Advisory: XDS.b Document Repository Should Be Notify and Query

This issue affects all versions of HealthShare®:

• Information Exchange: 2018.1
• Unified Care Record versions 2019.1 through 2025.1:
  2019.1 • 2019.2 • 2020.1 • 2020.2 • 2021.1 • 2021.2 • 2022.1 • 2022.2 • 2023.1 • 2023.2 • 2024.1 • 2024.2 • 2025.1

Requirements:

• IHE
• XDS.b documents
• Requirement for deprecation, deletion or replacement of documents

Implementing an XDS.b document repository that uses a Notify & Query Edge Gateway to store XDS.b documents operates as intended, is fully supported, and ensures reliable document management. However, implementing an XDS.b document repository that uses the HS.IHE.XDSb.ContentConsumer.Operations (Content Consumer) business host instead does not support replacement of XDS.b documents (RPLC). This may result in data inconsistencies. In addition, using a single Edge Gateway to store both transactional data (HL7) and documents in the same ECR is not supported in any scenario.

Configuring a dedicated Notify & Query Edge Gateway as the XDS.b repository ensures proper document processing based on the documents listed in the XDS.b registry and stored in the XDS.b repository. It supports document registration and SDA parsing. It also supports document replacement and deletion by triggering a reset, and then reprocessing all approved documents for a patient and generating SDA from the relevant data, which guarantees data propagation to the ODS and Health Insight. Such a configuration may also include an optional HSCONSUMER Edge Gateway that is only used to render the SDA when the information is requested. The HSCONSUMER does not propagate information to ODS and Health Insight in this scenario.

In this setup, document replacement is not supported because a replacement document would overwrite all existing SDA for the patient, potentially removing SDA derived from other sources (like HL7 data or other XDS.b documents for the same identifier).

If your organization currently uses the Content Consumer and you require replacement, deletion, or deprecation of documents, the correct way to support that is by implementing a Notify & Query Edge Gateway to serve as the XDS.b document repository. If you currently have documents in a repository but your Edge Gateway is not a "Notify & Query" type, a conversion path to Notify & Query is fully documented, for more information, see Converting an Existing Repository to Notify and Query.

For more details, refer to the following documentation:

• Configuring an XDS.b Repository
• Setting Up a New Notify and Query Repository

If you have any questions or require guidance on transitioning to the supported approach, please contact the Worldwide Response Center (WRC).