ehvd

Python client for the eHealth Verzeichnisdienst (eHVD) — the public SOAP webservice of Austria's BRZ that lists healthcare providers ("GDA") registered under § 9/10 GTelG 2012.

The client wraps the official SOAP interface (GetGdaDescriptors, GetGdaSearch) with a pythonic API, returns typed dataclasses, maps the documented fault codes 6001–6006 to exceptions, and ships an optional Django integration.

Status

Alpha. The public endpoint requires registration at BMSGPK and per-IP firewall whitelisting at BRZ — without both, every request is blocked at the WAF. See docs/access.md for the full process (ID Austria, application contents, source IP, support contacts). During development most users work against a locally cached WSDL or a mocked zeep client.

Install

pip install ehvd               # core
pip install "ehvd[django]"     # with Django factory

Requirements: Python ≥ 3.10, zeep, requests.

Quick start

from ehvd import EhvdClient

client = EhvdClient()  # uses the public production WSDL

# 1) Lookup by OID
gda = client.get_by_id("1.2.40.0.34.99.10.1.1.2.27095")

# 2) Lookup by GDA-specific identifier
gda = client.get_by_arzt_nr("12345")              # ÖÄK-Arztnummer
gda = client.get_by_hospital_nr("987")            # KA-Nr
gda = client.get_by_ambulatory_nr("321")          # Ambu-Nr
gda = client.get_by_vpnr("555")                   # VPNR
gda = client.get_by_gbr_id("ABC1")                # GBR-ID

if gda:
    print(gda.display_name)
    for addr in gda.addresses:
        print(addr.zip, addr.city, addr.street_name, addr.street_number)

# 3) Search
hits = client.search(
    surname="Mueller*",
    city="Wien",
    max_results=50,
)
for hit in hits:
    print(hit.id.id, hit.display_name, hit.status.ehvd_status)

get_by_id returns None when the service reports 6002 (no compliance found). search raises EhvdTooManyResultsError when the result set would exceed max_results.

Errors

The service returns SOAP 1.2 faults with the numeric codes from Servicehandbuch 4.1; the client maps them onto typed exceptions:

Local input validation (length limits, illegal wildcard, missing surname, max_results range) raises EhvdValidationError before hitting the wire.

Django integration

# settings.py
INSTALLED_APPS = [..., "ehvd.django"]

EHVD = {
    "WSDL_URL": "https://ehvdws.gesundheit.gv.at/ehvd.wsdl",
    "TIMEOUT": 10,
    # optional mutual TLS:
    "CLIENT_CERT": ("/path/cert.pem", "/path/key.pem"),
    "CA_BUNDLE": "/path/ca.pem",
}

from ehvd.django import get_client

def my_view(request):
    gda = get_client().get_by_arzt_nr(request.GET["arzt_nr"])
    ...

get_client() caches a single client per process. Call ehvd.django.reset_client() after changing settings (e.g. in tests).

Transport configuration

For mutual TLS, custom proxies, timeouts or session re-use, instantiate zeep.Client yourself and pass it in:

from requests import Session
from zeep import Client as ZeepClient
from zeep.transports import Transport

session = Session()
session.cert = ("/path/cert.pem", "/path/key.pem")
zeep_client = ZeepClient(
    "https://ehvdws.gesundheit.gv.at/ehvd.wsdl",
    transport=Transport(session=session, timeout=10),
)

client = EhvdClient(zeep_client=zeep_client)

Development

git clone git@gitlab.com:nerdocs/ehvd.git
cd ehvd
python -m venv .venv && source .venv/bin/activate
pip install -e ".[dev,django]"
pytest
ruff check .

The package uses a src-layout (src/ehvd/) so that tests always exercise the installed package rather than the working copy.

Layout

See docs/architecture.md for the structural overview. Reference material is in docs/:

• docs/architecture.md — module map, src-layout rationale
• docs/usage.md — end-to-end usage walkthrough
• docs/protocol.md — SOAP fields & error codes (from Servicehandbuch)
• docs/access.md — Antrag, ID Austria & IP-Freischaltung beim BRZ
• docs/django.md — Django integration details

For AI agents working in this repository: read CLAUDE.md first.

License

MIT — see LICENSE.

Sources

• eHVD Webservice Handbuch (Servicehandbuch), BRZ, v2.2, 2023-11-14
• §§ 9, 10 GTelG 2012
• IHE HPD profile