Driving healthcare advancements: Open data and the European Health
Data Space
The European Commission is building a robust European Health Union
[https://commission.europa.eu/strategy-and-policy/priorities-2019-2024/promoting-our-european-way-life/european-health-union_en],
in which all EU countries prepare and respond together to health
crises, medical supplies are available, affordable and innovative, and
countries work together to improve prevention, treatment and aftercare
for diseases. The initiative is taking significant strides towards
enhancing healthcare across EU countries, with a recent approval of
the European Health Data Space (EHDS)
[https://health.ec.europa.eu/ehealth-digital-health-and-care/european-health-data-space_en]
by the European Parliament, marking a pivotal moment in this
endeavour. 

The EHDS has the primary use
[https://ec.europa.eu/health/ehealth-digital-health-and-care/electronic-cross-border-health-services_en]
to empower individuals to access their health data electronically,
even across different EU Member States, while also enabling health
professionals to consult patient files with their consent. Moreover,
the EHDS unlocks the potential of health data for a secondary use
[https://tehdas.eu/], facilitating data processing for purposes such
as research, statistics, and policymaking.

In this context, data.europa.eu [https://data.europa.eu/en], plays an
important role in advancing the EHDS objectives by hosting over 26 000
health-related datasets. Additionally, it showcases nearly 50 use
cases related to health, such as the Transparency Portal
[https://data.europa.eu/en/publications/use-cases/sns-transparency-portal]
in Portugal, which aggregates health data from various entities
across Portugal and makes them available to the public. This
initiative aims to create transparency, increase efficiency in the
national health service (NHS) and enable access to high-quality health
data for institutions, citizens, and health professionals.

Through initiatives like these, data.europa
[https://data.europa.eu/en].eu contributes to promoting innovation,
transparency, and accessibility in the healthcare sector, ultimately
driving progress in European healthcare systems. Together, these
efforts contribute to building a healthier and more resilient Europe,
where patient outcomes and healthcare systems continue to advance.

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Publication Date/Time
2024-05-17T08:00:00+00:00
Enhancing innovation and accessibility in EU healthcare