The digital health architecture framework within the national system of architecture frameworks

1. What an architecture framework is for

Under Decision 1425/QĐ-TTg, the Overall National Digital Architecture Framework is the basis for building, developing, upgrading and operating the digital infrastructure, digital systems, information systems, digital platforms, databases and digital services of agencies and organisations across the political system. The objectives stated in the decision include: ensuring synchronisation, consistency, connectivity, interoperability, sharing and common use; maximum reuse of suitable existing components; avoiding fragmented, duplicated and wasteful investment; and meeting the requirements of applying new technologies.

The framework is also a basis for appraisal. Agencies and organisations in the political system must organise the assessment and monitoring of compliance with the architecture framework during project formulation, appraisal and approval, and throughout the system lifecycle. The authority competent to decide on the investment is responsible for compliance.

2. Map of current frameworks (as at 18/09/2026)

3. Transition: sector frameworks issued before the new national framework

The Ministry of Health Digital Architecture Framework (15/07/2026) and the Ministry of Health Data Architecture Framework (10/07/2026) were issued before Decision 1425/QĐ-TTg. The legal-basis section of Decision 2146/QĐ-BYT cites Decision 3090/QĐ-BKHCN — which Decision 1425/QĐ-TTg later repealed — and Decision 292/QĐ-BKHCN; the framework's principles section adds a requirement to comply with the National Data Architecture Framework under Decision 2439/QĐ-TTg.

Decision 1425/QĐ-TTg addresses this situation through three provisions:

1. Existing digital architecture frameworks of agencies and organisations continue to apply until replaced, on condition that they ensure consistency with, and are not contrary to, the Overall National Digital Architecture Framework (version 1.0).
2. Within no more than 6 months from the date the decision takes effect, agencies and organisations in the political system listed in Article 2(1) must complete either developing a new digital architecture framework or reviewing, updating and issuing their own. The review must identify a roadmap for handling components that are not yet consistent or that are duplicated, ensuring that investment results are carried forward.
3. Systems invested in and put into operation before the date the decision takes effect continue to be used under the principle of maximum reuse where suitable; upgrading, expansion, integration, consolidation or replacement is carried out only when necessary to ensure data connectivity and sharing, and must be consistent with the national framework.

Assessing whether the Ministry of Health Digital Architecture Framework needs updating, and what to update, falls within the competence of the Ministry of Health under the provisions above. This article does not draw conclusions on behalf of the competent authority.

4. The national framework read from a health perspective

Relationship with sector-specific frameworks. The Overall National Digital Architecture Framework sits at the overall level, with a role of setting the direction, coordinating and ensuring consistency across digital architecture frameworks. The framework does not replace, and does not change the legal effect or scope of application of, sector-specific architecture frameworks, governance frameworks and tools issued by competent authorities. Conversely, for matters within a sector's scope, the design, building, deployment and operation of the components of the overall framework must ensure compatibility with, and comply with, the sector-specific architecture frameworks, standards, technical regulations and regulations issued by competent authorities.

Seven core principles. The framework carries over the 7 core principles in Regulation 05-QĐ/BCĐTW of the Central Steering Committee:

1. Governance based on quantification, measurement and verifiable results.
2. Leadership, direction and administration based on real-time data.
3. Intelligent operation and automation based on prioritising the application of artificial intelligence (AI First).
4. Strong decentralisation and delegation of authority on digital platforms.
5. User-centricity with a unified service ecosystem.
6. Ensuring cybersecurity, data protection and privacy as a prerequisite, cross-cutting requirement.
7. Promoting open data development, enhancing transparency, accountability and innovation.

Four layers and four cross-cutting components. The framework's elements are organised into 4 layers: shared digital infrastructure and cybersecurity; data and core platforms; shared applications and business functions; interaction channels and performance measurement. The four cross-cutting components are: governance, coordination and monitoring; standards, technical regulations and common technical requirements; prioritising the application of artificial intelligence; data-centricity.

