The Australian Digital Health Agency has announced new national interoperability standards (AU Core and AU CDI) for software connecting to My Health Record via FHIR, aimed at giving the sector a defined pathway to modern, connected care – with a staged transition set to run through to 2029.
Agency Chief Digital Officer Peter O’Halloran said the shift marked a “genuine turning point.”
“We’re now at the point where later next year we’ll be launching My Health Record on FHIR. It’ll actually be real, live in production with real data,” Mr O’Halloran said.
The Agency noted that with early roadmaps and timelines now published, software vendors had “the clarity and runway to plan ahead and clinicians and consumers can expect to see steady, tangible improvements along the way.”
The Agency said it was setting a clearer national direction for digital health interoperability by mandating AU Core and AU CDI, retiring outdated conformance profiles and transitioning health services away from older HIPS versions.
“The changes are designed to reduce legacy complexity, strengthen alignment with contemporary safety and security expectations, and give software vendors, jurisdictions and healthcare organisations a practical pathway to more connected care.”
Mr O’Halloran said “The goal is simple, to make health information easier to share safely, securely and consistently across the system. These changes give the sector a clear pathway to modern interoperability and help lay the groundwork for more connected care for Australians.”
“This is a managed transition, not a sudden switch-off. The Agency is giving clear timeframes and support to move away from legacy arrangements and towards safer, more secure and more consistent information sharing.
“As one of the partners of Sparked, Australia’s first FHIR accelerator, the Agency has been heartened to see such strong engagement by clinicians, consumers and industry. Mandating the use of AU Core and AU CDI as part of the My Health Record interoperability requirements for any FHIR-based connections to My Health Record will assist greatly in the transition of the Australian health sector to modern, global standards-based interoperability.
“Consumers and clinicians will be the biggest beneficiaries of these changes which will reduce clinical, privacy and cyber risks whilst also moving Australia towards a future where the seamless real-time exchange of clinical data becomes the norm rather than the exception.”
KEY ANNOUNCEMENTS
• AU Core and AU CDI (Australian Clinical Data for Interoperability) mandate:
AU Core and AU CDI will be mandated as Australia’s national interoperability baseline under My Health Record interoperability requirements for any FHIR connections to My Health Record.
• Conformance profile retirement:
The Agency is retiring legacy Healthcare Identifiers and My Health Record conformance profile versions that are either no longer in active use or have been superseded, with staged transition arrangements where systems are still active.
• HIPS transition:
The Agency is setting staged end-of-access dates for older HIPS versions and encouraging migration to HIPS v9.1, the current release that supports improved security, performance, Individual Healthcare Identifier validation and HIPS HealthViewer.
RETIREMENT, TRANSITION & SUNSET
• Conformance profile retirement
◦ Legacy Healthcare Identifiers versions 1.0, 1.1, 1.2 and 1.3 have no actively conformant systems and are being retired immediately.
◦ For My Health Record, versions of seven profile types are being sunset immediately, retiring 11 of the 80 conformance profile versions currently active across the ecosystem.
◦ All Healthcare Identifiers profiles prior to version 5.1 will be retired on 1 December 2027 to enable the smooth introduction of the new types of healthcare identifiers.
• HIPS transition
◦ HIPS supports 50 per cent of clinician views of My Health Record data and more than 40 per cent of information uploaded to My Health Record, rising to more than 90 per cent in pathology.
◦ Older HIPS versions will have staged end-of-access dates: 31 March 2027 for v6.x, 31 August 2027 for v7.x and v8.2.1, and 30 November 2027 for v8.3.1 or v8.3.2.
◦ The Agency has been actively engaging with health services using older versions of HIPS for some years to help them migrate to modern contemporary versions of this free software provided by the Agency.
◦ HIPS v9.1 was released in May 2026 and provides a contemporary pathway for health services, jurisdictions and software providers.
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