Advancing Patient Record Safety and EHR Semantic Interoperability

Electronic Health Records (EHRs) contain an increasing wealth of medical information, which has the potential to significantly advance medical research and health policies formulation, providing society with additional benefits within a global health perspective. However, the European healthcare information space is fragmented due to the lack of legal and technical standards, cost effective platforms, and sustainable business models. Providing an interoperability infrastructure for EHRs is on the agenda of many regional, and international eHealth initiatives. The semantic interoperability of patient data between EHRs and medical research can transform today's process of drug discovery and development, enable faster access to effective new medications, provide improved patient outcomes, and provide a key foundation for targeted (personalized) medicines. The scope of the current paper is the description of the effort undertaken by the Linked2Safety consortium towards the development of an innovative interoperability framework, for the efficient, homogenized access to and the effective utilization of the increasing wealth of medical information contained in the EHR systems deployed and maintained at regional and/or national level across Europe.