Coimbra Local Health Unit creates Secure Data Ecosystem

The Coimbra Local Health Unit (ULS Coimbra) is leading the creation of a Secure Health Data Ecosystem. This system, ready to be used by researchers and partners, aims to boost research projects and development of algorithms for artificial intelligence, thus contributing to the integration of the organization in the future European Health Data Space.

At the beginning of 2024, ULS Coimbra began the execution and implementation of several initiatives related to health data, such as the EHDEN Network and the Testing and Experimentation Facilities (TEF Health) and Data Governance and User privacy envisioning projects in the European Health Data Space (GUEHDS), in collaboration with European partners.

Alexandre Lourenço, president of the Board of Directors of ULS Coimbra, highlighted the importance of these projects, highlighting that “these align with ULS Coimbra’s strategic vision of contributing to the Portuguese Health Data Ecosystem and leading the implementation of the future European Space of Health Data”.

ULS Coimbra formally joined the European Health Data and Evidence Network (EHDEN), linked to the European Medicines Agency and the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industry and Associations (EFPIA). In collaboration with the Portuguese company Promptly Health, the organization completed the harmonization of its databases according to a common health data dictionary called OMOP, already adopted by regulatory authorities in Europe, the United States of America and the United Kingdom, as well as by reputable healthcare organizations such as Erasmus MC in the Netherlands, the University of Oxford in England or the Karolinska Institute in Sweden.

“Our active participation in the EHDEN network with the leadership of the Portuguese node, and the development of TEF Health and GUEHDS are examples of our ambition to be an accelerator for the implementation of the European Health Data Space in Portugal”, stated Alexandre Lourenço. “These collaborations put us at the forefront of a global movement to make health data accessible in a secure and privacy-preserving way, building a Secure Data Ecosystem to accelerate research, enhance the development of new therapies, with a view to improving treatments for our community. This is particularly relevant considering the centrality of ULS Coimbra in the research and education ecosystem at national and European level”, he concluded.

These actions mark ULS Coimbra’s first step in implementing its Health Data Ecosystem during the year 2024. The objective is to follow the pioneering model of NHS England with the introduction of Secure Data Environments in the country, providing secure access to sets of harmonized data for the purposes of research and development of solutions and services based on artificial intelligence. This approach will be tested with international projects such as TEF Health and GUEHDS’s TrustChain program, focused on empowering health systems with the data needed to manage 21st century pandemics.