Recital 7

In health systems, personal electronic health data are usually gathered in electronic health records, which typically contain a natural person’s medical history, diagnoses and treatment, medications, allergies and vaccinations, as well as radiology images, laboratory results and other medical data, spread between different actors in the health system, such as general practitioners, hospitals, pharmacies or care services. In order to allow electronic health data to be accessed, shared and modified by natural persons or health professionals, some Member States have taken the necessary legal and technical measures and set up centralised infrastructures connecting EHR systems used by healthcare providers and natural persons. In addition, some Member States provide support to public and private healthcare providers to set up personal electronic health data spaces to enable interoperability between different healthcare providers. Several Member States also support or provide electronic health data access services for patients and health professionals, for instance through patient or health professional portals. Those Member States have also taken measures to ensure that EHR systems or wellness applications are able to transmit electronic health data to the central EHR system, for instance by providing a system of certification. However, not all Member States have put in place such systems, and those Member States that have implemented them have done so in a fragmented manner. In order to facilitate the free movement of personal electronic health data across the Union and avoid negative consequences for patients when receiving healthcare in a cross-border context, Union action is needed to improve natural persons’ access to their own personal electronic health data and to empower them to share those data. In this respect, appropriate action at Union and national level should be taken as a means of reducing fragmentation, heterogeneity and division, and to create a system that is user-friendly and intuitive in all Member States. Any digital transformation in the healthcare sector should aim to be inclusive and also benefit natural persons with limited ability to access and use digital services, including people with disabilities.