The European Union’s cooking up a plan to create a European Health Data Space (EHDS), a common setup for sharing health info across the bloc. The EHDS wants to put the power of health data in people’s hands and help out healthcare, research, innovation, rules, and all that jazz.
Dublin’s on board for this EHDS thing because it’s got a bunch of health tech companies and smart researchers. According to a report from Enterprise Ireland, the country’s got over 300 health tech companies with 32,000 folks on the payroll, raking in more than €12 billion from exports.
One hot topic in Ireland’s health tech world is electronic health records (EHR) systems. These digital data vaults help doctors store and share patient info, making care better, safer, and quicker. The EHDS plan is all about making sure these EHR systems follow the same rules and having friendly folks in each country to swap data with.
Another big deal is medical gizmos and high-tech AI. They can use health data to diagnose, treat, watch, or prevent stuff. The EHDS plan is making sure they’re safe and reliable by setting some rules for data quality, safety, and how they’re run.
Oh, and the EHDS plan says, “Hey, let’s use health data for research and other cool stuff!” It means you can use health data for things like science experiments, watching out for public health, and checking out new meds. They’re setting up a European Health Data Authority to help with all that.
So, what’s in it for everyone? Well, patients in the EU will get to peek at their health info and decide if they want to share it for research. Doctors can give better care and chat with their colleagues across borders. Scientists and inventors get a bigger pile of health data to play with. Plus, the folks who make the rules get more info to base their decisions on.
Right now, the EHDS plan’s getting a good talking-to in the European Parliament and the Council of the EU. They’re aiming to say, “Yep, let’s do it!” by 2024. Dublin’s all set to roll with the EHDS, growing its health tech scene and playing its part in the European Health Union.