HALO

The Canadian FHIR^® Registry supports collaborative development in an effort to accelerate sustainable growth of FHIR, locally and internationally. The registry is the home of national FHIR profiles recommended for use in Canada, including extensions, value sets, URIs and other useful, commonly used components. It is also host to a growing number of national, jurisdictional and locally shared FHIR projects, and is open at no cost to all Canadian implementers.

What is the Canadian FHIR Registry

How to Request a New Project

Please contact us and use Subject: Requesting Simplifier.net Project

In addition, please provide

1. Name of Organization requesting the project
2. Project title
3. Brief Project Description
4. Version of FHIR for project
5. Registered email addresse(s) of project administrator(s) (To register on Simplifier.net, please sign up here - https://simplifier.net/signup)
6. Status of the project - Private/Public (Please note that new projects can reamin in private status for a short period of time prior before being made public. Infoway actively governs this process to ensure projects do not stay private indefinitely, supporting transparency and interoperability)

How to Request Access to Sandbox

Please contact us. In addition, please provide

1. Name of Organization requesting the project
2. Version of FHIR for project
3. Registered email address (es) of individual (s) to be added to sandbox (To register on Simplifier.net, please sign up here - https://simplifier.net/signup)
4. Duration (in days) you intend to test, after which your reservation will be recycled for other users

View projects in the Canadian FHIR Registry

Service Level Agreement and Business Continuity

Simplifier.net should not be used in a production setting, as 24/7 support is not provided by Infoway or Firely^®.

A project created in the Canadian FHIR Registry can be linked to an existing GitHub account. GitHub serves as a secondary backup and can sync the content in the project accordingly. Read details on how to set this up. 

Users of the Canadian FHIR Registry on the Simplifier platform can expect the following response time from the Firely team for any issue encountered.

Read an overview of the Service Level Agreement between Infoway and Simplifier.net.

All project artifacts are backed up weekly at midnight on Sundays. Each snapshot will be retained for 10 days. The project owner can request an as-is snapshot containing all the necessary artifacts such as text, xml, json, md and image files by contacting us.

Forge License Agreement

The current contract between Infoway and Firely for Simplifier.net allows for 10 Forge Users Seats. Any additional per-project or Forge user fee will result in extra costs for Infoway. Infoway has a governance process in place to ensure these costs are managed and monitored effectively and reasonably. Infoway’s contract with Firely has been extended through December 31, 2027.  If the authors in Simplifier.net belong to projects that are part of the Canadian FHIR Registry, they will be given rights through the administration processes of the platform conducted by Infoway.

The Canadian URI Project is a repository of identifier and code system namespaces. Capturing key metadata as FHIR^® NamingSystem resources provides an automatic mapping of OIDs to URIs or vice versa.

To make the discovery of these artifacts more flexible, the Canadian URI Registry (alpha) was developed to allow artifacts to be queried via plain text, OID, URI or their respective identifiers. These identifiers are created according to the URI guidelines and posted to the FHIR Solution Architecture Workstream for approval.

It is important to note that all searchable artifacts are to be curated via the Canadian URI Project in Simplifier.

Why is the Canadian URI Registry Important?

A Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) is a globally unique string of characters used to identify and locate a resource on the internet or within a system. In the context of FHIR^® (Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources), URIs are used to consistently reference and access healthcare data, such as terminology codes, value sets, and system endpoints. By ensuring unique and standardized identification, FHIR URIs enhance interoperability, enabling systems to communicate and exchange health information seamlessly across different platforms and organizations.

URI Registration Process

1. Requestor shall first check that the URI does not already exist in the Canadian URI Project, Jurisdictional Registry (if exists) or HL7 FHIR Specification. 
2. FHIR URIs must not be proposed for Subsets to be published on the Terminology Server as they will be generated automatically.
3. Requestor shall contact the owner or representative for either:
   • Jurisdictional URI, requestor shall contact Jurisdictional Representative who will post a suggested URI in accordance with the URI guidelines, to the HL7 Canada forum and FHIR Implementations WG forum
   • Non-jurisdictional URI, the requestor shall contact the owner or responsible body who will post a suggested URI in accordance with the URI guidelines, to the HL7 Canada forum and FHIR Implementations WG forum
4. 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): Jurisdictional repository/ Canadian URI Registry
5. 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.
6. Update Forum post will be updated with the new URI.
7. 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).

Powering FHIR^® Connectivity with HAPI

HAPI (HL7 Application Programming Interface) FHIR^® is an open-source Java library designed to simplify the implementation of FHIR messaging in applications. It provides developers with the tools to create, parse, validate, and transmit FHIR data, making it easier to integrate healthcare systems and enable seamless data exchange.

HAPI FHIR

Request Management Solution

InfoRMS (Infoway Request Management System) is Canada Health Infoway's official Request for Change (RFC) tool for managing updates and modifications to key health terminology standards. It enables clinicians, developers, and organizations to submit, track, and manage change requests, ensuring that health terminology remains up-to-date, relevant, and aligned with evolving healthcare needs. Not sure if you have access to InfoRMS? Manage your InfoRMS Access in your user profile.

An Object Identifier (OID) is a unique numeric string used in Canadian digital health standards to distinguish and identify objects across different systems. OIDs ensure that health information, such as patient records, clinical terminology, and data sets, is uniquely recognized and accurately interpreted when exchanged between systems.

