by Clemens Martin Auer, Director General of the Austrian Ministry of Health and Coordinator of the Joint Action supporting the eHealth Network

2016 has proven to be a good year for cross-border cooperation on eHealth: 20 Member States took part in the first wave of the Connecting Europe Facility to apply for funding to help establish eHealth National Contact Points. These contact points provide the infrastructure that guarantees a secure exchange of health information across borders. A long period of preparation, with the pilot project epSOS paving the way, has borne fruit and turned a dream into reality: patient summaries and electronic prescriptions for European citizens can easily be transferred from one country to another, in strict accordance with data protection regulations.

Preparing for these Connecting Europe Facility applications have brought Member States a good deal closer together and have brought them closer to the European Commission as well. In fact, this close cooperation resulted in nearly identical applications being submitted.  The operational level of eHealth networks and JASeHN as a supportive joint action has more than proven its worth, and this exceptional level of cooperation will continue in the practical implementation phase. Appropriate implementation guidelines and framework agreements have already been made or are just about to be finalised.

This is a great success, resulting from close and trustworthy collaboration. And it's entirely thanks to the dozens of colleagues in the Member States and in the European Commission who went the extra mile to make the impossible possible. They have my gratitude and deserve a round of applause!