Health and Care in the Digital Single Market
Katja Neubauer
Team leader DSM and eHealth
European Commission – DG Health
Digital Single Market Strategy (May 2015)
• The European Commission has placed digital at the
core of its strategy, by setting the Digital Single Market
as one of its 10 priorities.
• The aim is to open up digital opportunities for people
and business and to make the EU's single market fit for
the digital age.
Mid-term review (May 2017)
• The Commission has delivered 35 legislative
proposals and policy initiatives
• Data economy, cybersecurity and online platforms
are the three key areas where further action is needed
• Specific action on health and care announced,
including a Communication for the end of 2017
Public Consultation on Health and Care
in the Digital Single Market
Open between: 20 July – 12 October 2017
1464 respondents – 30% organisations + 70% individuals
Replies from 35 countries – also from beyond Europe
Health and care organisations are the largest group of respondent organisations
Consciously structured based on the 3 pillars
Public Consultation – Summary of results
Citizens should be able to manage their own data: >90% strongly agree or agree
Sharing health data can be beneficial: >80% strongly agree or agree
Not having access to digital health services: Nearly 60%
Citizen feedback to healthcare providers is
essential to improve services: >80% agree
Public Consultation
Main concerns and expectations
Privacy
Cybersecurity
Data quality
Standardised elect ronic health records
MAI N CONCERNS AND EXPECTATI ONS:
Pillar I: Give citizens better
access to their health data
The eHealth Digital Service Infrastructure (eHDSI)
1. Enabling the exchange of patient data across borders
• Patient Summary: provides access to health professionals to
verified key health data of a patient during an unplanned care
encounter while abroad
• ePrescription: enables patients to receive equivalent
medication while abroad to what they would receive in their
home country
2. To be expanded to full Electronic Health Records
eHDSI: How it works
Central Services
• 1 EU wide instance
• Configuration
NCPeH – National contact Point for eHealth
• 1 per Country
• Run-time
1. Each participating Member State sets
up an eHealth National Contact Point
(NCPeH)
2. Different national structures are
connected to the eHealth NCP
3. eHealth NCPs are connected amongst
each other by a secure peer-to-peer
network
• The Commission provides central
services such as configuration and
terminology
Summary results of the Public Consultation
– a link to Pillar I
• 74% Risks of privacy breaches
• 60% Cybersecurity risks
• 51% Lack of infrastructure
• 43% Legal restrictions in member states
Major barriers to electronic access
to health data
• 66% Risks of privacy breaches
• 58% Heterogeneity of electronic health records
• 54% Cybersecurity risks
• 48% Lack of technical interoperability
Major barriers to electronic sharing
of health data
• 60% Develop standards for data quality and reliability
• 57% Standardise electronic health records
• 54% Propose health-related cybersecurity standards
• 53% Support interoperability with open exchange formats
• 40% Support legislation setting the technical standards enabling citizen access and exchange of Electronic Health Records amongst EU Member States
What the EU should do to overcome these barriers
Pillar II: Connect and share health data for
research, faster diagnosis and better health
outcome
• Connect different health data sets, scientific
expertise and computing capacity federated across
borders – through a decentralised European
digital health infrastructure
• Advancement of high-performance computing, big
data analytics and cloud computing for health
research and personalized medicine
Pillar II: Connect and share health data for
research, faster diagnosis and better health
outcome
• Use cases:
• For rare diseases (European Reference Networks)
• For anticipating epidemics and accelerating EU-wide
identification of infectious threats
• To develop shorter lead times for therapy
developments
Summary results of the Public Consultation
– a link to Pillar II
• Followed by improvement of own personal treatment and clinical practice
73% would make their data available for progressing research and innovation
• The data is secure and only accessible to authorized parties & it is encrypted and cannot be tracked back to the data provider
When sharing health / lifestyle data for research, the most important preconditions to be ensured
are…
• Supported by nearly 65% of respondents Advancement of high-performance computing,
big data analytics and cloud computing for health research and personalized medicine
• Supported by nearly 65% of respondents Further development of digital infrastructure to pool health data and resources securely across
the EU
• Encountered by 30% of respondents Existence of barriers to using big data analytics
for personalized medicine
Pillar III: Use of digital services for citizen
empowerment and patient-centred care
• Working with Member States and regions to deploy
solutions:
• that support user feedback and interaction between patients
and healthcare providers,
• that engage citizens in the prevention and management of
chronic diseases
• Mobilize relevant EU funding (from EFSI, ESIF, Health
Programme and H2020) and implement patient-
centred integrated care
Pillar III: Use of digital services for citizen
empowerment and patient-centred care
• The Commission will work with Member States and relevant
stakeholders to support cooperation across borders by:
1. Strengthening capacity building and technical assistance
• Including the provision of guidelines, tools, innovative and best practices, etc.
2. Enhancing co-investment opportunities with Member States
and regions
• Raising awareness of financial possibilities
• Promotion of the strategic use of EU financing instruments
• Enhancing access to multi-source investment opportunities
Summary results of the Public Consultation
– a link to Pillar III
>80% agree or strongly agree to the importance
of feedback
A majority reports not having electronic
feedback opportunities
• Commission actions to be announced with EU added-value,
to further stimulate the cooperation of Member States on
the 3 priorities for health for the benefit of citizens:
• Funding: CEF, H2020, Health Programme, Investment
Plan - EFSI, MFF;
• Legal implementation: cross-border care, GDPR, NIS,
eIDAS;
• Cooperation: e.g. eHealth Network
Commission Communication on health and
care in the Digital Single Market
Public Consultation
– Commission tasks to stimulate use of data
and digital
Most frequently used terms:
Thank you!
Katja Neubauer@katja_neubauer
DigitalSingleMarket@DSMeu
EU_Health@EU_Health
DG Health and Food Safety
http://ec.europa.eu/health/ehealth/policy/index_en.htm
DG Connect
http://ec.europa.eu/digital-agenda/en/eu-policy-ehealth