By assigning standardized, globally recognized identifiers, OIDs enhance interoperability, enabling seamless and consistent data sharing across healthcare organizations, jurisdictions, and digital health applications.

Pan-Canadian Standards use Object Identifiers (OIDs) to distinguish between objects by assigning a numeric string that enables other systems to understand the unique information that is being shared between various systems.

Canada Health Infoway (Infoway), as the HL7 Canada Affiliate, has an arrangement in place with HL7 International that allows Infoway to submit OIDs to HL7 International free of charge, on behalf of Canadian Implementers who are members of the HL7 Canada Affiliate. There is a $500 USD fee per OID request if done directly with HL7 International and approval is required from HL7 Canada.

To submit an OID, follow the submission guidelines and download the registration form that corresponds to your OID request.

• For Infoway owned ValueSet (Subset)s, email the completed form via Contact Us
• For all non-jurisdictional requests, please follow the instructions below
• All other requests must be sent to the Jurisdictional Representatives for OIDs

OID submission guidelines

1. Jurisdictional Teams require 5-7 business days to process each request. It will be incumbent on the requestor to reply within this time frame to any questions and follow up as required. Any failure to do so will result in an automatic rejection and require resubmitting the request.
2. The Requestor must post the OID requests on the following forums ONLY after consulting with the Jurisdiction/Infoway SME:
   • For jurisdictional/non-jurisdictional OID Requests: HL7 Canada Community and FHIR Implementation WG
   • For ValueSet (Subset) OID Requests: Public Health Surveillance and Health Terminologies.
   
   TIP How to upload and link a document to an InfoCentral Forum
   
   
3. Forum posts shall have the following format:
   
   Subject: New Namespace/CodeSystem/ValueSet (Subset) OID Request
   • OID Description: “A description of the OID”
   • OID Symbolic name: Symbolic name guidelines
   • Responsible Body & Contact Information
   • Proposed FHIR URI: URI as per URI Guidelines
   • To be published: Canadian URI Registry/Terminology Server
     
     
   Subject: Edit Namespace/CodeSystem/ValueSet (Subset) OID Request
   • OID: “The actual OID ex. 2.16.840.1.113883.x.xxxx”
   • Responsible Body & Contact Information
   • Description of Requested Change
     
     
   Subject: Deprecate Namespace/CodeSystem/ValueSet (Subset) OID Request
   • OID: “The actual OID ex. 2.16.840.1.113883.x.xxxx”
   • Responsible Body & Contact Information
   • Reason for Deprecation
   • Superseded by OID, if any: The OID that should be used instead. Ex. 2.16.840.1.113883.x.xxxx
     
     
4. There will be a waiting period of 5 business days for the communities to react to the forum post with comments, questions or requests for clarification.
5. FHIR URIs must be proposed for all jurisdictional and non-jurisdictional OID requests according to the URI Guidelines and must be published in the Canadian URI Registry. Publishing the URI is an optional but highly recommended step. The Requestor will submit a validated FHIR® NamingSystem resource object based on the NamingSystem profile to their jurisdictional representative who will then upload it.
6. FHIR URIs must not be proposed for ValueSets (Subsets) to be published on the Terminology Server as they will be generated automatically.
7. The Forum post will be updated with the new OID.

Browse International and Canadian Content

The SNOMED CT Browser is an online tool that allows users to search and explore SNOMED CT terminology, including both international and Canadian-specific content.

It enables clinicians, developers, and health organizations to easily find, understand, and implement standardized clinical terminology, supporting consistent documentation, interoperability, and accurate health data exchange across healthcare systems.

Browse SNOMED CT Now

The Terminology Gateway is as an online platform for browsing, downloading, and implementing PrescribeIT® content across Canada. As part of our ongoing efforts to streamline services and enhance healthcare interoperability, we have successfully migrated all standard terminology content—such as SNOMED CT CA, pCLOCD, CCDD, and related ValueSets—to our new FHIR Terminology Server as of April 30, 2025.   

PrescribeIT® vendors with other terminology-related business or requirements are encouraged to leverage the new TS as needed.  

For additional information and access to comprehensive training resources, please visit our dedicated Terminology Server webpage. Should you have any questions, concerns, or feedback, please feel free to contact us. 

Browse Terminology Gateway Now

Seamless Data Exchange with Terminology APIs

Terminology Service RESTful (Representational State Transfer) APIs (Application Programming Interface) facilitate the automated exchange of clinical terminology content and resources. These APIs support real-time access, validation, and translation of standardized health data, ensuring consistent and interoperable communication across healthcare systems.

RESTful web services used to browse terminology data 

Terminology Service RESTful APIs enable automated exchange of clinical terminology content and resources. It allows developers to easily implement healthcare applications that programmatically consume codes and ValueSets (subsets) without requiring in-depth expertise in the details of terminology.

Terminology Service API

FHIR® web services used to access terminology data

FHIR Terminology Service APIs enable automated exchange of clinical terminology content and resources. It allows developers to easily implement healthcare applications that programmatically consume codes and ValueSets (subsets) without requiring in-depth expertize in the fine details of terminology.

FHIR Terminology Service API