Design and implementation of the National eHealth Interoperability Framework in Greece

The European Commission provided technical support, guidance and tools to ensure the sustainability of the Greek National eHealth Interoperability Framework and its alignment with the relevant EU policies, learning from the experience and best practices developed in other European countries on the topic.

Context

The lack of interoperability between the numerous segments of e-Health solutions put in place across the health system in Greece bears a strong negative impact on its efficiency. The absence of a framework defining how systems should communicate, according to which standards and who should exert the oversight on the development and maintenance of the systems aggravates the situation. The project aimed at supporting the Ministry of Health in developing and implementing its National e-Health Interoperability Framework to address these shortcomings.

Support delivered

The activities consisted in establishing the design principles of the national e-Health Interoperability Framework as well as its governance requirements. The project supported the Greek stakeholders in developing the documentation for 10 Use Cases defined by the Ministry of Health as national priorities, as well as an overall national interoperability architecture defining the set of common components needed for one Use Case, which was tested and validated. Finally, Greek authorities were guided in defining a conformity assessment model and a regulatory framework necessary to the governance of the national e-Health Interoperability Framework and of the e-Health strategy.

Results achieved

The National e-Health Interoperability Framework design principles were established, following a process of use case prioritization according to EU e-Health interoperability framework policies.