European Health Data Space - Roadmap/inception impact assessment

Bitkom strongly welcomes the European Commission’s efforts to create a European Health Data Space (EHDS) to unlock the potential of health data for sustainable and resilient healthcare systems. Access and (re)use of health data are preconditions to a digital transformation of healthcare systems and set the cornerstones for patient-oriented and data-driven health ecosystems for the future. The current Covid-19 crisis has already demonstrated that data sharing has been beneficial for expedited research, strengthening EU-wide public health surveillance systems with the intention of saving human lives. Fragmented implementation of regulations, and the lack thereof, is seen as the most significant hurdle that continues to limit effective data sharing within the Member States. Bitkom therefore encourages the necessary steps proposed by the European Commission to establish a robust and interoperable infrastructure for safe exchange and secondary use of data for all stakeholders in the health sector with a clearly defined governance framework.