The European Health Union embodies our collective commitment to working together, sharing best practices, and leveraging expertise to ensure better health outcomes for all. Central to this vision is the digital transformation of healthcare.
 
The significant advantages of digital health, with its transformative potential for healthcare systems, are widely acknowledged. The COVID-19 pandemic underscored the critical need for European collaboration and timely, high-quality health data sharing to effectively respond to crises and foster resilient healthcare systems.
 
Currently, Europe's digital landscape in healthcare is characterised by fragmentation. To address these challenges at the EU level, the Commission put forward the proposal for a regulation on the European Health Data Space (EHDS).
 
The EHDS is a collective endeavour of all EU Member States, reflecting our shared commitment to its development. We are excited that this Joint Action will help increase alignment, laying out specifications and technical foundations for services outlined in the EHDS—a pivotal step in its creation.
 
This Joint Action aligns with the Commission's digital health policy priority, implementing the overarching objective of the EU4Health Programme to "strengthen health systems".
 
By building on past initiatives on exchange formats, crucial for unlocking the flow of health data across borders, this Joint Action will pave the way for implementing the EHDS regulation. It will consolidate requirements for Electronic Health Records systems and MyHealth@EU, enhancing interoperability and accessibility.
 
This Joint Action will become a platform to share your expertise and best practices in digitalising healthcare, developing digital health infrastructures, and advancing digital skills. Through this initiative, we are fostering closer collaboration among European nations, propelling both the EHDS and the European Health Union forward.