Exchange of health data + Technical standards + Consequences of a gas supply freeze • Europe.Table

Health data: Finland as a blueprint?
How the EU Commission wants to keep China’s technical standards at bay
Study: Russian gas supply freeze would have far-reaching consequences
Lithuania dispute: EU calls in WTO
McGuinness hopes for breakthrough on banking union and defends taxonomy
Fourth round of elections in Italy ends unsuccessfully
Reynders: WhatsApp should explain its terms and conditions
New climate and energy subsidies come into force
European Investment Bank approved record funding in 2021
Profile: Meike Jipp
Apéro: we don’t comment on comments

Dear reader,

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has once again stressed the importance of diplomacy in the Ukraine conflict. “Those who talk, don’t shoot,” the Green Party politician said. Nevertheless, a strong set of sanctions against Russia in the event of an invasion is currently in preparation with partners. Everything is on the table – including to freeze the Nord Stream 2 Baltic Sea pipeline. On the other hand, the European Union is highly dependent on Russian gas imports, which in turn is used by the Kremlin as a geopolitical lever. In the worst case, a supply stop would hit the European economy hard, a study by the think tank Bruegel shows. Read more in the news section.

Improved exchange of health data and patient records could not only improve cross-border medical care. The ability to access relevant data sets is also important for research and sound political decisions. However, very few EU countries have a sufficiently digitized healthcare system; Germany in particular is lagging far behind in international comparison, and there is a lack of appropriate legal frameworks. Finland, however, sets a good example. Eugenie Ankowitsch analyzed how the Scandinavian country can serve as a blueprint for the European Health Data Space (EHDS), for which the Commission plans to present a draft regulation in April.

Whether DIN, ISO, or EN: Norms and standards are omnipresent in both the private and business environment and are essential for the free trade of goods and services. While most people have a fairly precise idea of the shape of a DIN A4 page, things get considerably more complicated in the telecommunications sector. However, it is no less important. For decades, Europe set the tone for technical norms and standards. But other players, especially China, are now threatening to overtake the EU in the area of future technologies. Till Hoppe has summarized what the EU Commission is planning to do about this with its new standardization strategy.

Your
Timo Landenberger

Feature

Health data: Finland as a blueprint?

By 2025, the European Health Data Space (EHDS) is to promote new digital health services and enable GDPR-compliant access to health data. The EU Commission intends to present a regulation proposal in April. Given the very different starting points and degrees of digitization among individual member states, the magnitude of the task quickly becomes clear.

By
Eugenie Ankowitsch

In February 2020, the EU Commission adopted the European Data Strategy. The Health Data Space envisaged in this framework is intended, for example, to enable the exchange of electronic patient records, genomics data, or data from patient registers safely across the borders of EU countries in accordance with uniform standards. The aim is not only to provide better healthcare (primary use), but also to achieve improvements in healthcare research and healthcare policy (secondary use). The European Commission is currently working on a legislative proposal to be presented in April 2022.

Primary use of data

For the cross-border exchange of e-prescriptions and basic patient data, the already existing MyHealth@EU infrastructure is used in some EU countries. In the course of the EHDS expansion, the Commission intends to add further applications such as medical image data, laboratory results, and hospital discharge reports in the coming years.

Under MyHealth@EU, the EU offers member states a common ICT infrastructure and cross-cutting services (terminology, interoperability, etc.). The EU countries connect their systems through national eHealth contact nodes (NCPeH). Finland, France, Portugal, and the Czech Republic are among the countries using these services. The German NCP is not scheduled to begin operations until mid-2023.

Continue reading now

… and get free access to this Professional Briefing for a month.

Are you already a guest at the Europe.Table? Log in now