The eHealth4U is a research project that undertakes the challenge of defining the structure and the content of the national integrated EHR system in Cyprus and developing a prototype of it. Our vision is that the outcome of our project will establish the foundations of the country’s broader eHealth ecosystem adhering to the Electronic Health Law of Cyprus (No.59(I)/2019).
In eHealth4U, we understand that materializing the full potential of an EHR, is to use a citizen centric philosophy. This is, to be designed and oriented towards the needs of the citizens and not necessarily those of health institutions.
One of the major issues in the healthcare industry is the exchange of health data between disparate systems. To this end, we leverage state of the art interoperability standards and profiles in line with EU recommendations and directions[1], [2]. We articulated an interoperability framework based on the Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) standard by HL7 which is one of most prevalent healthcare interoperability standards. The framework also utilizes the IHE interoperability profiles proposed by the EU under the 1025/2012 directive in 2015 while adopts the provisions of the 2016 eHealth network guideline on the electronic exchange of health data under Cross-Border Directive 2011/24/EU.
All interoperability mechanisms and eHealth services are implemented retaining a system with a holistic security enforcement and data security-by-design.
eHealth4U targets to elevate the national eHealth ecosystem of Cyprus, through the enablement of the quadruple helix (Public, Academia, Industry, NGOs) and driven R&D, to derive a prototype of the national integrated EHR system which will safeguard healthcare quality considering interoperability, patient-centered healthcare, citizen-ownership of the EHR, standardization and confidentiality and security.