Industry X-Net - EHDS Recommendation Group taskforce

The Industry X-Net is a collaborative network of digital health vendors working to provide practical input on the implementation of the European Health Data Space (EHDS). By sharing real-world experience and technical expertise, the group supports a smooth and effective rollout of the EHDS across Europe, ensuring that the regulation remains workable and meaningful in practice.

The group brings together industry stakeholders (initially involved in the XpanDH project) to exchange insights, align on strategies, and contribute to the advancement of digital health interoperability. Operating under the umbrella of IHE-Europe Taskforces, the Industry X-Net benefits from strategic guidance, access to IHE-Europe resources, and strong links with the broader health IT ecosystem.

👥Target audience: European Commission, Xt-EHR, specification working groups, national eHealth architects, industry leaders, and the MyHealth@EU Subgroup on Technical Interoperability.

📌Key Recommendations

The taskforce has issued three practical recommendations to guide the implementation of the EHDS:

• The need for use-case driven guidance on how different categories of digital health products shall interpret the requirements to implement the harmonized components or the claim for interoperability with “EHR systems”: This document outlines some of the challenges manufacturers face due to the EHDS
  regulation's broad definition of EHR systems, which insufficiently considers the practical realities and diversity of digital health infrastructures ́ setup. It emphasizes the need for a collaborative effort between the industry and the Joint Action Xt-EHR to develop guidance documents that offer clear interpretations for different categories of digital health products. Such collaboration is essential to ensure a smooth and successful implementation of the EHDS.

• Scaling Testing for EHDS Interoperability: Testing plays a central role in ensuring that products meet EHDS requirements. Leveraging existing and mature testing frameworks, such as those used within MyHealth@EU, vendors can validate interoperability, refine solutions, and prepare for deployment across diverse jurisdictions. Through structured phases like IHE Plugathons, IHE Connectathons, and Projectathons, the process ensures readiness and compliance, with tools and test plans evolving to meet industry needs and
  support future self-certification.

• Separation of exchanged content and transport transactions in a simplified interoperability architecture for EHDS: This document outlines a simple but effective interoperability architecture that would effectively sustain the objectives of EHDS. The large scale sub-architecture is further refined and its benefits outlined. It relies on the more than 15 years of ehealth deployment experience by the X-Net Industry team members of large and small vendors assembled by the XpanDH EU funded project.

These recommendations are rooted in real-world industry experience and support a smoother path to EHDS adoption.

📅 Where to meet the Industry X-Net in the next 6 months:

🤝Participation

Participation in the Industry X-Net is open to industry stakeholders actively involved in digital health, interoperability, and related fields. Interested parties can join by expressing their interest sending an email to sofia.franconi@ihe-europe.net

Member organisations