Scope

The initial phase of CA:SHL focuses on a subset of the standards, that can be used to build a Minimum Viable Product.

Use Cases

There are two basic Use Cases identified that are currently in scope of this specification: 

  1. Generate SHLink
  2. Consume SHLink and access clinical data

These two use cases are described in detail in the pan-Canadian Patient Summary (PS-CA) specifications, where the patient presents their SHLink to a Health Care Provider, the clinical data that is shared being their Patient Summary.

Note that currently the information included into the CA:SHL is minimal, as the CA:SHL profile is in the process of being contributed and evolved as part of an international collaboration at IHE International,

Implementation Details

Since the CA:SHL specification is currently minimal and in its early stages, it will evolve into a more comprehensive specification through collaboration with IHE and potentially other international partners.

The CA:SHL Canadian Implementation Guidance describes the recommendations below for early-stage implementations.

SHLink payload




  • Makes use of a manifest file (url element)
  • Includes decryption key for processing clinical data returned in manifest (key element)
  • Passcode is mandatory (P flag)
  • Bypassing the manifest is not supported (U flag)
  • Contains an expiration time (exp element)

Manifest file

  • Contains .files.contentType: application/fhir+json
  • Contains .files.location
  • .files.embedded content is not included

Clinical data

  • Encryption is applied using symmetrical JSON Web Encryption (JOSE JWE)

SHLink format

  • SHLink should be encoded into a QR code format (on the client side)
  • SHLink should contain a viewer URL that ends with #

Under exploration

  • Standard endpoints for generating and other operations related to SHLinks
  • Details around specifying different types of data to be shared (e.g. Patient Summary, Immunization, etc.)



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