The European Health Data Space (EHDS) is set to bring a breakthrough in how health information is created, shared, and used. Since March 2025, a transition period has been underway, with legislation, infrastructure, and investments gradually rolling out. What will this mean for patients, doctors, and software developers?
Timeline and new institutions
In March 2025 the regulation was officially published and the transition period began; for the average patient or provider, nothing fundamental changes yet. By March 2027, the so-called implementing acts are to be specified, detailing technical and organizational requirements. Each country is to establish a Digital Health Authority to oversee implementation, including the National Contact Point for “primary” use and a Health Data Access Body for “secondary” use of data. In parallel, certification of EHR systems is being prepared so that they are compatible with the new formats and semantics and connect seamlessly to existing national standards.
Primary vs. secondary use of data
A breakthrough milestone is set for March 2029, when cross-border exchange of key data in the primary domain—such as the patient summary and ePrescription—should launch. A doctor in another EU country should – subject to security and access rules – be able to access clear, well-structured information about a patient without the cumbersome hunt for documentation. Patients will gain free access to their data and the ability to granularly control who sees it and under what conditions; providers, in turn, will have simpler and more controlled access to records across specialties. After 2029, additional types of records are to be added, such as laboratory results, medical imaging, or discharge summaries.
Secondary use concerns large-scale data for research, statistics, and policymaking, which are to be harmonized into common datasets across EU countries. Access to them will take place through Health Data Access Bodies based on standardized requests, with national data catalogs and clear metadata descriptions; in some cases, access may be fee-based. Slovakia is already preparing to connect to the primary component: it has passed pre-production testing and a portal is being created through which it will be possible to securely identify a foreign patient and display their summary or prescription, translated into Slovak (or English). Overall, EHDS is meant to gradually assemble fragmented systems into a functional whole that will speed up care and support high-quality research.
