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eHealth in Europe

Directive 2011/24/EU on the application of patients’ rights in cross-border healthcare guarantees the continuity of treatment dispensed to European citizens throughout the Union. Through its Article 14 on eHealth, it offers the possibility of exchanging healthcare information in a safe and secure environment.

The following two cross-border eHealth services are being progressively introduced in all European countries: the ePrescription and the digital Patient Summary, which can be exchanged between EU countries thanks to the new eHealth Digital Service Infrastructure MyHealth@EU. Both new crossborder eHealth services will be gradually implemented in 25 EU countries by the end of 2025:

• ePrescription and eDispensation allows EU citizens to obtain their medication in a pharmacy located in another EU country, thanks to the online transfer of their electronic prescription from their country of residence where they are affiliated, to their country of travel (ePrescription). In return, the country of residence is informed of the medicines obtained in the country of travel (eDispensation).
• the digital Patient Summary provides information on important health related aspects such as allergies, current medication, previous illness, surgeries, etc. It is part of a larger collection of health data called a European Health Record, which will be implemented throughout the European Union in due course. The digital Patient Summary is meant to provide doctors with essential information in their own language concerning the patient, when the patient comes from another EU country and there may be a linguistic barrier.

The European Commission website provides a list of the countries whose services are progressively operational in the different Member States.

Context in France

France has integrated the MyHealth@EU network to ensure the treatment of European citizens within the European Union via Sesali, the new service offered by the Agence du Numérique en Santé [French eHealth Agency] (ANS) to health professionals. This service is accessible at www.sesali.fr and enables French health professionals holding a CPS or eCPS card to access in a secure, standardised manner, and in French, the medical summary of a patient from another EU country at the secure online infrastructure MyHealth@EU, with respect for the provisions of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

This service makes it possible to ensure the continuity and monitoring of the care given to European citizens, and it complies with the requirements laid down in Directive 2011/24/EU.

In the long term, other elements of the medical record, such as lab results, medical images and hospital discharge reports, will also be available in these exchanges, to enhance the quality of the patient’s treatment.