The European Health Data Space (EHDS) is a framework that defines rules, common standards and practices, data-sharing infrastructure, and governance with an explicit goal to facilitate pan-European access to medical data for primary and secondary uses and the creation of a European Single Market for digital health systems. Its implementation is set to unfold over the coming years, with key milestones expected between 2025 and 2030 to ensure a progressive and coordinated rollout across Member States.
IHE can play a pivotal role in overcoming these challenges by leveraging the IHE™ Methodology (ISO TR28380:2014), successfully adopted by many organizations around the world.
In Europe, IHE-Europe has been an active contributor to digital health infrastructure projects since 2008 (epSOS) and was a key team member on the development of the first set of pan-European interoperability specifications (Antilope, eStandard). In 2015, the European Commission adopted a set of 27 IHE building blocks as the normative set of digital health actor-transactions for the eHealth Network (eHN). IHE’s testing tools have been used since 2017 to conformance-test eHN solutions – now collectively referred to as MyHealth@EU. More recently, IHE-Europe has participated in the development of use cases and specifications for the EEHRxF, including European Commission projects such as XeHealth, UNICOM, and XpanDH.
The EHDS is a fast-evolving ecosystem. To keep up with these developments, this page will be updated regularly. Be sure to check back frequently to stay informed on IHE-Europe updates.