HI Service

The Healthcare Identifier Service (HI Service) is a module that communicates with Medicare.

It searches for or validates:
  • Individual Healthcare Identifiers (IHI) - patient identifier
  • Healthcare Provider Identifier - Individual (HPI-I) provider identifier
  • Healthcare Provider Identifier - Organisation (HPI-O) identifier

Individual Healthcare Identifiers (IHI)

All patients have been allocated an Individual Healthcare Identifier (IHI) by Medicare. The IHI is used for integration with My Health Record and ePrescribing. The IHI may also be used by the AIR to identify patients if there is insufficient other information.

Enter the patient's IHI number into their biographics. A manually entered IHI is validated with Medicare automatically when you move your cursor out of the IHI Number field. Alternatively, click HI Validation buttonValidate. If the IHI cannot be validated, it will not be available for use within Communicare.

To view a patient's IHI validation history, click HI History button History.

When you save a patient's biographics, Communicare attempts to search for the patient's IHI if one has not been entered. For a search to be attempted, the following patient information must be recorded:
  • Given name (forename)
  • Family name
  • Sex
  • Date of birth
  • Medicare number or DVA number or both

If Communicare finds the IHI number to be invalid, the IHI number is removed and a search is performed using their other details.

If any of the following details change, Communicare attempts to validate the IHI using the new details:
  • IHI number
  • Medicare number
  • Medicare individual reference number (IRN)
  • DVA number

A manually entered IHI is validated with Medicare automatically when you move your cursor out of the IHI Number field. Alternatively, click HI Validation buttonValidate. If the IHI cannot be validated, it will not be available for use within Communicare.

To view a patient's IHI validation history, click HI History button History.

Healthcare Provider Identifier - Individual (HPI-I)

All providers have been allocated an HPI-I by Medicare. A provider can obtain their HPI-I by logging into the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) website (http://www.ahpra.gov.au/).

Enter HPI-I numbers against a Provider or an Address Book Entry. A manually entered HPI-I will be validated with Medicare automatically when you move out of the HPI-I Number field. Alternatively, click HI Validation button Validate. If the HPI-I cannot be validated, it will not be available for use within Communicare.

To view a provider's HPI-I history, click HI History button History.

When you save a Provider or Address Book entry details, Communicare attempts to search for the HPI-I if one has not been entered. For a search to be attempted for the HPI-I, the following information must be included in either the provider's record or the provider's entry in the address book:
  • In File > Providers, Provider window, the provider's registration number and family name need to have been recorded in the Registration Number and Surname fields.
  • In File > Address Book Maintenance, Address Book Entry window, the provider's given name and family name need to have been recorded in the Forenames and Surname fields.

Healthcare Provider Identifier - Organisation (HPI-O)

Your organisation needs to apply to Medicare to obtain an HPI-O.

Enter HPI-O numbers against an Encounter Place, Organisation or an Address Book Entry. A manually entered HPI-O will be validated with Medicare automatically when you move off the HPO-I field. Alternatively, click HI Validation button Validate. If the HPI-O cannot be validated, it will not be available for use within Communicare.

For ePrescribing, your encounter place must have a HPI-O number and be connected to the HI Service.

To view an Encounter Place, Organisation or Address Book Entry's HPI-O history, click HI History button History.

When you save an Encounter Place, Organisation or an Address Book Entry's details, Communicare will attempt to search for the HPI-O if one has not been entered. For a search to be attempted the organisation name for the organisation or Address Book Entry or the encounter place's name need to have been completed.

Healthcare Identifier Statuses

Table 1. Healthcare Identifier status
Colour Code Number Enabled Status
White There is no healthcare identifier or it has been validated with Medicare (statuses should be visible below the box) and it is usable within Communicare.
Purple The healthcare identifier has not been validated with Medicare due to user cancellation of the check, insufficient details to perform the check, or connection problems. Statuses will show as Unknown. The healthcare identifier will not be usable elsewhere in Communicare until it has been validated.
Red The healthcare identifier has been validated with Medicare (correct statuses will show below the box) however it has been disabled for use. A user prompt should explain the reason, most likely it is due to being a duplicate of another healthcare identifier record. To resolve the problem, correct the details.

Healthcare Identifier Checks

When the module performs a search or validation you will see one of two working windows pop-up to indicate that a Medicare check is taking place. If time is critical, you may click Cancel, however it is better to let the Healthcare Identifier check complete successfully. The wait time is normally under four seconds. In either case the Healthcare Identifier check may be followed by a message that describes the outcome.
  • Searching patient IHI with Medicare - displayed when saving a patient, provider, encounter place, organisation or address book entry without a Healthcare Identifier, if sufficient details are available.
  • Validating patient IHI with Medicare - displayed in the following circumstances:
    • When a new healthcare identifier has been manually entered,
    • A core patient, provider, encounter place, organisation or address book entry details with an existing Healthcare Identifier have been modified
    • Two patient records have been merged (with at least one IHI available for use)
    • When you click Validate
    • This window may also appear when:
      • A patient's My Health Record is accessed and the patient's IHI has not been validated in the IHI Revalidation Period.
      • You attempt to create a CDA document that contains healthcare identifiers that have not been validated in the past 24 hours.
      • You attempt to send a CDA document that contains healthcare identifiers that have not been validated in the past 24 hours.
      • You attempt to upload a CDA document to the My Health Record that contains healthcare identifiers that have not been validated in the past 24 hours.

Module Availability

For the HI service to be available you will need the following:

This module is not available in Offline (Data Sync) Clients.

Tip: The Demo version of Communicare connects to the test HI Service. Searches and validation cannot be done on real patients, providers or organisations.

When Communicare starts, an automated process checks that the module is available. If for some reason Communicare cannot communicate with the HI Service, the module is disabled.

Module Configuration

The HI Service module configuration options can be found in System Parameters - Web Services, and may be set by a Communicare administrator or Communicare Support once a certificate has been issued for use with the service. See the aforementioned topic for details on how to obtain the certificate.

More Information

For more information about the Healthcare Identifiers Service, see the Medicare website.