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Changelog

This changelog lists all notable changes to the Benefit Plan Standard. For a high‑level overview of changes in each release, see the release notes. The format is based on Keep a Changelog and adheres to Semantic Versioning.

[Unreleased]​

Added​

  • Placeholder for future changes since the last release. Once changes are merged into main or next, they will be listed here until a new version is tagged.

[1.1.0] — 2026‑05‑21​

Backward-compatible minor release. v1.0.0 documents validate against v1.1.0 unchanged.

Added​

  • Plan identity: plan_year (integer), coverage_period (start_date + end_date), and market at the top level.
  • Out-of-network accumulators: four new slots — oon_individual_deductible, oon_family_deductible, oon_individual_oop_max, oon_family_oop_max. Closes the v1.0.0 gap where PPO plans with separate in/out-of-network accumulators could not be fully represented.
  • Richer accumulator metadata: period, network_tier, and embedded fields on every accumulator slot. applies_to is now also available on OOP-max slots (parity with deductibles).
  • Benefit discriminator: benefit_type field on benefits[] items — enables future modules (pharmacy, dental, vision, behavioral_health) without restructuring.
  • Benefit identity: canonical_key (machine-readable canonical identifier) and raw_label (verbatim source-document label) on benefits[] items.
  • Cost-share notes: optional notes field on cost_shares[] items.
  • Recommended vocabularies: 100 canonical benefit identifiers, 25 categories, 12 markets, 12 plan types. See the vocabularies directory.
  • FHIR alignment guide: field-by-field BPS ↔ FHIR R4 InsurancePlan mapping with worked example, lossy-mapping table, and round-tripping guidance. See docs/fhir-alignment.md.
  • Expanded examples: all 7 carrier example plans now cover 25–30 benefits each (198 total), spanning the full SBC service inventory.
  • Repository hygiene: LICENSE (MIT) and .gitattributes added to the schema repo.

Fixed​

  • Documentation: product_type → plan_type, individual_oop / family_oop → individual_oop_max / family_oop_max, source_refs → source_references. The published schema was already correct; only the docs were out of sync.
  • examples/scan_example.json: removed notes from inside cost_shares[] items (would have failed additionalProperties: false). The same notes field is now formally defined on cost_shares[] in v1.1.0.

Backward compatibility​

  • All v1.0.0 required fields remain required.
  • All v1.0.0 optional fields remain present with the same types.
  • All additions are optional; additionalProperties: false boundaries are respected.
  • A document declaring "schema_version": "1.0.0" validates against the v1.1.0 schema without changes.

[1.0.0] — 2025‑11‑30​

Added​

  • Initial schema covering plan metadata, network tiers, accumulators, benefits, limits, conditions, and source references.
  • Carrier crosswalk with mappings for Blue Cross, GatorCare, SCAN, Aetna, UnitedHealthcare, Cigna, and Humana; plus blank columns for future carriers.
  • Field definitions describing the purpose, type, and usage of each normalized field.
  • Modules page summarizing core modules and how to extend the schema.
  • Specification overview explaining design principles, normative vocabulary, and interoperability goals.
  • Documentation site built with Docusaurus and published at benefitplanstandard.org.

Changed​

  • None (initial release).

Removed​

  • None (initial release).