The IDIS Foundation has launched the Private Healthcare Data Space (EDSP), a sectoral platform that represents a turning point in the management, governance, and utilization of health information in Spain, once its development and implementation phases are completed.
According to its promoters, the project, completed within the planned schedule, drives the transition towards a health data model that is more interoperable, robust in terms of security, and oriented towards generating knowledge that contributes to improving research, innovation, and decision-making in the healthcare field.
The EDSP is configured with the aim of articulating a single health data node that allows for the optimization of information produced by private healthcare in Spain, reducing dispersion and enabling hospitals, insurers, laboratories, and other organizations to gradually integrate into the ecosystem by publishing their data catalogs.
The initiative is funded by the European Union through the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan - NextGenerationEU, with the purpose of facilitating its connection with the European Health Data Space.
On the institutional level, the IDIS Foundation has registered with the Ministry the application for the EDSP to be recognized as a "Trustworthy Space," thus reinforcing its position as a reference node for private healthcare in Spain. In parallel, the final project deliverables have been completed and submitted, including reports related to the Patient Summary, the closure of support for participating entities, and the definitive delivery of the platform.
"The Private Healthcare Data Space represents a very significant advance for the entire healthcare system, because it demonstrates the sector's ability to work in a cohesive, secure manner and aligned with the framework of the European Health Data Regulation. With this project, private healthcare takes a step forward in generating useful knowledge for professionals, patients, research, and innovation," says Marta Villanueva, Director General of the IDIS Foundation.
The EDSP has been specifically conceived for the secondary use of health data, that is, its use for research, innovation, planning, and improvement of health policies. The model is based on data sovereignty: the information remains in the source systems and each entity maintains its custody at all times. Through cataloging based on the European standard HealthDCAT-AP, organizations disseminate only metadata—the description of available information—while access to the data only occurs upon authorized request and under strictly controlled conditions.
Along these lines, the platform incorporates a reinforced security scheme: essential and anonymized information is transferred to a Secure Processing Environment, from which only aggregated results can be obtained. With this approach, the EDSP enhances trust, traceability, and governance in data use, while facilitating new avenues for information analysis, boosting medical research, and refining health decision-making.