Vital Records FHIR Messaging (VRFM) IG - Local Development build (v3.0.0-Preview1) built by the FHIR (HL7® FHIR® Standard) Build Tools. See the Directory of published versions

Business Rules for Birth Record Submissions

Business Rules for Birth Record Submissions

Version 1.0

Last updated : March 10, 2026

Table of Content

Required Fields

Additional Checks

Validation Errors

Internal Validation Errors

Required Fields

The following fields are required for a valid birth record submission to be processed. An Error Message with a format of "Error: Unable to find IJE Field required element" will be returned for each missing field.

Field Description	IJE Field	FHIR Profile	FHIR Field
State, U.S. Territory or Canadian Province of Birth (Infant) - code	BSTATE	PatientChildVitalRecords	address.state or address.state.extension[nationalReportingJurisdictionId] If both are provided, the extension will override. Unless you are NYC, recommend using address.state only.
Certificate Number	FILENO	BundleDocumentBirthReport	identifier.extension[certificateNumber].value
Date of Birth (Infant)	IDOB_YR, IDOB_MO, IDOB_DY	PatientChildVitalRecords	birthDate.value

The FHIR profile ObservationInputRaceandEthnicityVitalRecords is used for Mother and Father race and ethnicity fields below. Follow IJE requirements if father's info is not available.

Mother and Father Ethnicity Fields	IJE Field	FHIR Field
Mother of Hispanic Origin?--Mexican, Father of Hispanic Origin?--Mexican	METHNIC1, FETHNIC1	component[HispanicMexican].valueCoding
Mother of Hispanic Origin?--Puerto Rican, Father of Hispanic Origin?--Puerto Rican	METHNIC2, FETHNIC2	component[HispanicPuertoRican].valueCoding
Mother of Hispanic Origin?--Cuban, Father of Hispanic Origin?--Cuban	METHNIC3, FETHNIC3	component[HispanicCuban].valueCoding
Mother of Hispanic Origin?--Other, Father of Hispanic Origin?--Other	METHNIC4, FETHNIC4	component[HispanicOther].valueCoding

Mother and Father Race Fields	IJE Field	FHIR Field
Mother’s Race--White, Father’s Race--White	MRACE1, FRACE1	component[White].valueBoolean
Mother’s Race--Black or African American, Father’s Race--Black or African American	MRACE2, FRACE2	component[BlackOrAfricanAmerican].valueBoolean
Mother’s Race--American Indian or Alaska Native, Father’s Race--American Indian or Alaska Native	MRACE3, FRACE3	component[AmericanIndianOrAlaskanNative].valueBoolean
Mother’s Race--Asian Indian, Father’s Race--Asian Indian	MRACE4, FRACE4	component[AsianIndian].valueBoolean
Mother’s Race--Chinese, Father’s Race--Chinese	MRACE5, FRACE5	component[Chinese].valueBoolean
Mother’s Race--Filipino, Father’s Race--Filipino	MRACE6, FRACE6	component[Filipino].valueBoolean
Mother’s Race--Japanese, Father’s Race--Japanese	MRACE7, FRACE7	component[Japanese].valueBoolean
Mother’s Race--Korean, Father’s Race--Korean	MRACE8, FRACE8	component[Korean].valueBoolean
Mother’s Race--Vietnamese, Father’s Race--Vietnamese	MRACE9, FRACE9	component[Vietnamese].valueBoolean
Mother’s Race--Other Asian, Father’s Race--Other Asian	MRACE10, FRACE10	component[OtherAsian].valueBoolean
Mother’s Race--Native Hawaiian, Father’s Race--Native Hawaiian	MRACE11, FRACE11	component[NativeHawaiian].valueBoolean
Mother’s Race--Guamanian or Chamorro, Father’s Race--Guamanian or Chamorro	MRACE12, FRACE12	component[GuamanianOrChamorro].valueBoolean
Mother’s Race--Samoan, Father’s Race--Samoan	MRACE13, FRACE13	component[Samoan].valueBoolean
Mother’s Race--Other Pacific Islander, Father’s Race--Other Pacific Islander	MRACE14, FRACE14	component[OtherPacificIslander].valueBoolean
Mother’s Race--Other, Father’s Race--Other	MRACE15, FRACE15	component[OtherRace].valueBoolean

