Recital 33

Access to and transmission of electronic health data is relevant in cross-border healthcare situations, as it can support continuity of healthcare when natural persons travel to other Member States or change their place of residence. Continuity of care and rapid access to personal electronic health data is even more important for residents in border regions who cross the border frequently to get healthcare. In many border regions, some specialised healthcare services might be available closer across the border than in the same Member State. Infrastructure is needed for the transmission of personal electronic health data across borders, in situations where a natural person is using services of a healthcare provider established in another Member State. The gradual expansion of such infrastructure and its funding should be considered. A voluntary infrastructure for that purpose, MyHealth@EU, was established as part of the actions to achieve the objectives set up in Directive 2011/24/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council (14). Through MyHealth@EU, Member States started to provide natural persons with the possibility of sharing their personal electronic health data with healthcare providers when travelling abroad. Building on that experience, the participation of Member States in MyHealth@EU as established by this Regulation should be mandatory. Technical specifications for MyHealth@EU should enable the exchange of priority categories of electronic health data as well as additional categories supported by the European electronic health record exchange format. Those specifications should be defined by means of implementing acts and should be based on the cross-border specifications of the European electronic health record exchange format, complemented by further specifications on cybersecurity, technical and semantic interoperability, operations and service management. Member States should be required to join MyHealth@EU, comply with its technical specifications and connect healthcare providers, including pharmacies, to it, as this is necessary for enabling natural persons to exercise their rights under this Regulation to access and make use of their personal electronic health data regardless of the Member State where the natural persons are located.