Benefits of access to electronic health records Rules for facilitating the access to safe and high-quality cross-border healthcare are covered in the GDPR on patients' rights in cross-border healthcare. It sets out directly applicable rules for the processing of the personal data of individuals, including health data. The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) underlines that citizens have the right to access their personal data and provides the legal framework for the protection of personal data. Secure access to health dataĮnabling citizens to securely access and share their health data across borders is one of the priorities of the Communication on enabling the digital transformation of health and care. For example, when consulting a specialist or receiving emergency treatment in another EU country. The electronic health record exchange format will help citizens to quickly access and share their health data with healthcare professionals. It does so by supporting EU countries in their efforts to ensure that citizens can securely access and exchange their health data wherever they are in the EU. The Recommendation on a European electronic health record exchange format seeks to facilitate the cross-border interoperability of electronic health records (EHRs) in the EU.

Patient electronic health records