Additional Checks

Records that contain the minimal set of required fields will be processed by NCHS. Reports on the completeness of each record will be shared with jurisdictions through the same channels as is done for IJE-formatted records. This process may be revised to introduce more stringent checking of submissions as NCHS and Jurisdictions gain experience with the process.

Validation Errors

For many fields, the value provided must be one that is found in the corresponding Vital Records Common Library FHIR IG Value Set for the field. Otherwise, the following Error Message will be returned for each violation:

• Unable to find IJE Field mapping for FHIR Component field value 'string'

There are additional Errors that may be returned when a record cannot be accepted, including some IJE fields that are not retained by NCHS, but must be valid if provided.

IJE Field	Error Message	Clarification
BSTATE	FHIR field BirthRecordState too long for IJE field BSTATE of length 2	The birth state must be a valid 2-character (alphabetic) state/jurisdiction (without special characters and blanks). Value Set - States, Territories and Provinces Vital Records - Vital Records Common Library (VRCL) FHIR Implementation Guide v2.0.0
METHNICE, FETHNICE	Unable to find IJE METHNICE or FETHNICE mapping for FHIR HispanicCode field value 'string'	METHNICE and FETHNICE is a field that is returned to the jurisdictions in the multi-race file. If including in records to share as part of IJE, the values reported must be valid. State Field: Value Set - HispanicOrigin Vital Records - Vital Records Common Library (VRCL) FHIR Implementation Guide v2.0.0, or Value Set - Jurisdictions Vital Records - Vital Records Common Library (VRCL) FHIR Implementation Guide v2.0.0 for extension
BSTATE	FHIR field contains string too long for IJE field BSTATE of length 2	BSTATE is a required field, and the value must be a valid 2-character (alphabetic) state/jurisdiction (without special characters and blanks).
BSTATE	JurisdictionID was not identified	BSTATE is a required field, and the value must be a valid 2-character (alphabetic) state/jurisdiction (without special characters and blanks).
IDOB_YR (represented by event_year)	FHIR field BirthRecordYear contains string too long for IJE field IDOB_YR of length 4	The year of the event must be a valid 4 numeric digit year (YYYY) without special characters or blanks.
Event Year	FHIR cannot process records from EventYear year; please resubmit via IJE	Until the 2022 data year is closed, NVSS may not be able to process older years via FHIR.
FHIR Bundle Event Year	FHIR BUNDLE Parameter event year should match the birth record Year.	IDOB_YR must agree with the year included in the FHIR BUNDLE parameter.
FHIR Bundle Source Endpoint	FHIR Bundle Source Endpoint is missing	The actual message source address or id needs to be specified for the endpoint.
FILENO (certificate number)	Certificate Number is missing, or the certificate length is greater than 6	FILENO is a required field and must be exactly 6 digits in length. Only positive numbers are allowed for this field.
FILENO (certificate number)	Certificate Number exceeds expected value	If the Certificate Number is not within the expected range for the Jurisdiction/Year/Event then it will be rejected. You must first contact your VSS to adjust your expected range or ranges before re-submitting these records in order for them to be accepted.

Internal Validation Errors

The following error messages are internal validation errors and if you receive any of these, please contact NCHS.

Error Message
An unexpected network error occurred.
Exception has been thrown by the target of an invocation.
Object reference not set to an instance of an object.
The network path was not found.
Unable to find the specified file.

Error Message	Clarification
The IJE version of the FHIR message did not reach the required length or fields required.	The Birth Record could not be used to generate a completed IJE record. Review the record to determine which fields are being flagged and are causing the issue.