Exchange of health data across borders gets a boost from the Commission

The European Commission has announced the publication of a roadmap where it presents a Recommendation to establish a Format for a European Electronic Health Record (EHR) Exchange. 

This Recommendation follows a 2017 public consultation which revealed that all stakeholders believe that the lack of interoperability between the Electronic Health records is a great obstacle to seamless access to health data. Civil society, professional groups, trade bodies and researchers are welcome to give their input to the Commission’s roadmap until December 20.

According to the document, the Recommendation which may come into force early next year, will most likely cover aspects such as:

• Inviting Member States to put in place strategies and where needed adapt their legislative framework to promote secure access, including cross-border, to their Electronic Health Records;

• Recommendations to Member States regarding the adoption and further evolution of common technical specifications (including established protocols and data formats) for a European Electronic Health Record exchange format enabling cross-border access to health data;

• Proposing a way of working between Member States, relevant stakeholders and the European Commission to continuously improve and develop specifications and standards, implement the exchange format for Electronic Health Record and monitor uptake across the EU.

ECDC attributed 33000 deaths per year due to infections with antibiotic-resistant bacteria

A study published by the Lancet with data from the European Center for Disease Control (ECDC) has reached the conclusion that infections caused by antibiotic-resistant bacteria were responsible for 33.110 deaths in the European Union and European Economic Area in 2015. These estimates are based on data from the European Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance Network (EARS-Net) data from 2015.

The worst performing countries when it comes to the burden of infections with antibiotic-resistant bacteria are Italy, Greece, Romania, Portugal and Cyprus. The countries scoring higher on this matter are Iceland, Estonia, Norway, Finland and Sweden.

Antimicrobial resistance is a serious threat to public health and preventive action is paramount to tackle this major issue. Moreover, the increasing incidence of infections is yet another hazard for the many impaired healthcare systems across the EU. Moreover, the study assesses that the estimated deaths are a direct consequence of an infection due to bacteria resistant to antibiotics and that the burden of these infections is comparable to that of influenza, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS combined. It also describes that 75% of the burden of disease is due to healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) and other healthcare settings. Possible solutions suggested by the study range from reducing infectious-diseases through adequate infection prevention and control measures as well as antibiotic stewardship.

The authors said: “the estimated burden of infections with antibiotic-resistant bacteria in the EU/EEA is substantial compared to that of other infectious diseases, and increased since 2007. Strategies to prevent and control antibiotic-resistant bacteria require coordination at EU/EEA and global level. However, our study showed that the contribution of various antibiotic-resistant bacteria to the overall burden varies greatly between countries, thus highlighting the need for prevention and control strategies tailored to the need of each EU/EEA country”.

Finally, the study reveals that 39% of the burden is caused by infections with bacteria resistant to last-line antibiotics such as carbapenems and colistin. This represents an increase from 2007 and is alarming because there are no more antibiotics available besides these that seem to start being ineffective.

The results of this study are also used by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development to estimate the economic burden of antibiotic resistance.