Health Connect Australia

The Agency is building a secure, interoperable digital health ecosystem to enable timely, patient-centred information exchange across the national health system via Health Connect Australia.

The Health Connect Australia Provider Directory (the Provider Directory) is the first initiative under the Health Connect Australia Program Foundations phase. It enables healthcare providers and organisations to discover accurate, up to date information about other providers and the services they offer, while establishing a trust framework to support consistent and secure access to health information. By connecting provider data from multiple primary sources through a single access point and ensuring near real-time updates, the Provider Directory lays the groundwork for broader interoperability and trusted information exchange across the health ecosystem.

Get Started with the Provider Directory FHIR® resources

The Provider Directory FHIR® Implementation Guide (IG) and FHIR® API Specification are now available.

Visit: Health Connect Australia Provider Directory FHIR Implementation Guide

The Provider Directory API gives FHIR-based access to provider and organisation directory data. Clients can search it, read individual records, and export in bulk.

These APIs are the national implementation of the Health Connect Australia Provider Directory FHIR® IG.

The specification defines how clients interact with the APIs in practice, focusing on supported operations, validation rules, and operational requirements for integration. The Health Connect Australia Provider Directory FHIR® IG remains the normative source of truth for resource structure and semantics.

Detailed behaviour for each capability is described on its own page:

Search API technical specification - real-time search and read behaviour. Use the Search API for targeted, real-time queries and interactive lookups.
Export API technical specification - asynchronous bulk data export behaviour. Use the Export API for large-scale extracts and local data synchronisation.

Software vendors and digital health providers are encouraged to begin planning their transition to the Provider Directory, review the FHIR® IG and FHIR® API Specifications, and assess impacts to existing integrations.

To support secure and trusted access to Provider Directory services, Health Connect Australia includes the National Digital Health Authorisation Service (NDHAS). NDHAS provides the authentication and authorisation framework that enables systems to securely access Health Connect Australia services, including the Provider Directory. It supports system-to-system access using OAuth 2.0 Client Credentials, with organisations authenticating through NASH-issued certificates and registering via Dynamic Client Registration.

The Provider Directory provides provider and organisation information, while NDHAS enables secure access to that information. Together, these services establish a trusted foundation for secure interoperability and information exchange across the digital health ecosystem.

To learn how to register with NDHAS and obtain authorisation, please refer to the:

National Digital Health Authorisation Service - Developer Guide

Future enhancements are expected to include capabilities such as the Healthcare Information Provider Service (HIPS) Local Directory Solution (LDS) and SMART on FHIR® applications, providing additional options for accessing and using provider information.

Expected Outcomes of Health Connect Australia

Safer, more connected care through timely access to health information.
Improved coordination via a single, nationally consistent source of provider data.
Empower Australians with greater control over their health information.
Reduce duplication and waste, improving system efficiency.
Stronger national consistency through shared standards and infrastructure.
Enable better-informed policy and planning with real-time insights.