How to Tackle Legal Barriers That Threaten A Successful Implementation of eHealth Technologies?

Background: Over the years, many eHealth technologies have been developed and implemented that support patients and healthcare professionals in addition to traditional treatment. Due to increased knowledge and technical options, the possibilities of (automation of) data exchange also increased, and more and more patient-doctor relationships are taking place via technology. We therefore see a transition from the development of eHealth tools for specific purposes, to the development of “Digital Health Environments”, which automatically connect the stakeholders and data involved. Within the eHealth Junior Consortium, we aim to develop such a digital health environment for chronical ill children. This environment will integrate several scientifically validated eHealth tools that provide personalized and
transdiagnostic prevention. There are many possibilities and advantages offered by (automatic) sharing of data between eHealth tools, connected ICT systems (e.g., EPD), and the children, parents and other stakeholders involved. However, legal challenges also arise in the implementation of such environments
with regard to guaranteeing privacy as well as medical ethical discussions.

Goals: The aim of this workshop is to identify and validate barriers and success factors related to legal aspects of implementation of eHealth technologies, and to identify how we could overcome these legal barriers. We will discuss results from a previous literature review with the participants, exchange
experiences in legal issues that occurred in participants’ own (clinical and scientific) field, and brainstorm about how we could tackle or prevent these issues.

Content and (interactive) activities: In a previous literature review (included both peer reviewed as grey literature), we identified several barriers and success factors related to the legal aspects of
implementation of eHealth. During the workshop, we will present the results of this review as input for a discussion on the findings that are uncertain or raise questions (e.g., issues in data
privacy/transparency/responsibility). We will ask participants to share their opinions and experiences with these issues (or related ones) within their daily practice/research. We cooperate with the Stimulate Healthcare Technology Program and TechMed Centre, and we will invite legal experts from our consortium (eHealth Junior) to join the workshop and support us with their knowledge. The workshop will consist of a short presentation followed by an interactive group discussion and brainstorm session. We will create a mindmap during the workshop to provide an overview of all discussed legal topics, and how these relate to each other. Our target audience are researchers, healthcare professionals and policy makers, working with health technologies.

Expertise of workshop leader(s): Our research team has a lot of expertise in organizing and conducting stakeholder workshops. The workshop will be moderated by two persons from our team and one person will keep track of the mentioned points in a mindmap, during the discussion/brainstorm session, to provide an overview. We will also strength forces by collaborating with the Stimulate Healthcare Technology Program, TechMed Centre, and experts from the legal field (partners from eHealth Junior
Consortium), to support us during the brainstorm and discussion sessions. These experts also participated in earlier workshops of our consortium and bring valuable knowledge on the legal aspects of implementation of eHealth from own experiences.