SPMS has led a pioneering work to lay the foundations for the future integration of ‘MyHealth@EU’ services to support cross-border telemedicine.
This initiative will enable health professionals to access essential patient data, facilitating, for example, teleconsultations where the patient and the health professional are in different European Union (EU) countries. With secure and efficient access to necessary medical information, this work will contribute to ensuring continuity of care, promoting an integrated and effective approach to cross-border healthcare services.
This pioneering effort reinforces the objective of the European Health Data Space (EHDS) regulation, recently published in the Official Journal of the EU, by enabling the inclusion of new services in the ‘MyHealth@EU’ infrastructure. Currently, this European infrastructure allows the exchange of patient summary and electronic prescriptions / dispensations, and it will be expanded to include additional services such as the laboratory results reports, hospital discharge reports, and medical imaging and related reports.
Developed within the Extended Electronic Health Records @EU Data Space for Primary Use (Xt-EHR) joint action, this work established the first priority requirements and use cases to make this new service feasible, aiming to:
- Ensure interoperability between different European clinical systems through ‘My Health @ EU’;
- Enable the sharing of electronic health data in accordance with the EHDS Regulation and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR);
- Recommend secure and efficient identification and authentication mechanisms to validate the identity of patients and healthcare professionals;
- Facilitate the sharing of essential clinical information, avoiding redundant tests and improving medical decision-making in cross-border contexts;
- Provide an intuitive experience for healthcare professionals and patients, ensuring an optimized workflow in remote consultations.
SPMS played a central role in leading this initiative, coordinating the working group partners and aligning strategies in light of different national contexts. The next step will be the EU Member States stakeholder consultation to validate and adjust the technical and organizational requirements, ensuring the feasibility and efficiency of implementing these services at the European level. Ultimately, this work will serve as the basis for the preparation of future implementing acts under the EHDS regulation.
With this initiative, SPMS reaffirms its commitment to the digital transformation of healthcare, promoting a more accessible, safe, and efficient telemedicine service for all citizens. This evolution paves the way for the implementation of the EHDS and the expansion of services offered by ‘MyHealth@EU’.
Disclaimer: The Xt-EHR joint action is co-funded by the European Union, EU4Health 2021-2027 under Grant Agreement Nr 101128085.The views and opinions expressed are those of the author(s) and not necessarily reflect the position of the European Union or HaDEA. Neither the European Union nor the grant-awarding authority can be held responsible for these opinions.
