BC Platforms’ European Health Data Space-Ready Platform to Support EU’s Digital Healthcare Transformation

• Automating hospitals internal health data research queries and provision of secure data access, increasing research productivity today and head-start to fulfil EHDS regulations

• Significantly increasing number of feasibility studies and data release approvals from expected EHDS legislation in force from 2025 to full implementation in 2028 to be supported by Platform

• BC Platforms’ EHDS-Ready TRE provides a hardware-agnostic solution that can be used with both local and national secure data environments - harnessing automation capabilities and AI-based tools

Zurich—5 November 2024—Today, BC Platforms, a global leader in real-world data, healthcare data management, and analytics, announces the launch of its market-leading EHDS-Ready Trusted Research Environment (TRE)*. The technology is designed to specifically support EU healthcare institutions needing to comply with European Health Data Space (EHDS) regulations for primary and secondary patient data within the next two to four to six years. It will harness significant automation capabilities and AI-based tools to meet the anticipated demand for EU data.

The EHDS aims to address the current lack of effective data collection at the EU level. It encompasses a legal framework of rules, common standards and practices, and infrastructures for healthcare data governance and includes real-world data (RWD)**. EHDS implementation is expected to generate €5.5 billion in savings for the EU over ten years through better access and exchange of health data in healthcare. However, enabling EHDS across the entire EU will require a significant investment of time, resources, and technology to enable fast and fair data access and sharing.

BC Platforms’ EHDS-Ready TRE delivers a scalable real-world data platform, offering extended research analytics capabilities within secure research workspaces. It aims to harmonise healthcare data accessibility and standards like the OMOP CDM, FHIR or openEHR.  Importantly, as data from different EU countries is anticipated to be analysed simultaneously, an open communication channel is required between TREs for federated analysis and will be delivered by BC Platforms’ EHDS-Ready solution.

BC Platforms’ Interim CEO Mikaela Bruhammar, said “At BC Platforms, we’re focused on providing key EU-based healthcare institutions, such as University Hospitals, with the significant digital capabilities required to meet the needs of EHDS in a fairly tight timeframe. Secondary data, such as real-world data, also presents a particular opportunity where we have significant expertise. By supporting EHDS compatibility, we are helping ensure that the EU becomes a viably competitive and attractive healthcare data provider in the global market.”

Timo Kanninen, CSO of BC Platforms, said: “With EHDS, the need of the healthcare sector across the EU will be almost exponential in scope. Our initial calculations indicate that, in Finland alone, data queries will increase by approximately 25 times – a substantial increase that will require new solutions. These queries must be logged and assessed, and decisions must be made with relative speed. Working closely with key strategic partners, we are delivering a holistic package that satisfies the needs of most University Hospitals while enabling the highest security measures on a global scale.”

BC Platforms has been deploying its federated data analysis and pioneering TREs since 1997. The Company is keen to discuss any country-specific requirements for EHDS-Ready TREs across the EU. Interested healthcare institutions and potential collaborators and partners are encouraged to reach out to the BC Platforms team at https://www.bcplatforms.com/contact

* ‘Trusted Research Environments’ (TREs), also called 'Secure Data Environments' (SDEs) or 'Secure Processing Environments' (SPEs), are highly secure and controlled computing environments that grant authorized users, particularly researchers, a safe way to access, manage and analyse sensitive data.

* *RWD is data that comes from sources other than from traditional clinical trials.