Readiness to join the European Health Data Space

The European Health Data Space (EHDS) is a strategic initiative by the European Union aimed at creating a unified framework for the secure and efficient exchange of health data across member states. It is crucial for enabling better healthcare delivery, fostering innovation in medical research, and enhancing public health monitoring. It is particularly important for its emphasis on the secondary use of health data, which involves using data initially collected for patient care for research, policy-making, and innovation. By facilitating seamless access to health data, the EHDS supports more personalized and effective treatments, drives advancements in medical technologies, and ensures that health systems across Europe can respond more robustly to cross-border health threats.

 

TEHDAS country visits 2021-2022

The joint action Towards the European Health Data Space (TEHDAS) conducted 12 country visits to engage with national stakeholders and to map the countries’ readiness to join the European health data space (EHDS).
During the country visits the TEHDAS team interviewed national stakeholders working with health data. The following domains were covered: data sources, data quality, data infrastructure, data storage, data access, data interoperability, data governance, resources and the EHDS.

 

Aim of the country visits

For the countries being mapped
For the TEHDAS Joint Action and the European Comission
  1. An opportunity to bring together stakeholders involved in the health information system (HIS).
  2. An overview of the current situation in your country regarding health data management and the regulations supporting health data exchange for secondary use.
  3. A possibility to influence the European Commission’s legislative proposal of the EHDS with country’s needs and expectations.
  4. An insight into the current state of the national HIS to potentially join the EHDS (structurally and politically) and the awareness thereof among stakeholders.
  5. An opportunity to identify the capacity building needs and link with training opportunities.
  1. To map the state-of-play of the national health data management developments and their organisation in relation to a future EHDS.
  2. To reflect on the needs and expectations at national level and reflect on how TEHDAS and the EHDS can respond to them.
  3. To identify the human and financial resources needed for various European countries to potentially join and link to a future EHDS and become national nodes.
  4. To support the building of a sustainable and pragmatic EHDS.

 

How were the country visits organised?

The mapping exercise and tool are based on a World Health Organisation tool revised by the joint action on Health Information, InfAct. The exercise includes a preparatory desk review, semi-structured interviews with local stakeholders and a final report with a one-page fact sheet per country.

 

Which countries participated in the country visits?

 

 The main findings of the visits were published in April 2023.

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