HL7 Europe is a not-for-profit Foundation established in Brussels in 2010 with the aim to address European standardisation requirements in digital health serving as the European office of HL7 International. The mission of HL7 Europe is to provide standards that empower global health data interoperability to realise its vision of a world in which everyone can securely access and use the right health data when and where they need it. It works in close cooperation with 22 national HL7 Affiliates across Europe and supports the creation of health information technology standards that are widely and easily used enabling interoperability in healthcare.
Specific objectives in collaboration with European Affiliates are:
- to promote and encourage the use of HL7 frameworks and protocol specifications that serve the needs of the European community by health systems and service providers.
- to provide education services, promote tools and facilitate testing and certification.
- to enable high quality, cost-effective use of information systems in the widest variety of health and healthcare related environments.
HL7 encompasses the complete life cycle of a standards specification including the development, adoption, market recognition, utilisation, and adherence.
Notable and broadly adopted HL7 standards are HL7 Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) and HL7 Clinical Document Architecture (CDA).
HL7 has more than 40 Working Groups (WGs) developing HL7 standards, many of which involve clinical content. HL7 supports standards development and implementation with professional certification on each of the key standards families.
Recently, HL7 Europe has experienced significant growth and expects to grow further with the demands of the European Health Data Space (EHDS) and Europeans Electronic Health Record Exchange Format (EEHRxF) to develop and support specifications in the context of European Commission co-funded projects.
HL7 Europe is partner of different European Projects related to the management of clinical data on Cancer for primary and secondary data reuse.
Mission
Our mission, vision and Gender Equality Plan
MISSION
To provide standards that empower global health data interoperability
Vision
A world in which everyone can securely access and use the right health data when and where they need it.
GENDER EQUALITY PLAN
Gender equality is central to HL7 Europe’s organizational culture.
Focus and Vision:
- Workforce Participation
- Policy, Program, and Services
- Communication and Engagement
The HL7 Europe Foundation has created a detailed plan.
Organisation
The following figure shows the current organisational chart of HL7 Europe, showing the connections between the HL7 International Board of Directors, the HL7 Europe Board of Directors, the Technical Coordination Team, and the European Advisory Council.
Leadership
Executive committee
Catherine Chronaki
Secretary General
Giorgio Cangioli
Technical Lead
Charles Jaffe
HL7 International
Karen Van Hentenryck
HL7 International
governance
Board Members
- Anne Moen, Chair, Norway
- Robert Stegwee, Treasurer, Netherlands
- Henrique Martins, Secretary, Portugal
- Catherine Chronaki, Secretary General, Admin Delegated, Greece*
- Giorgio Cangioli, Technical Lead, Italy (EC)*
- Roeland Luykx, EAC, Switzerland
- Jens Christian Villadsen, EAC, Denmark
- Line Saele, EAC, Norway
- Julia Skapik, MD, MPH, USA, HL7 International
- W. Edward Hammond, PhD, FHL7, USA, HL7 International
- Andrew Truscott, FHL7, HL7 International, UK
- Charles Jaffe, MD, PhD, FHL7, CEO, HL7 International, USA (EC)*
- Karen Van Hentenryck, Ex Admin Director, HL7 International, USA (EC)*
The four Board members marked by (*) form the HL7 Europe Executive Committee.
governance
European Technical CoordiNation Team (TNT)
TNT aims to support the HL7 Europe goals by:
- Facilitate the Technical collaboration among affiliates and experts
- Promote the Capacity building
- Develop European Artefacts
Giorgio Cangioli
HL7 Europe
Jens Villadsen
HL7 Denmark
Francois Maçary
HL7 France
Nicolas Riss
HL7 France
Christof Gessner
HL7 Germany
Kai Heitmann
HL7 Germany
Gabriel Kleinoscheg
HL7 Austria
Alexander Berler
HL7 Greece
Alexander Mense
HL7 Austria
Hynek Kružík
HL7 Czech Republic
Rik Smithies
HL7 United Kingdom
Leonardo Alcaro
HL7 Italy
Jose Costa-Teixeira
HL7 Belgium
Sebastian Bojanowski
HL7 Poland
Øyvind Aassve
HL7 Norway
João Almeida
HL7 Portugal
Oliver Egger
HL7 Switzerland
Alexander Henket
HL7 Nederland
Daniel Karlsson
HL7 Sweden
Mikael Rinnetmäki
HL7 Finland
Rutt Lindström
HL7 Estonia (observer)
governance
European Advisory Council
The Chairs of the European Affiliate Members of HL7 International, or their designated representatives, comprise the European Strategic Advisory Board.
| HL7 Affiliate Member | Chair |
|---|---|
| HL7 Austria | Stefan Sabutsch |
| HL7 Belgium | José Costa Teixeira |
| HL7 Bosnia and Herzegovina | (Lapsed Member) |
| HL7 Croatia | Miroslav Koncar |
| HL7 Czech Republic | Karel Zvara |
| HL7 Denmark | Thea Mentz Soerensen |
| HL7 Finland | Jari Porrasmaa |
| HL7 France | Nicolas Riss |
| HL7 Germany | Silvia Thun |
| HL7 Greece | Panagiotis Bamidis |
| HL7 Italy | Stefano Lotti |
| HL7 Netherlands | Jan-Eric Slot |
| HL7 Norway | Line Saele |
| HL7 Poland | Roman Radomski |
| HL7 Portugal | João Almeida |
| HL7 Romania | Florica Moldoveanu |
| HL7 Russia | Sergey Shvyrev |
| HL7 Slovakia | Eva Sabajova |
| HL7 Slovenia | Brane Leskosek |
| HL7 Spain | Francisco Perez |
| HL7 Sweden | Bjorn-Erik Erlandsson |
| HL7 Switzerland | Roeland Luykx |
| HL7 UK | Ben McAlister |
| HL7 Ukraine | Leonid Stoyanov |