DIGIOP

There is a need for research at the intersection of digital health applications and electronic patient records. The DIGIOP project addresses these unresolved issues around digital health applications and interoperability. Previous projects have already shed light on essential aspects of the digital health applications topic, but important questions around interoperability are still open. For a future interoperable telematics infrastructure in the healthcare sector, the specific requirements and particularities for newly emerging digital health applications must be taken into account.

Within the DIGIOP project, the regulatory and technical prerequisites of tomorrow's patient-centric and digitally-supported medical care are to be discussed and contoured. The focus is on digital health applications and their efficient connection to existing and future digital care offerings (e.g. electronic patient record, electronic prescription). The project aims to reflect on the status quo, discuss potentials for the future of digital care, and derive which technical and regulatory requirements are best suited to achieve the legislative goal of user-friendly, future-open, and patient-centric digital care. In addition to taking stock of digital health applications, the kick-off workshop will primarily discuss which questions need to be answered in the implementation or further development of the existing regulatory framework, and in the design of interoperability requirements, in further expert rounds.

The project is intended to facilitate the implementation of legal interoperability requirements for digital health application manufacturers, with an orientation that is open to the future. Only in this way will digital health applications not stand in isolation from other care offerings in the future, but be able to connect to existing and new care chains.

Planned workshops within the framework of the project with invited experts:

• Workshop 1 - Kick-off event
• Workshop 2 - Standards / Medical Information Objects for digital health applications
• Workshop 3 - Intersection of digital health applications and electronic patient record
• Workshop 4 - Intersection of digital health applications and devices
• Workshop 5 - Intersection of devices/implants and digital health applications as well as telemonitoring applications
• Workshop 6 - Closing event

The kick-off workshop will take place on November 11, 2021 at the Einstein Center Digital Future in Berlin. Invited guests will interact with representatives of the Federal Ministry of Health, relevant authorities and institutions, and other experts to share their perspectives on digital care. The planned project duration is October 1, 2021 to April 30, 2022.

The DIGIOP project was officially conclued with the closing event on April 28th, 2022 at the Einstein Center Digital Future where a report was handed over to the Federal Ministry of Health Germany.

The central recommendations are:

1. Eliminate the digital coordination vacuum - establish digital therapeutics (DTx) as an integral component in the care process.
2. Establish the electronic patient record (EPR) as a future-oriented hub within care.
3. Break through DTx data hubs in consolidation. Make data based care research and real world evidence research possible.
4. Usability and user experience are key components and patient oriented interoperability the central maxime in a digitalized healthcare network.

You may find the live recording from the final panel discussion, April 28th, 2022 here: