Context

Defining a European eHealth framework

For over 20 years, the European Union has been investing in a number of foundational eHealth projects and initiatives for the benefit of European citizens. The objective has been to facilitate a patient’s course of treatment and, more broadly, to encourage collaborations between organisations dispensing treatment and organisations in charge of medical research. The action plan currently being deliberated on within the operational framework of the Programme EU4Health (in French) is intended to support healthcare initiatives in Europe over the 2021-2027 period.

‘We need to build a stronger European Health Union.’ - Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, September 2020, Brussels.

A European network of national eHealth strategy representatives is taking the lead on discussing European eHealth collaborations under the auspices of the European Commission (DG Santé): the  Network eHealth Network. This network was set up in 2011 by the European directive on cross-border healthcare, which is intended to facilitate patient mobility and the free provision of healthcare between member states and EEA states (Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway).

 European directive (in French) 2011/24/EU on cross-border healthcare

At the European level

Involvement from the strategic to the operational level

Participation in following projects has operational implications depending on the commitments made and encourages the sharing of good eHealth practices at the European level. France is currently participating in:

1. The programme to roll out smart infrastructure in Europe (Connecting Europe Facility-CEF-eHealth) with the aim of setting up facilities for exchanging data between member countries known as eHealth Digital Service Infrastructure (in French) or eHDSI .

2. European joint actions:

• X-eHealth, a project that is developing the foundations for a format for the cross-border sharing of electronic medical records (laboratory results, medical imaging results, hospital discharge forms, inclusion of rare diseases in patient summaries);

• eHAction, a joint action to elaborate strategic orientations and tools in priority domains such as increasing patient autonomy and improving continuity of treatment;

• TEHDaS, a joint action to create a European health data space.

Representatives from the ministerial eHealth delegation (DNS), the Agence du Numérique en Santé, CNAM, the Health Data Hub and third parties (hospitals and research establishments in particular) are involved in these joint actions. France’s involvement in eHealth initiatives at the European level will also be bolstered by its presidency of the Council of the European Union in 2022 under the slogan ‘Relaunch, power, belonging’.

At the international level

Proposing a framework and signing up to international initiatives 

In addition to its actions at the European level, France is also involved in several international initiatives to roll out eHealth services through its participation in the actions of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the OECD in the eHealth domain and of standard-setting organisations such as HL7 and IHE.

At the national level

Integrating European projects into the eHealth roadmap 

The international dimension to the actions contained in the roadmap has been integrated into eHealth framework, as can be seen in the schematic diagram below. A European flag indicates that the item is associated with a European initiative (either planned or in progress).