6 Identifiers
In health care messaging and healthcare generally it is vitally important that the correct test, procedure, report etc is done on the right patient and the results are consigned to the appropriate person. The use of identifiers plays a major role in ensuring clinical safety in messaging and the healthcare system.
The representation of healthcare identifiers used for patient, provider organisation and health identifiers in HL7 V2.x messages uses the common attributes of HL7 Table 0203 - Identifier Type and User-defined Table 0363 - Assigning Authority below.
HL7 Table 0203 - Identifier Type
Value | Description | Comment |
---|---|---|
ACSN | Accession ID | Accession Identifier |
AM | American Express | Deprecated and replaced by BC in v 2.5. |
AMA | American Medical Association | A physician identifier assigned by the AMA. |
AN | Account number | An identifier that is unique to an account. |
ANON | Anonymous identifier | An identifier for a living subject whose real identity is protected or suppressed |
ANC | Account number Creditor | Class: Financial |
AND | Account number debitor | Class: Financial |
ANT | Temporary Account Number | Class: Financial |
APRN | Advanced Practice | An identifier that is unique to an advanced practice registered nurse within the jurisdiction of a certifying board |
ASID | Ancestor Specimen ID | A unique identifier for the ancestor specimen. All child, grandchild, etc. specimens of the ancestor specimen share the same Ancestor Specimen ID. |
BA | Bank Account Number | Class: Financial |
BC | Bank Card Number | Class: Financial |
BCT | Birth Certificate | A number associated with a document identifying the event of a person’s birth. |
BR | Birth registry number | An identifier unique within the Assigning Authority that is the official legal record of a person's birth. |
BRN | Breed Registry Number | |
BSNR | Primary physician office | Betriebsstättennummer - for use in the German realm. |
CC | Cost Center number | Class: Financial |
CONM | Change of Name Document | A number associated with a document identifying a person’s legal change of name. |
CZ | Citizenship Card | A number assigned by a person’s country of residence to identify a person’s citizenship. |
CY | County number | |
DDS | Dentist license number | An identifier that is unique to a dentist within the jurisdiction of the licensing board |
DEA | Drug Enforcement | An identifier for an individual or organization relative to controlled substance regulation and transactions. |
DI | Diner’s Club card | Deprecated and replaced by BC in v 2.5. |
DFN | Drug Furnishing or | An identifier issued to a health care provider authorizing the person to write drug orders |
DL | Driver’s license number | |
DN | Doctor number | |
DO | Osteopathic License number | An identifier that is unique to an osteopath within the jurisdiction of a licensing board. |
DP | Diplomatic Passport | A number assigned to a diplomatic passport. |
DPM | Podiatrist license number | An identifier that is unique to a podiatrist within the jurisdiction of the licensing board. |
DR | Donor Registration Number | |
DS | Discover Card | Deprecated and replaced by BC in v 2.5. |
DVW | DVA Card - White | Australian Department of Veterans' Affairs White card number. |
DVG | DVA Card - Gold | Australian Department of Veterans' Affairs Gold card number. |
DVO | DVA Card - Orange | Australian Department of Veterans' Affairs Orange card number. |
DV | Veterans number | Australian Department of Veterans' number. |
EI | Employee number | A number that uniquely identifies an employee to an employer. |
EN | Employer number | |
ESN | Staff Enterprise Number | An identifier that is unique to a staff member within an enterprise (as identified by the Assigning Authority). |
FI | Facility ID | |
GI | Guarantor internal identifier | Class: Financial |
GL | General ledger number | Class: Financial |
GN | Guarantor external identifier | Class: Financial |
HC | Health Card Number | |
JHN | Jurisdictional health number | Class: Insurance |
IND | Indigenous/Aboriginal | A number assigned to a member of an indigenous or aboriginal group outside of Canada |
LACSN | Laboratory Accession ID | A laboratory accession id is used in the laboratory domain. The concept of accession is used in other domains such as radiology, so the LACSN is used to distinguish a lab accession id from an radiology accession id |
LANR | Lifelong physician number | Lebenslange Arztnummer - for use in German realm. |
LI | Labor and industries number | |
LN | License number | |
LR | Local Registry ID | |
MA | Patient Medicaid number | Class: Insurance |
MB | Member Number | An identifier for the insured of an insurance policy (this insured always has a subscriber), usually assigned by the insurance carrier. |
MC | Patient's Medicare number | Class: Insurance |
MCD | Practitioner Medicaid number | Class: Insurance |
MCN | Microchip Number | |
MCR | Practitioner Medicare number | Class: Insurance |
MCT | Marriage Certificate | A number associated with a document identifying the event of a person’s marriage. |
MD | Medical License number | An identifier that is unique to a medical doctor within the jurisdiction of a licensing board. |
MI | Military ID number | A number assigned to an individual who has had military duty, but is not currently on active duty. The number is assigned by the DOD or Veterans’ Affairs (VA). |
MR | Medical record number | An identifier that is unique to a patient within a set of medical records, not necessarily unique within an application. |
