European Commission: Public Consultation on Transformation of Health and Care in the Digital Single Market

The European Commission has launched a public consultation on 'Transformation of health and care in the digital single market'. The consultation is aimed at defining the need and scope of policy measures that will promote digital innovation in improving people's health, and address systemic challenges to healthcare systems, in line with legislation on the protection of personal data, patient rights, and electronic identification.

The consultation is intended at collecting information on:

• Cross-border access and portability of personal health data.
• Sharing of resources (scientific research expertise, data capacity and advanced digital infrastructure) that will accelerate research and advance prevention, treatment, and personalised medicine; initially in three areas:
  • rare and complex diseases in order to facilitate the transfer of knowledge from the laboratory to the clinical setting;
  • preparedness for upcoming epidemics and EU-wide identification of infectious threats within days;
  • the use of real world data for the purpose of pharmacovigilance and assessment of effectiveness of products placed on the market.
• Measures to ensure widespread uptake of digital innovations, enabling more patient centered and integrated healthcare, and allowing for feedback and interaction between patients and healthcare providers.

The Commission will publish a summary of the consultation results, and a synopsis report with a qualitative analysis of all consultation activities will be issued as well.

For more details, and to contribute to the consultation, visit the dedicated webpage.