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 Plan:
- 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 organizational 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.
It also lists the members of the HL7 International Board of Directors and the members of the Board of HL7 Europe.
Latest Operational Guidelines and Decision Making.
HL7 Europe Board of Directors
The HL7 Europe Board of Directors has a strategic and fiduciary role, and its 13 members meet online 3-4 times a year online, typically for 90 minutes. A two-day in-person retreat may be planned as well. Members strive for consensus building, and decisions are based on quorum and simple majority, where each member holds one vote.
The Executive team of HL7 International appoints 5 members to the HL7 Europe Board of Directors. These include the CEO and the Executive Administrative Director of HL7 International, who are also part of the Executive Committee of HL7 Europe, along with the Secretary General and Technical Lead. Three members of the HL7 Europe Board of Directors are elected by the chairs of European HL7 Affiliates in good standing for a 2-year term, renewable once. The 3 remaining members appointed by the Secretary General for a 2-year term, renewable once.
The Chairs of HL7 Affiliates established in the European region that are in good standing or their proxies sit on the European Advisory Council (EAC), which advises the HL7 Europe board on matters related to policy and local conditions. They meet with members of the executive committee as needed.
On January 15, 2024, the HL7 Europe Board met with the EAC in person at the 1st HL7 Europe WGM and FHIR Marathon in Athens, Greece. The meeting was successful, and we hope to repeat it annually.
The technical coordination team (TNT) comprises up to 2 experts from each active European HL7 affiliate. The Technical lead of HL7 Europe chairs the meeting.
Leadership
Executive committee
Catherine Chronaki
Secretary General
Giorgio Cangioli
Technical Lead
Charles Jaffe
HL7 International
Karen Van Hentenryck
HL7 International
governance
Board Members
- Bente Cecilie By Jansen, Cand.Pharm (NO)
- Tapani Piha, MD (FI)
- Stefano Dalmiani,MSc, CS, CDO (IT)
- Catherine Chronaki, MSc, FHL7, FIAHSI, Secretary General, Admin Delegated (GR)*
- Giorgio Cangioli, PhD, Technical Lead (IT)*
- João Almeida, PhD, HL7 Portugal (PT) – Secretary of the Board of Directors
- Roman Radomski, MD, MDA, HL7 Poland (PL) – Treasurer
- Jan-Eric Slot, CIP, MD, MBA, MSc, HL7 NL (NL) – Chairman of the Board of Directors
- Julia Skapik, MD, MPH, USA, HL7 International (US)
- W. Edward Hammond, PhD, FHL7, USA, HL7 International (US)
- Andrew Truscott, FHL7, HL7 International (UK)
- Charles Jaffe, MD, PhD, FHL7, CEO, HL7 International (US)*
- Karen Van Hentenryck, Ex Admin Director, HL7 International (US)*
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
Nicolas Riss
HL7 France
Yohan Poiron
HL7 France
Christof Gessner
HL7 Germany
Kai Heitmann
HL7 Germany
Gabriel Kleinoscheg
HL7 Austria
Nikos Kyriakoulakos
HL7 Greece
Reihard Egelkraut
HL7 Austria
Hynek Kružík
HL7 Czech Republic
Rik Smithies
HL7 United Kingdom
Leonardo Alcaro
HL7 Italy
Jose Costa-Teixeira
HL7 Belgium
Roman Radomski
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
Michaela Ziegler
HL7 Switzerland
Rutt Lindström
HL7 EUrope
Sebastian Bojanowski
HL7 Poland
Michael Jensen
HL7 Denmark
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 | Andrei Vasilateanu |
| 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 |