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

3 Priority areas on Health and Care

in the DSM

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

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

THE EU CONTRIBUTION

19

eHealth Network &

eHealth Stakeholder

Group

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