The European Health Data Space has just been signed and will become effective in two years. It will advance the adoption of international standards to advance healthcare interoperability, to improve healthcare for European citizens and to aggregate data for research and innovation. Data from laboratory systems deliver the basis for diagnostic decisions, help patients manage chronic conditions, and make our healthcare systems more effective and efficient, if it can be delivered where and when it is needed. That’s why interoperability is needed.

In our HL7 Europe “Labs-on-FHIR” webinar series, we were looking at the experience in Sweden on their journey to implement FHIR in laboratory systems, navigating legacy systems and stakeholder engagement, and working in a complex political environment. This follows webinars in 2024 with focus on Belgium, the Netherlands, Portugal and Germany (all slides and recordings can be found at www.hl7.tv).

Featured speaker will be Daniel Karlsson from the Swedish eHealth Agency E-hälsomyndigheten which coordinates the government's e-health initiatives, and Gunnar Nordin from Equalis, a Swedish company that assesses the quality of lab results and manages the NPU terminology system for Swedish laboratories. There will be a panel of experts, and plenty of time for audience Q&A.

Panellists included:

• Sylvia Thun, Charité Hospital Berlin and chair of HL7 Germany
• Jean-Michel Polfliet, eHealth Platform Belgium
• Giorgio Cangioli, HL7 Europe

See also the presentation slides here.

The webinar was facilitated by Michael Strübin, HL7 Europe Communications Advisor.