The IDIS Foundation (Progress and Integration of Health) recently hosted a day focused on the “European Health Data Area: a shared future,” during which the organization unveiled its “Data Space for Private Health” (EDSP) project. This initiative addresses the increasing digitalization and the need for better integration within health systems. The project seeks to establish an integrating model that ensures the secure, regulated, and anonymous management of patient medical data. The goal is to facilitate advancements in medical innovation, research, and risk prediction without compromising individual privacy.

Eduardo Gómez, a representative of the European Commission in Spain, opened the event at the European Chamber of the institution’s headquarters in Madrid. Gómez stated, “We live in a time when there is great concern for data and digitalization, and this is a very good example. The commission believes that this European space will be very beneficial for patients and health sector. It will facilitate rapid access to health data, it will allow saving 111,000 million euros, it will make the system more efficient and, in the long run, we will have better health results.”

Patxi Amutio, general secretary of IDIS, spoke about the recent approval of regulations for the European Health Data Area. This European framework is designed to define “the way in which health data is generated,shared and used,always with the focus on the protection of citizens’ rights and in the confidence of their use for care,scientific and public health purposes”.

Juan Fernando Muñoz, general secretary of Digital Health, explained that these initiatives have grown more ambitious following the lessons learned during the pandemic. “It is a change of paradigm,” Muñoz said, “because it will allow the access of patients and professionals to their clinical history. This should be consulted, transfer between different health operators and discharge, all with a safe identification.”

Ruth del Campo, general director of the Ministry for Digital Conversion and Public Function, commented, “This regulation is a privilege, a great prospect to achieve the interoperability of health data. A very necessary regulation, since a recent OECD study said that only 3% of health data are used. So far, we have used 72.3 million euros in investment in calls for health use data, with a portfolio of 38 projects.” Marta Villanueva, general director of the IDIS Foundation, and Luisa Bautista, Iberia Health and Health Partner at Accenture