE Core Vital Signs | Base vital signs profile |
| IE Core Blood Pressure | Blood pressure measurements |
| IE Core BMI | Body Mass Index |
| IE Core Body Height | Body height measurements |
| IE Core Body Weight | Body weight measurements |
| IE Core Body Temperature | Body temperature measurements |
| IE Core Head Circumference | Head circumference measurements |
| IE Core Heart Rate | Heart rate measurements |
| IE Core Respiratory Rate | Respiratory rate measurements |
| IE Core Pulse Oximetry | Pulse oximetry readings |
| Profile | Description |
|---|---|
| IE Core DocumentReference | Clinical document references |
| IE Core ADI DocumentReference | Advance Directive documents |
| IE Core Provenance | Data provenance tracking |
| IE Core QuestionnaireResponse | Questionnaire response data |
| Profile | Description |
|---|---|
| IE Core Coverage | Insurance and coverage information |
| IE Core Implantable Device | Implantable medical devices |
The IG profiles only the identifiers named in the HIQA draft standards (ADR-006): the IHI and PPSN on the patient;
PCRS scheme numbers typed by IECorePCRSSchemeType; IMC, PSI, NMBI and Dental Council registration numbers on the
practitioner; the PSI Retail Pharmacy Business number and GMS Panel ID on the organisation; the GLN on the location;
and the NePS identifier used by IE Medication Events. See General Requirements.
| Identifier profile | Description |
|---|---|
| Individual Health Identifier (IHI) | National patient identifier: 18 or 10 digits (HIQA EP/PS 1.3.1) |
| Medical Record Number (MRN) | Local medical record number |
For systems that support the IE Core Profile content structure and the RESTful interactions defined for a resource, the requirements are formally defined in the IE Core Server CapabilityStatement and IE Core Client CapabilityStatement.
Each profile page has a Quick Start section that documents the required FHIR RESTful search and read operations. See the FHIR specification for details on FHIR RESTful Search API and the SMART App Launch for how an application gets access to a patient record.
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This Implementation Guide is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0).