The following provisions of the national framework bear directly on health data:

5. The Ministry of Health Digital Architecture Framework

Scope and responsible units. Decision 2146/QĐ-BYT of 15/07/2026 takes effect from the date of signing. The framework applies to units under and directly under the Ministry of Health and encourages the Departments of Health of provinces and centrally run cities to apply it. Other ministries, sectors and localities refer to the framework when integrating with the information systems, digital platforms and databases of the Ministry of Health. The National Health Information Center bears overall responsibility for the content of the framework's tasks, is the focal point for organising and guiding implementation, and leads the maintenance and updating of the framework and the inspection and monitoring of compliance; the Department of Science, Technology and Training is the focal point for tracking, urging and monitoring compliance.

Architectural basis. The framework was built on the following principles: compliance with the Overall National Digital Architecture Framework under Decision 3090/QĐ-BKHCN; consistency with the Vietnam Digital Government Architecture Framework, version 4.0, under Decision 292/QĐ-BKHCN; compliance with the National Data Architecture Framework under Decision 2439/QĐ-TTg; compliance with the criteria and catalogue of national shared digital platforms under Decision 1132/QĐ-TTg.

Structure. The framework has five components: interaction channels and performance measurement; shared applications and business functions; data and core platforms; shared digital infrastructure and cybersecurity; and a support layer with three pillars (policy, governance and monitoring; standards, technical regulations and assurance of cybersecurity, network information security and data security; resources). The first four components share their names with the four layers of the Overall National Digital Architecture Framework.

The data and core platforms layer is described by the framework as the "heart" of the architecture. The main components of this layer are the Ministry-level data integration and sharing platform, the Ministry-level data aggregation and analytics platform, the health-sector shared data dictionary, and the sector's shared reference data and shared master data, together with the national health database, 12 specialised health databases, 14 databases for the Ministry's direction, administration and handling of administrative procedures, and health-sector open data. The component table for this layer has three groups. The shared platforms group includes platforms such as the national electronic health record, national e-prescription, national immunisation and the Ministry's data integration and sharing platform. The national health data group covers agencies and organisations operating in the health field; the health workforce, including practising certificate information; personal health information, including the individual's health identifier and health insurance information; pharmaceuticals; and medical devices. The shared data group includes health dictionaries and terminologies (e.g. SNOMED CT, LOINC, RxNorm, UMLS, ICD), shared catalogues in the health field, medical and pharmaceutical knowledge, aggregated and analytical data, digitised data and health-sector open data.

The framework requires the health sector's data and core platforms to comply with the National Data Architecture Framework, the National Data Governance and Management Framework and the Shared Data Dictionary, as well as standards on data models, electronic identification, structure, exchange formats (XML/JSON) and interoperable sharing conventions. All of the sector's national and specialised database systems, and its big data analytics and AI platforms, must apply a common data dictionary, coding standards and catalogue standardisation.

Standards pillar and roadmap. The standards pillar of the support layer refers to complying with and applying international standards, open standards, and national standards and technical regulations, with the examples HL7 FHIR, OMOP CDM, SNOMED, LOINC, RxNorm, OpenHIE, ISO/IEC 27701, TCVN 13239:2024 and TCVN 14423:2025. In the short-term period 2025–2026, the roadmap has two standards tasks, both continuing to 2030:

• building a data interoperability mechanism meeting the international standards HL7 FHIR R4 and DICOM V3.0 (ISO 12052:2026);
• standardising health data to meet the international standards ICD-10, ICD-11, SNOMED CT, LOINC, RxNorm.

The medium-term period 2027–2028 focuses on integration; the long-term period 2029–2030 focuses on optimisation and intelligent upgrading.

Tasks directly tied to data and interoperability:

For connections outside the sector, the framework describes integration with the National Population Database for electronic identity authentication, with the National Data Integration and Sharing Platform (NDXP) led by the Ministry of Science and Technology, and with the data sharing and coordination platform of the National Data Center, Ministry of Public Security.

What the framework says — and does not say — about HL7 FHIR. The full text of Decision 2146/QĐ-BYT mentions HL7 FHIR in three places: twice in the list of examples in the standards pillar and once in the roadmap ("building a data interoperability mechanism meeting the international standard HL7 FHIR R4"). The document does not prescribe the internal data storage model of health facilities and does not name any specific Implementation Guide. Standards and technical regulations on the structure of data messages exchanged by the national health database and specialised health databases fall under a task for which the Department of Science, Technology and Training is the focal point.

