idRx

idRx is a software framework designed to manage and verify patient identities and prescriptions across healthcare systems, with emphasis on privacy, interoperability, and auditability. It supports integration with electronic health records (EHR) and pharmacy management systems, and uses standardized data formats such as HL7 FHIR for data exchange and RxNorm for medication identifiers.

Core objectives include secure identity verification, consent management, and role-based access control. It implements cryptographic signing of prescriptions, distributed audit logging, and data minimization to protect patient privacy.

Architecture is modular, consisting of components such as an identity service, an authorization layer, data interchange, and privacy-preserving matching. Communication relies on token-based authentication (OAuth 2.0, JWT). Data exchange uses RESTful APIs and FHIR resources. Interoperability layers adapt to legacy pharmacy and EHR systems, enabling cross-system prescription processing while preserving data provenance.

History and development trace the project to a consortium of healthcare IT developers and researchers in the late 2010s. An open-source repository was launched around 2020, with subsequent major releases in 2021 and 2023 addressing security hardening, compliance updates, and interoperability enhancements.

Adoption and impact have been explored through pilots in several hospital networks and regional pharmacies. Evaluations focus on identity resolution accuracy, fraud reduction, and workflow efficiency, while governance, accreditation, and data-sharing agreements continue to evolve in response to stakeholder needs.

See also: HL7 FHIR, RxNorm, HIPAA, OAuth 2.0, JWT, healthcare interoperability.