2.G. Round table: Member States’ Health Information Systems: State-of-play and best practices
Authors:   Organised by: PHIRI, TEHDAS, EU HIP, Sciensano (Belgium), EUPHA-PHMR, WHO,   Chair persons: Nienke Schutte (Belgium), Neville Calleja (Malta)
Published: October 2023

Health Information Systems (HIS) are at the basis of the generation of knowledge for improving the health and well-being of the population. The COVID-19 pandemic put health systems under enormous pressure and forced them to quickly adapt to the changing conditions while continuing to deliver essential health services, highlighting the importance of robust data flows to inform appropriate policy responses. To be better prepared for future health treats, countries can learn important lessons from the COVID-19 crisis and strengthen their own health information systems. At European level, the Health Emergency and Preparedness Response Authority (HERA) and the European Health Data Space (EHDS) are key components of the European Health Union, which aims to improve the resilience of the health systems. Assessments of health information systems allows identification of strengths and weaknesses. To assess HISs in Europe in different contexts, mapping exercises are conducted across three different European projects: the Population Health Information Research Infrastructure (PHIRI), the Joint Action Towards the European Health Data Space (TEHDAS), and the European Interoperability with the HERA IT Platform (EU-HIP) project. The three mapping exercises focus on different aspects of national health information systems. The assessments also create opportunities for engagement and knowledge exchange with national stakeholders and authorities, to learn from the experiences that were gained during the assessments and contribute to capacity building across Europe. The mapping exercises were all based on the “Support tool to strengthen health information systems: guidance for health information system assessment and strategy development” developed by the WHO, to ensure consistency, comparability, and alignment with best practice. PHIRI conducted assessments to map the HIS that monitor the effects of COVID-19 on population health in 8 European countries. Concurrently, TEHDAS conducted 12 country visits to map the state-of-play of health data management systems and their preparedness to join the European Health Data Space (EHDS), one of the key components of the European Health Union. The EU-HIP project will map countries’ interoperability with the upcoming HERA IT Platform, focusing on data flows for intelligence gathering and threat assessment for health emergency preparedness in relation to medical countermeasures. Throughout the session, the exchange of knowledge, experiences and opinions with the audience will be fostered by the moderator and by using Slido to allow the attendees to interact as much as possible with the panelists. This will ensure key messages will be assimilated by the participants. After a presentation from each of the project on the main findings of the assessments, the panelists will discuss key aspects related to the resilience of health systems and the next steps for ensuring stronger health systems across Europe.

Key messages

• Resilient HIS have the capacity to prepare, absorb, recover, and learn from experience. Robust data flows are key to resilience, both within countries and in cross-border European initiatives.

• Structured assessments of health information systems can identify strengths and weakness to be addressed to improve the resilience of the health information system.