With the support of UNICOM.
By stimulating a wide implementation of the Implementation of Medicinal Products (IDMP) standard throughout the whole Medicinal Products value chain, UNICOM is providing an exciting new perspective on interoperability. Creating an integrated ecosystem requires data harmonisation, structured interaction among processes and actors, and global governance. This session explored two initiatives involving regional, national, European, and international entities. Both initiatives are ambitious in wanting to make an interoperability breakthrough and are exploring new processes to create social value and support innovation. They both require organised cooperation between the different public entities which play a role in health systems. Indeed, data interoperability and security are greatly facilitated when one can rely on official databases and create systematic cooperation mechanisms among public institutions.
The Nordic path to interoperability and digital inclusiveness
Anders Tunold-Hanssen, CEO, Nordic Interoperability Project
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Anders Tunold-Hanssen of the Nordic Interoperability Project told the audience that the ambition of the Nordic Council of Ministers is to make the Nordic countries (‘the Nordics’) the most integrated health region in the world by 2030. The Nordic Interoperability Project is a pan-Nordic initiative supporting this ambition. Together, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden want to enable patients to live and be engaged in an open, seamless, cross-border healthcare ecosystem. The initiative will showcase world-class solutions and innovations from the Nordics. Sharing data between citizens and the system is now the key issue to be tackled.
NorDEC, the Nordic Digital Health and Medication platform, provides a warehouse which shelters common accreditation and review services based on international standards. Those services then feed into local, regional, and national portals dedicated to patients and healthcare professionals. NorDEC also builds a structural bridge between industry and health. One of the biggest challenges for the initiative is to establish a comprehensive mapping of all the actors impacted by the new system.
Interoperability: What is the success recipe?
Derek Ritz, Principal Consultant, IHE-EUROPE
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Derek Ritz, from IHE-Europe, started his presentation by saying that interoperability is a governance problem pretending to be a technical problem. Governance is composed of two axes - technical and behavioural - which both need to be tackled. On the technical side, governance targets are related to distinct kinds of digital health standards focusing on content, coding, communication, and confidentiality. On the behavioural side, the governance focus is on care delivery itself supported by Computable Care Guidelines (CCGs), developed by Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise®, where the parameters of transactions are precisely defined.
To end, Derek also reminded the audience that there is no magic: in reality, interoperability only happens when enablers, such as legislation, financial incentives, and compliance testing, are in place.
