Round table on medical interoperability in Europe
French National Medical Council
© Le Conseil national de l'Ordre des médecins
- On: 05.12.2008
- In: Paris, French National Medical Council
The French National Medical Council is organising a round table on medical interoperability in the European Union, in view of the different health information systems used in EU countries. Two other complementary areas are also on the agenda: the functions of exchanges between health information systems of Member States and the sharing of medical data at European level.
Different healthcare and health information systems co-exist in the European Union. The aim of this round table is to discuss their interoperability, involving two complementary but distinct areas: the functions of exchanges and the sharing of medical data.
The aim of interoperability in the area of exchanges between health information systems is to facilitate communication, particularly in terms of organising healthcare, within a hospital, a health network, a country, or indeed between neighbouring European countries.
Interoperability of sharing medical data, and of course their medical files, involves a patient-centric approach for which there are different methods and ontololgies, sometimes complementary, sometimes divergent.
Two elements take into account ethical and cultural considerations to ensure that patients’ privacy is respected: strong security and a unique and secure patient identification process. While both criteria are achievable on a certain level, there is no consensus at national or European level on how best to ensure this.
Despite existing international standards, the differences that remain between healthcare and health information systems means that there is a temptation to deal with interoperability in separate ways. How is this handled at European level? What role is played by cultural differences? How do national debates affect the European debate?
Complying with the norms in force enable the different actors to focus their efforts on the actual content of the medical data. What policy should be adopted with regard to these norms? Will one of these norms dominate or will we end up with a mosaic of norms that must be ‘federated’? Round table discussions will focus on answering these questions.
Registration : inscription0512 @ cn.medecin.fr
Contact: Sylvie Delétoile +33 1 53 89 32 41 deletoile.sylvie @ cn.medecin.fr
- Updated: 08.01.2009
