First EU exchanges of electronic health records

The exchange of e-prescriptions between Finland and Croatia became operational this week, and, as of today, Medical services in Luxembourg will be able to receive electronic health records of patients coming from the Czech Republic.

As part of the EU plan to connect national e-health services: the eHealth Network set up under Directive 2011/24/EU on patients’ rights in cross-border healthcare connects national authorities responsible for eHealth. In this forum, EU countries give direction to eHealth developments in Europe regarding interoperability and standardisation. Its activities are based on priorities set out in its 2018-2021 Multiannual Work Plan (MWP).

Up today, 22 of the 28 EU member countries are involved in the program. Seven of them — Finland, Estonia, the Czech Republic, Luxembourg, Portugal, Croatia and Malta — are progressively launching exchanges of electronic prescriptions and digital patient summaries by the end of the year. The remaining countries are expected to do so by 2022.

The so-called digital patient summaries provide information that could be vital in case someone from the Czech Republic has a medical emergency while visiting Luxembourg, such as allergies, current medication, previous illness and surgeries. Patients have to give their consent for doctors  to access their records.