Digital Health: A new centralized unit to strengthen innovation in healthcare services

Yesterday, at the first innovation conference held by the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Innovation, Minister of Health Alma D. Möller announced the decision to establish a new central development and service center for the entire healthcare system under the name Digital Health (Stafræn heilsa). Its role will be to coordinate all digital projects, support innovation—including the involvement of private entities—and ensure oversight. Simultaneously, measures will be taken to strengthen the governance and management of digital healthcare services.

Digital Health will, among other things, take over projects previously managed by Landspítali, the Directorate of Health, the Development Center for Icelandic Healthcare Services, the Ministry of Health, and other entities. While the specific projects being transferred are currently being defined, the initial focus will be on innovation, standards, information security, and medical record infrastructure. A task of Digital Health will also be to compile and prioritize the most urgent challenges to meet patient needs and service requirements, and to communicate these to the innovation community.

Digital Health will begin operations at the start of next year and is part of a purposeful strengthening of infrastructure and clearer management of digital solutions within the healthcare system. The project is based, in part, on the results of a detailed analysis of the status of digital solutions in Icelandic healthcare, which the Ministry of Health undertook this year in collaboration with numerous parties, institutions, and other stakeholders. The results of that analysis were published last September, presenting proposals aimed at clearer prioritization and continuity of service, increased access to data, and shared infrastructure to ensure efficient and secure operations. The analysis and the resulting proposals are intended to serve as a roadmap for future policy.

Stronger Framework and Management of Digital Healthcare

Part of the upcoming changes involves strengthening the governance and management of digital healthcare services. A strategic group will be established within the Ministry of Health, under which groups will be formed to address four main streams of digital projects. These are:

• Clinical Professional Group

• Professional Group on Information Security and Risk Management

• Technical Advisory Board

• Professional Group on Data and Quality

The ideology and objectives behind this structure aim to ensure clear data management and the separation of data from systems to ensure flexibility and future security. The use of a new data standard (OpenEHR) is being evaluated for this purpose. Earlier this year, the definition of the FHIR standard for data exchange was completed; these standards will simplify integration with new solutions.

Security Classification of Health Data for Cloud Solutions

A primary prerequisite for digital development in the healthcare system is a clear definition of the security classification of health data. Some time ago, the public sector defined a security classification for data within state administration. There has been some uncertainty regarding how this applies to health data. A steering committee on digital solutions, operating under the Ministry of Health, examined this issue. Based on that work, the Ministry of Health has decided to classify health data as either "protected data" (varin gögn) or, in specific cases, "specially protected data" (sérvarin gögn). In both cases, it is clear that health data may be stored in the cloud, and the new unit, Digital Health, will serve an advisory role in this regard.