1. The Digital Agenda for Europe Interoperability and Standards
Joint ITU-WHO Workshop on eHealth Standards and Interoperability
Geneva, April, 2012
The Digital Agenda for Europe Interoperability and Standards
Gisele Roesems
European Commission – DG INFSO
ICT for Health Unit

2. The 7 pillars of the Digital Agenda for Europe (DAE)
Vibrant Single Market
Trust and security
Interoperability and standards
Fast and Ultra fast internet access
R&D
Digital Literacy, inclusions eSkills
Societal challenges (public services, health, environment)
EC DG INFSO - ICT for Health

3. DAE – Standardisation and eID
Action 21: Propose legislation on ICT interoperability
As part of the review of EU standardisation policy, propose legal measures on ICT interoperability to reform the rules on implementation of ICT standards in Europe.
Action 24: Adopt a European Interoperability Strategy and Framework
Promote interoperability by adopting in 2010 a European Interoperability Strategy and European Interoperability Framework
Action 77: Foster EU-wide standards, interoperability testing and certification of eHealth systems by 2015 through stakeholder dialogue
Action 83: Propose a Council and Parliament Decision on mutual recognition of e-ID
EC DG INFSO - ICT for Health

4. Policy Context for EU eHealth Interoperability
Recommendation on cross-border interoperability of electronic health record systems
Communication on a strategic vision for European standards
Communication on Quality Criteria for Health related Websites
Communication on e-Health - making healthcare better for European citizens: An action plan for a European e-Health Area
eHealth Standardisation Mandate 403
Communication on telemedicine for the benefit of patients, healthcare systems and society
Council Conclusions on Safe and efficient healthcare through eHealth
Directive on the application of patients’ rights in cross-border healthcare
Communication on interoperability for European public services
Communication on a Digital Agenda for Europe
Communication on European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing
eHealth Action Plan (eHAP)
Article 29 Working Party 4
EC DG INFSO - ICT for Health

5. eHealth Governance Initiative and eHealth Network play an important role
Decision Making
eHealth Network of MS
Art. 14 Directive on Patients Rights (2011)
Production
Joint Action + Thematic Network
eHealth Governance Initiative
SemanticHealthNet project
eHealth EIF project
CALLIOPE Network
Interoperability Roadmap
HITCH project
epSOS project
(Patient summary / ePrescription)
STORK project
(eIdentification within eHealth domain)
SmartPersonalHealth project
eHR QTN project 5
EC DG INFSO - ICT for Health

6. Current projects
epSOS
European Patient Smart Open Services (23 participating countries)
To deploy concrete cross border services for citizens travelling across Europe:
Patient Summary for EU Citizens
ePrescribing for EU Citizens
Status: Entered in operational mode in 7 MS recently
eHR QTN
Thematic Network on Quality and Certification of EHR systems
Promotion of certification (in 27MS)
Validation of EuroRec functional statements, certification tools and procedures
EC DG INFSO - ICT for Health

7. epSOS contributions to standards
epSOS selected and influenced international standards:
IHE, OASIS, HL7
With the successful IHE connect-a-thons in Bratislava and Pisa, epSOS proved being implementable and is now operational for general public
The project is working together with a new born OASIS TC in order to find feasible, real-world, and secure solutions to the 112 use case
It provided the e-Health international community with a new profile, the Cross Community Fetch (XCF)
It is reality-checking several European engagements for the fitness of use in the e-Health “wild”: NSL/TSL, eSignature, x-border recognition
Results are already being reused and epSOS is extensively extended by national engagements: portals, system integration, security extension 7
EC DG INFSO - ICT for Health

8. eHR Qtn Recommendations: cross-border
Strengthen national certification in order to improve average quality and to enable in a second step the Trans-European harmonisation, improving comparability and portability of content. 
Promote equivalence of certificates across Europe by validating at European level both the functional descriptive statements of EuroRec and the IHE profiles. 
Consider the possibility to create a cross-border “Register of Quality Labelled or Certified Clinical Software”, offering information about the products (complete EHR systems as well a software modules) and documentation about the certification process.
Brussels, March 30, 2012 8
EC DG INFSO - ICT for Health 8

9. SemanticHealthNet
Framework Program 7 Call 7: A Network of Excellence on semantic interoperability and European Health Infostructure
Engage leaders and organisations to define and implement a research agenda on semantic interoperability
European and international organizations in
Medical terminology
Record architecture
Medical logic and workflow
EC DG INFSO - ICT for Health

10. CIP Call 6 Objective 3.6: Adoption and taking up of standards and profiles for eHealth interoperability
Funding Instrument: Thematic Network – 1 M€
Drive adoption of interoperability standards and specifications at European level;
Drive adoption of eHealth Interoperability Testing Guidelines.
Drive closure of key gaps in interoperability testing tools.
Drive adoption of a two-level labelling and certification process (European level and national/project level)
Ensure that all necessary phases to attain eHealth interoperability shall be taken into account and addressed properly.
Propose and implement solutions or process improvement to address barriers to standards adoption (as described in eHealth-Interop report as a result of M403 phase I).
Include relevant organisations and consortia recognised by the market or by regulation and having demonstrated, well established and several years experience in standards or specifications development, testing or quality labelling.
EC DG INFSO - ICT for Health

11. Thank you !
Digital Agenda for Europe ICT for Health Hitch Roadmap EIP On active and healthy ageing epSOS SemanticHealthNet eHR Qtn
EC DG INFSO - ICT for Health 11