MRT | Temporary Medical Record Number | Temporary version of a Medical Record Number |
MS | MasterCard | Deprecated and replaced by BC in v 2.5. |
NBSNR | Secondary physician office number | Nebenbetriebsstättennummer - for use in the German realm. |
NCT | Naturalization Certificate | A number associated with a document identifying a person’s retention of citizenship in a particular country. |
NE | National employer identifier | In the US, the Assigning Authority for this value is typically CMS, but it may be used by all providers and insurance companies in HIPAA related transactions. |
NH | National Health Plan Identifier | Class: Insurance |
NI | National unique individual | Class: Insurance Note: In Australia is use for the Individual Healthcare identifier (IHI) |
NII | National Insurance | Class: Insurance |
NIIP | National Insurance Payor Identifier (Payor) | Class: Insurance |
NNxxx | National Person Identifier where the xxx is the ISO table | |
NOI** | National Organisation Identifier | In Australia is use for the Healthcare Providers Organisation identifier (HPI-O) or General Supporting Organisation (GSO) / My Health Record (PCEHR) Assigned Identity for Organisations (PAI-O) / Contracted Service Provider (CSP) |
NP | Nurse practitioner number | An identifier that is unique to a nurse practitioner within the jurisdiction of a certifying board. |
NPI | National provider identifier | Class: Insurance Note: In Australia is used for the Healthcare Providers Individual identifier (HPI-I) |
NPIO | National provider at organisation identifier | An identifier that is unique for an individual healthcare provider at a healthcare organisation. It is the concatenation of a HPI-I identifier followed by an "@" and then a HPI-O identifier. e.g. "800361XXXXXXXXXX@800362YYYYYYYYYY" |
OD | Optometrist license number | A number that is unique to an individual optometrist within the jurisdiction of the licensing board. |
PA | Physician Assistant number | An identifier that is unique to a physician assistant within the jurisdiction of a licensing board |
PC | Parole Card | A number identifying a person on parole. |
PCN | Penitentiary/correctional | A number assigned to individual who is incarcerated. |
PE | Living Subject Enterprise Number | An identifier that is unique to a living subject within an enterprise (as identified by the Assigning Authority). |
PEN | Pension Number | |
PI | Patient internal identifier | A number that is unique to a patient within an Assigning Authority. |
PN | Person number | A number that is unique to a living subject within an Assigning Authority. |
PNT | Temporary Living Subject Number | Temporary version of a Lining Subject Number. |
PPIN | Medicare/CMS Performing Provider Identification Number | Class: Insurance |
PPN | Passport number | A unique number assigned to the document affirming that a person is a citizen of the country. In the US this number is issued only by the State Department. |
PRC | Permanent Resident Card Number | |
PRES | Prescriber Number | A Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) prescriber identifier assigned to an individual that identifies the right to act as a prescriber under that scheme. |
PRN | Provider number | A number that is unique to an individual provider, a provider group or an organization within an Assigning Authority. |
PT | Patient external identifier | |
QA | QA number | |
RI | Resource identifier | A generalized resource identifier. |
RPH | Pharmacist license number | An identifier that is unique to a pharmacist within the jurisdiction of the licensing board. |
RN | Registered Nurse Number | An identifier that is unique to a registered nurse within the jurisdiction of the licensing board. |
RR | Railroad Retirement number | An identifier for an individual enrolled with the Railroad Retirement Administration. Analogous to, but distinct from, a Social Security Number |
RRI | Regional registry ID | |
RRP | Railroad Retirement Provider | Class: Insurance |
SID | Specimen ID | Identifier for a specimen. Used when it is not known if the specimen ID is a unique specimen ID (USID) or an ancestor ID (ASID). |
SL | State license | |
SN | Subscriber Number | Class: Insurance |
SP | Study Permit | A number associated with a permit identifying a person who is a resident of a jurisdiction for the purpose of education. |
SR | State registry ID | |
SS | Social Security number | |
TAX | Tax ID number | |
TN | Treaty Number/ (Canada) | A number assigned to a member of an indigenous group in Canada. |
TPR | Temporary Permanent | A number associated with a document identifying a person’s temporary |
U | Unspecified identifier | |
UPIN* | Medicare/CMS (formerly HCFA)’s Universal Physician | Class: Insurance |
USID | Unique Specimen ID | A unique identifier for a specimen. |
VDI | Vendor Directory Identifier | A unique vendor identifier allocated to a provider directory entry (PractitionerRole or HealthcareService), typically used for routing secure messages |
VN | Visit number | |
VP | Visitor Permit | A number associated with a document identifying a person as a visitor of a jurisdiction or country. |
VS | VISA | Deprecated and replaced by BC in v 2.5. |
WC | WIC identifier | |
WCN | Workers’ Comp Number | |
WP | Work Permit | A number associated with a permit for a person who is granted permission to work in a country for a specified time period. |
XX | Organization identifier |
* UPIN must be used for Australian Medicare Provider numbers.
