Provider Data Management will generate a notification message for one of the following reasons:
- The Link ID assigned to a specific Source + Native ID has changed
- A new Source + Native ID is posted for the first time, so it receives an initial Link ID assignment.
Notification messages are not expected to be posted in real time and may result after a short delay.
How Link IDs are assigned
As each of your data source records (uniquely identified by the combination of the Source + Native ID) are posted to Provider Data Management using the postIdentity web service, Verato assigns a unique Link ID to that unique provider.
Multiple, different source records that are deemed to be the same provider are assigned the same Link ID. The Link ID assignment is included in the postIdentity web service response.
Some clients elect to store the assigned Link ID in their own applications or data warehouses to help improve their own business processes or analytics/reporting. If you store the assigned Link ID in any of your own applications/databases, you must keep the assigned Link ID updated if the assignment changes.
Link ID assignments rarely change, but they can change if future postIdentity operations introduce new data that allows Provider Data Management to determine an identity match that was not apparent in the past.
Initial Link ID assignment notifications
When an individual source record (uniquely identified by the combination of the Source + Native ID) is posted to Provider Data Management for the first time, Verato assigns the initial unique Link ID to that unique provider.
By default, notification messages are NOT generated for initial Link ID assignments.
In many cases, organizations that want to store the Link ID assignments capture the initial Link ID assignment from the postIdentity web service response, so the notification messages for initial Link ID assignment are disabled by default to avoid creating unnecessary messages. Notification messages for initial Link ID assignments can optionally be enabled for your Provider Data Management instance.
Link ID change notifications
When source records are posted to Provider Data Management for a second (or third or Nth) time, in some cases the addition of new attribute values allows Provider Data Management to recognize that two previously-distinct identities (with separate Link IDs) are the same provider.
When this happens, one or more of the source records will have their Link ID assignment changed from one value to a new value. When this happens, Provider Data Management generates a notification message with the details of this change in Link ID assignment.
Link ID notification example
For example, suppose that you post a source record into Provider Data Management for Source=A, Native ID=123, and it is assigned Link ID 1b42e5. Then you post a second source record into Provider Data Management for Source=B, Native ID=456, and it is assigned Link ID 1b7ab3, because the demographic data available at the time does not suggest that the two source records are the same provider.
Later, you post a third source record into Provider Data Management for Source=C, Native ID=789 – this source record includes additional demographic information that allows Provider Data Management to realize that all three source records are the same provider.
The three source records are therefore all assigned a single Link ID, 1b42e5. This means that the Source=B, Native ID=456 record has been assigned a different Link ID than its original assignment. This Link ID change must be communicated back to you in order to stay in sync.
Link ID assignments can also change when the following web services are invoked: