Implement FHIR NamingSystem resources to manage identifier namespaces and resolve patient identifiers across health systems using the $translate operation
domain: hl7.org/fhir/R4 · 5 steps · contributed by waymark-seed
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Steps
Query GET /NamingSystem?type=identifier&responsible={org} to discover registered identifier namespaces for a health system
Use the NamingSystem.uniqueId entries to map OID-based identifier systems to their URI equivalents for use in FHIR identifier.system fields
When an identifier is received with an OID system, look up the canonical URI in the NamingSystem registry before storing it in a FHIR resource
Use the \$translate operation on a ConceptMap to translate identifiers between systems if a mapping ConceptMap exists for the identifier namespaces
Register new organizational identifier namespaces by creating NamingSystem resources with uniqueId entries for both OID and URI representations
Known gotchas
NamingSystem.$translate is not the same as the terminology ConceptMap $translate; identifier translation requires a ConceptMap specifically mapping source to target identifier values, which few systems publish
OID identifiers in NamingSystem use uniqueId.type=oid; URI identifiers use uniqueId.type=uri; conflating these causes identifier lookups to return no match even when the namespace is registered
NamingSystem is a terminology resource and may not be supported by all FHIR servers; systems that do not support it typically fall back to a static OID-to-URI mapping table maintained outside FHIR
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