** NOI is not present in the most recently published table of HL7 0203 in HL7 v2.8.2, though it is has been accepted for publication in HL7 V2.9. The allocation of these identifiers is not always at the correct level of granularity and many organisations are not registered and alternative identifiers are often used. Pathology Labs are identified using the AUSNATA code with their NATA Organisation Accreditation number.
References:
- METeOR 290046, ‘Person identifier’,
- METeOR 270101, ‘Medicare card number’,
- METeOR 339127, ‘Dept of Veterans’ Affairs file number’.
User-defined Table 0363 - Assigning Authority
Value | Description | Comment |
---|---|---|
AUSHIC | Medicare Australia | |
AUSDVA | Dept of Veteran’s Affairs | |
AUSNATA | National Association of Testing Authorities, Australia | |
AUSLINK | Australian CentreLink | |
AUSHICPR | Medicare Australia provider number |
Note: Values will be added to this list as needed
Table 6-1. Identifier examples
Identifier | Data type | Example Field | Message content | Comment |
---|---|---|---|---|
Patient Identifiers | ||||
Medical record number | CX | PID-3 | |7654321^^^RMH^MR| | In this example the assigning authority is "RMH" and the use of the assigning authority is to provide uniqueness of the patient identifier. |
Individual Healthcare Identifier (IHI) | CX | PID-3 | |8003608833357361^^^AUSHIC^NI| |
|
Medicare number and IHI | CX | PID-3 | |2345678901^^^AUSHIC^MC~8003608833357361^^^AUSHIC^NI| | |
Centrelink customer reference number | CX | PID-3 | |456789012T^^^AUSLINK^AN| | METeOR identifier 270098 http://meteor.aihw.gov.au/content/index.phtml/itemId/270098viewed9May2012 viewed 2nd August 2016. |
Health Care Card | CX | PID-3 | |302668868J^^^^HC| | Should be used in compliance with legal regulations and legislation. |
Medicare Card Number | CX | PID-3 | |4496818481^^^AUSHIC^MC| | (10 digit number example) For further details refer to: METeOR 270101 http://meteor.aihw.gov.au/content/index.phtml/itemId/270101 viewed 2nd August 2016. |
Department of Veterans Affairs | CX | PID-3 | |VX26655^^^AUSDVA^DVG| |NPSM268^^^AUSDVA^DVO| |QX123268^^^AUSDVA^DVW| |WX123268^^^AUSDVA| | First character= state code (N, V, Q, W, S or T with ACT included in NSW (N) and NT included in SA (S)). Second to 4th alpha characters = war code; if war code is 1 character then the following numeric identifier will be six digits; if war code is 3 characters the following numeric will be 4-6 characters. The total war code plus numeric identifier equals 7 characters. DVA card type: DVW = white; DVO = orange; DVG = gold. For further details refer to: METeOR 339127 http://meteor.aihw.gov.au/content/index.phtml/itemId/339127 viewed 2nd August 2016. |
Driver's licence | CX | PID-3 | |34567890^^^QLD^DL| | |
Passport | CX | PID-3 | |N4567890^^^AUSTRALIA&AUS&ISO^PPN^^20060401^20160401| | |
Pension card | CX | PID-3 | |123456789JA^^^^PEN| | |
Centrelink Customer Reference Number | CX | PID-3 | |123456789T^^^AUSLINK^AN| | Should be used in compliance with legal regulations and legislation. |
Provider identifiers | ||||
Medicare Provider number | CM | PRD-7 | |049960CT^AUSHICPR^UPIN| | |
XCN | PV1-7 | |2345678P^JONES^SUSAN^W^^DR^^^AUSHICPR^^^^UPIN| | ||
Medicare Prescriber number | CM | PRD-7 | |049960CT^AUSHIC^PRES| | |
XCN | PV1-7 | |049960CT^GREEN^Fred^P^^DR^^^AUSHIC^^^^PRES| | ||
Healthcare Provider Individual (HPI-I) | CM | PRD-7 | |8003619900015717^AUSHIC^NPI| | |
XCN | PV1-7 | |8003619900015717^SMITH^Helen^S^^Dr^^^AUSHIC^^^^NPI| | ||
Healthcare Provider Individual at an Organisation NPIO | CM | PRD-7 | |8003619900015717@8003621566684455^AUSHIC^NPIO| | |
XCN | PV1-7 | |8003619900015717@8003621566684455^SMITH^Helen^S^^Dr^^^AUSHIC^^^^NPIO| | ||
Organisation identifiers | ||||
Healthcare Provider Organisation (HPI-0) | XON | ORC-21 | |ABCD Organisation^L^8003621566684455^^^AUSHIC^NOI| |