Working on Europe Academy: Real-world health data in the EU

Session 4: Real-world health data in the European Union

Lecturer: Rok Hrzic

Digital transformation of health systems has created vast collections of real-world health data (RWD), including electronic patient records and insurance claims databases. For health researchers and policymakers, RWD promise several advantages: ready availability, low cost, large number of patients and time points included and diversity in patients and settings. For all its promise, using RWD presents a novel set of challenges. As the data collection methods were designed with purposes other than research in mind, the data might be biased, limited in scope or not readily available to researchers. Most past initiatives seeking to support the use of RWD are mostly proof of concept studies and fragmented into confined disease areas and specific settings. The European Commission recently launched the European Health Data Space (EHDS) aiming—among other objectives—to make the re-use of RWD easier. In this presentation, we will examine the emerging landscape of using RWD for health research and policymaking.

Pre-attendance materials:

– European Commission, Directorate-General for Research and Innovation. (2021). Study on the use of real-world data (RWD) for research, clinical care, regulatory decision-making, health technology assessment, and policy-making: final report and recommendations. Publications Office of the European Union.

– The European Health Data Space website.

– van Kessel, R., Wong, B. L. H., Forman, R., Gabrani, J., & Mossialos, E. (2022). The European health data space fails to bridge digital divides. Bmj (Clinical Research Ed.), 378, 071913.

Specific Learning Outcomes:

– Define and use the concept of real-world health data.

– Understand the development and challenges of RWD use in the European Union.

– Become acquainted with the European Health Data Space proposal.

Rok Hrzic is a political epidemiologist at the Department of International Health at Maastricht University and an affiliated doctoral student with the International Max Planck Research School on Population, Health and Data Science. He is a physician by training and holds degrees in epidemiology and in Governance and Leadership in European Public Health from Maastricht University. His work focuses on novel data sources and analysis methods in public health to understand trends in population health and health system performance.

* After attending this lecture students will receive a Certificate of Attendance upon request