Towards a Cross-domain Infrastructure to Support Electronic Identification and Capability Lookup for Cross-border...

Area of Science:

• Health Informatics
• Digital Health Services
• Cross-border Healthcare Systems

Background:

• Large-scale deployment of cross-border healthcare relies on seamless patient identification and remote service location.
• The Electronic Simple European Networked Services (e-SENS) large scale pilot (LSP) project aims to deploy digital public services using reusable technical components (Building Blocks - BBs).

Purpose of the Study:

• To highlight challenges in implementing cross-border digital health services.
• To demonstrate how non-health specific technical components can enhance eHealth readiness.
• To examine the consolidation of existing BBs for improved technical certainty in eHealth.

Main Methods:

• Investigated challenges within the e-SENS LSP project context.
• Utilized the cross-border ePrescription/Patient Summary (eP/PS) service as a case study.
• Examined the application of electronic identification (eID) and capability lookup from other domains to healthcare.

Main Results:

• Experience from other sectors, particularly eID and capability lookup, can advance technology readiness in disease diagnosis and treatment.
• Consolidating non-health specific BBs is necessary for technical certainty.
• Addressing identified issues is crucial for facilitating citizen use of eHealth services and secure sharing of personal health records (PHRs) internationally.

Conclusions:

• Leveraging generic technical components and cross-domain experiences is vital for advancing cross-border eHealth services.
• Resolving technical and regulatory challenges will enable citizens to utilize innovative eHealth solutions while traveling.
• The study underscores the importance of interoperability and reusable building blocks for secure and efficient international health data exchange.