6. Data architecture: from the national framework to the sector framework

Decision 2439/QĐ-TTg of 04/11/2025, effective from the date of signing, issues three components together: the National Data Architecture Framework, the National Data Governance and Management Framework and the Shared Data Dictionary (version 1.0). The data architecture framework must be consistent with the Overall National Digital Architecture Framework and with ministry-level and provincial-level digital architecture frameworks, ensuring fit with the business specifics of each field, for which the document gives health as an example.

Data classification. The document distinguishes three types of data that every health system encounters:

• Master data: core, stable, highly referenced information describing an entity such as a person, organisation or location.
• Shared reference data: catalogues and classification code tables issued by competent state agencies and shared between systems.
• Transaction data: data generated when carrying out business operations, transactions or service delivery.

Within the data domain on persons, the document lists "medical and health data", including information on an individual's episodes of medical examination and treatment, immunisation information and information on persons detected as infected with HIV.

Data architecture principles are grouped by lifecycle: collect data once, a single original data source, continuous updating and synchronisation; minimal storage and quality assurance; transparency about shared data, proactive sharing and minimising connection intermediaries; use for the proper purpose, transparency and accountability, archiving history or destroying data when use ends.

The Shared Data Dictionary is a tool for unified data standardisation, ensuring synchronisation, compatibility and interoperability between databases. Several requirements are directly relevant to health data:

• Each term has a unique, unchanging identifier complying with ISO/IEC 11179 or W3C URI; business names support Vietnamese and English.
• Alongside the core vocabulary, there are domain vocabularies, including health, compatible with the core vocabulary.
• International interoperability is ensured through mapping mechanisms to appropriate international standards; the development process includes a step of mapping to sector-specific international standards where they exist.
• Versioning mechanism: major versions on a 3-year cycle; minor versions may be released on a 12-month basis, not in the same year as a major version, and only update content relating to sector-specific domains and code tables; all changes are logged, and old versions are maintained for a defined period.
• The development process has six steps: analysis, standardisation, modelling, validation, publication, governance.

The appendix National Shared Data Catalogue version 1.0 identifies three types of national master data implemented by the Ministry of Public Security: persons, organisations and locations, with the management codes being, respectively, the personal identification number, the identification number of agencies and organisations, and the location identifier. The appendix also lists national shared catalogues managed by the Ministry of Health, including the catalogue of disease types, the catalogue of types of medical examination and treatment facilities, the catalogue of patient visit type codes (medical examination and treatment), the catalogue of causes of death, the catalogue of traditional medicine diseases and the catalogue of disease chapters.

At health-sector level, Decision 2113/QĐ-BYT of 10/07/2026, effective from the date of signing, issues the Ministry of Health Data Architecture Framework, Data Governance and Management Framework and Shared Data Dictionary (version 1.0), based on Decision 2439/QĐ-TTg. The sector data framework defines itself as a component of the Ministry of Health Digital Architecture Framework and complies with the principles of the national data framework. Compared with the national framework, the sector framework has three points to note:

• Broader scope than the Ministry of Health Digital Architecture Framework. The appendix states that the framework applies uniformly to units under and directly under the Ministry of Health, the Departments of Health of provinces and cities, public and non-public health facilities, and organisations and units involved in connecting, sharing and using health data.
• Names international standards. The framework refers to ensuring compatibility with international data standards (HL7 FHIR, OMOP CDM, SNOMED CT, LOINC, RxNorm…) to serve the integration, sharing, use and cross-border exchange of data; the data dictionary system needs to ensure compatibility with international standards such as ISO/IEC 11179, HL7 FHIR, SNOMED CT, LOINC, RxNorm. A compatibility requirement is not the same as a mandate to store data according to those standards.
• Governance focal point. The Data Governance Office is located at the National Health Information Center; the Center is responsible for managing, updating and maintaining the health data architecture.

