The XDR/XDM for Direct Messaging v1.0 adopted at 45 CFR 170.202(b) specifies that the value of three attributes (i.e., DocumentEntry.uniqueId, SubmissionSet.sourceId, and SubmissionSet.uniqueId) should be a UUID URN (Universally Unique Identifier Uniform Resource Name). This part of the XDR/XDM specification appears to be inconsistent with how both Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise (IHE)1 and eHealth Exchange2 specifications represent those same attributes (i.e., in the form of OIDs). Shouldn't these attributes all be represented the same way to be consistent across all three sets of specifications?

Yes, there should be consistency across these specifications. Thus, for these three attributes, EHR technology developers implementing the XDR/XDM for Direct Messaging specification should use UUID URNs formatted as OIDs. We expect testing to this specification to reflect this clarification.

  1. http://www.ihe.net/technical_framework/upload/ihe_iti_tf_rev7-0_vol3_ft_2010-08-10.pdf [PDF - 1 MB]
  2. http://www.healthit.gov/policy-researchers-implementers/nationwide-health-information-network-exchange