Electronic cross-border health services

The eHealth Digital Service Infrastructure (eHDSI) is an infrastructure ensuring the continuity of care for European citizens while they are travelling abroad in the EU. This gives EU countries the possibility to exchange health data in a secure, efficient and interoperable way. Citizens can easily recognise the availability of the services under the brand “MyHealth @ EU”.

The following 2 electronic cross-border health services are currently being introduced in all EU countries:

• ePrescription and eDispensation (eHealth Network guidelines on ePrescription, Release notes) 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.
• Patient Summaries (eHealth Network guidelines on Patient Summary, Release notes) provide 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 an electronic Health Record. 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.
  In the long term, medical images, lab results and hospital discharge reports will also be available across the EU, with the full health record to follow later on. The exchange of ePrescriptions and Patient Summaries is open to all the EU countries.

Many EU/EEA countries are implementing these services.

Patient Information Notices (PINs) translations per country

Austria	Italy
Belgium	Latvia
Bulgaria	Lithuania
Croatia	Luxembourg
Cyprus	Malta
Czechia	Netherlands
Denmark	Norway
Estonia	Poland
Finland	Portugal
France	Romania
Germany	Slovakia
Greece	Slovenia
Hungary	Spain
Iceland	Sweden
Ireland

Which services are available in which countries?

Governance and financing

The eHealth Digital Service Infrastructure (eHDSI) facilitates the cross-border exchange of health data including patient summaries and e-prescription. Through 'core services', the European Commission is providing a common ICT infrastructure and crosscutting services (terminology, interoperability etc.) to EU countries.

They can then set up 'generic services' to connect national eHealth systems through 'National Contact Points for eHealth (NCPeH)', with financial assistance from the Connecting Europe Facility Telecom Programme (2015-2020) and from the EU4Health Programme (2021-2027).

The eHealth DSI EU countries Expert Group (eHMSEG) is composed of managers responsible for implementing the NCPeH, and nominated by the participating countries. Members participate in the deployment and operation of eHealth cross border infrastructure and are responsible for setting up National Contact Points for eHealth.

The eHealth Operational Management Board (eHOMB) is composed of representatives of internal services of the European Commission and the eHMSEG Chairs. It oversees the provision of services, and takes tactical and operational decisions on the eHDSI.

Communication materials

• "MyHealth@EU” flyer addressed to patients and health professionals
• "MyHealth@EU” Q&A
• Q&A on the reimbursement of cross border healthcare costs in the EU

Related information

• Cross-border healthcare directive
• eHDSI Funding: CEF Telecom, EU4Health
• Presenting a prescription abroad (Your Europe)
• FAQ on presenting a prescription abroad (Your Europe)
• eHDSI Requirements Catalogue
• eHDSI Interoperability specifications