# OID once more

**Category:** [Technical (archive)](https://discourse.openehr.org/c/technical-archive/156)
**Created:** 2005-03-07 13:40 UTC
**Views:** 7
**Replies:** 3
**URL:** https://discourse.openehr.org/t/oid-once-more/14482

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## Post #1 by @system

Two simpel questions, though the answer may be complicated

1\) Is there an OID which can be used if there is no OID known, f\.e\. 0\.0\.0\.0\.0

2\) I work for a comany which wants to use the insurance\-number of a patient
for a special goal\. It only wants the Insurance\-number\.
What is the best way to present this?
Normally, the Insurance\-number is a part of the Identity which is a list of
II, but the items of that list do not contain meta\-information\. How can an
insurance number be recognized?

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## Post #2 by @Dipak_Kalra

Dear Bert,

As you know, I am not technical enough to respond to you on OID construction, but I wanted you to know that I am sensitive to the OID\-heavy nature of 13606 at present, and will look to ways to ease the implementation burden\. I suspect your concerns will be shared by many\.

With best wishes,
Dipak

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## Post #3 by @system

Thanks Dipa, I hope it helps

best regards
Bert Verhees

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## Post #4 by @thomas.beale

Bert Verhees wrote:

> Two simpel questions, though the answer may be complicated
>
> 1\) Is there an OID which can be used if there is no OID known, f\.e\. 0\.0\.0\.0\.0
>
> 2\) I work for a comany which wants to use the insurance\-number of a patient for a special goal\. It only wants the Insurance\-number\.
> What is the best way to present this?
> Normally, the Insurance\-number is a part of the Identity which is a list of II, but the items of that list do not contain meta\-information\. How can an insurance number be recognized?
>

for what it is worth, I think that HL7 has not modelled identities properly; using only II for everything assumes that every organisation in the world will have OIDs and be using them for all the things they issue\. I really doubt that this will ever happen, but even if it does, it won't be in place for another 10\-20 years\. In openEHR we differentiate between OBJECT\_ID \(ids for informational things\) and DV\_IDENTIFIER, a data type for identifiers of real world obejcts, like drivers licenses and insurance; this latter type contains the attributes you need to indicate the organisation etc\.See the data types at http://www.openehr.org/repositories/spec-dev/latest/publishing/architecture/reference_model/data_types/data_types_im.pdf.

\- thomas

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**Canonical:** https://discourse.openehr.org/t/oid-once-more/14482
**Original content:** https://discourse.openehr.org/t/oid-once-more/14482