Appendix 1 of Decision 2113/QĐ-BYT is the Ministry of Health shared data catalogue based on Decision 2439/QĐ-TTg, describing the field structure of each catalogue; the document does not publish code values. The Ministry of Health Digital Architecture Framework further assigns the National Health Information Center to develop and deploy the Health Sector Data Dictionary in the 2026–2027 period.

7. Orientation for health organisations when planning digital investment

The questions below help health organisations self-review how well a digital project fits the architecture. For agencies and organisations in the political system, appraisal and assessment of compliance with the architecture framework are carried out in accordance with the regulations and methods guided by the competent authority; for organisations outside the state sector, the questions are a technical reference for readiness to connect and share data. This is a reference tool and does not replace the compliance assessment method.

1. Does a shared component already exist? Is the project rebuilding a function that a national or sector shared digital platform already provides? Decision 1425/QĐ-TTg requires prioritising sharing and reuse; new investment is made only where no shared component exists or reuse does not meet requirements.
2. How will existing systems be handled? Reuse, upgrade, integrate, consolidate or replace — and why this is necessary to ensure data connectivity and sharing.
3. Where do identifiers come from? Do patients, practitioners and health facilities use identifiers issued by an authoritative source, or does the project generate its own parallel codes?
4. Do catalogues and code systems have stable identifiers, versions and a stated basis? The Shared Data Dictionary requires unique, unchanging identifiers and a versioning mechanism with a change log; shared catalogues are code tables issued by competent state agencies.
5. Has the exchange standard been determined? For interoperability flows within the sector, the roadmap of the Ministry of Health Digital Architecture Framework names HL7 FHIR R4 and DICOM; for data exchanged by the national health database and specialised health databases, the message structure follows the standards and technical regulations issued by the Ministry of Health.
6. Is interoperability testing planned? Are there a test environment and test scenarios with the parties receiving and sending data before scaling up?
7. Are cybersecurity and personal data protection designed in from the start? The national framework treats this as a prerequisite requirement running throughout the system lifecycle, with two design principles: integrating cybersecurity requirements and integrating data protection and privacy requirements from the design stage.

8. What the frameworks do not prescribe

• No document in this group requires health facilities to store internal data in FHIR. The Ministry of Health Digital Architecture Framework names HL7 FHIR R4 for the interoperability mechanism; the Ministry of Health data framework refers to ensuring compatibility with international standards. The Ministry of Health's data warehouse has a data layer standardised according to HL7 FHIR, OMOP CDM, SNOMED CT, LOINC, RxNorm, but that is the design of the Ministry's data warehouse, not a requirement for the systems of each facility.
• No document names a specific Implementation Guide, including VN Core.
• The overall framework and the national data framework do not name any health data standard. The two documents set principles of open standards and international compatibility and leave specific standards to be issued by sector regulatory authorities.
• This is not the first time HL7 FHIR has appeared in health-sector documents. Circular 46/2018/TT-BYT, now replaced by Circular 13/2025/TT-BYT, previously provided that electronic medical records must apply HL7 standards, including HL7 CDA and HL7 FHIR; Decision 1923/QĐ-BYT of 2023 assigned the implementation of mapping and conversion to FHIR Resources for the group of basic health information. The current Circular 13/2025/TT-BYT does not name FHIR.

9. Frequently asked questions

Does Decision 1425/QĐ-TTg cause the Ministry of Health Digital Architecture Framework to cease to have effect?

No. Decision 1425/QĐ-TTg repeals only Decision 3090/QĐ-BKHCN. Existing digital architecture frameworks of agencies continue to apply until replaced, provided that they are consistent with, and not contrary to, the national framework, while agencies review and update them within the prescribed time limit.

From what date is the 6-month time limit counted?

From the date Decision 1425/QĐ-TTg takes effect, which is its date of signing and issuance, 29/07/2026.

Does Decision 292/QĐ-BKHCN still apply?

The implementation provisions of Decision 1425/QĐ-TTg repeal only Decision 3090/QĐ-BKHCN, not Decision 292/QĐ-BKHCN. The appendix to Decision 1425/QĐ-TTg has a separate section on the ministry-level digital government reference architecture framework; the Ministry of Science and Technology leads the guidance on implementing the overall framework.

10. Further reading