Health informatics — Token-based health information sharing

This document specifies the data element content and exchange format for tokens used in token-based health information sharing. It includes

a) the data items that may be contained in a health information token (HI-TOKEN),

b) the value representation for each data item,

c) the exchange formats allowed for HI-TOKEN sharing (electronic, machine-readable symbol, print), and

d) considerations when establishing governance policies specifying how HI-TOKENs can be used within a specific group of healthcare organizations.

Provision is made for both physical media and electronic exchange media.

This document addresses the overall conceptual architecture and process for token-based health information sharing, as well as the role of patients, referring healthcare facilities, referred healthcare service providers, and health research institutions. Provision is made for pseudonymization of patient data.

This document only defines the specification of the HI-TOKEN used in token-based health information sharing. Data exchange / transport architectures, encryption methods, and specific governance policy requirements are outside the scope of this document.