Digital Health (DH) Convener

We plan to develop a person-centered open-platform that provides “security and interoperability as a service” to extend EHR with PGHD for primary and secondary use of health data. The platform will adopt health data governance principles and European Health Data Space (EHDS) frameworks.

The DH-Convener platform will support data collection, organization, and interoperability in compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), through the following modules:

• Data collector module: collects and organizes data from personal health apps.
• Data securer module: conforms to the GDPR compliance requirements in data privacy and security.
• Data integrator module: establishes interoperable health data exchanges between mHealth collected data and EHR, using healthcare standards and interoperability frameworks, namely Health Level 7 (HL7), Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise (IHE), and Continua guidelines for personal health systems interoperability.
• Data connector module: monitors and foresees local and global epidemiological trends through sharing statistics with World Health Organization (WHO) blockchain-based platform (MiPasa).

Accordingly, the DH-Convener not only tackles the state-of-the-art in mHealth technology for precision medicine, but also it aims to build the ecosystem for connected digital health within EHDS.

The DH-Convener concept won the Austrian BMK ministry Nexus Digital Health Innovation challenge to organize health data for Austria’s future national health system (May 2020).

To realize the DH-Convener initiative, we carry out the following activities:

Technically:

• Introducing the DH-Convener concept to the HL7-international workgroup of patient empowerment. Currently, we create the DH-Convener use case as a part of the HL7 whitepaper on patient-contributed data.
• Creating synergy with similar EU projects. We are an associated collaborator of the EU Health Outcomes Observatory (H2O) project.
• Developing a toolkit for GDPR implementation and compliance in digital health.
• Analyzing and comparing the different data sharing models and platforms across Europe.
• Collaborating with Edenlab and Fitrockr in developing the PGHD FHIR server and providing tools for PGHD harmonization, interoperability, and FAIRfication (Findability, Accessibility, Interoperability, and Reusability) for the secondary use of data in research and innovation.
• Investigating and developing the PGHD mappers with our collaborators, FH JOANNEUM, FH Technikum Wien, Medical University of Vienna, and Medical University of Graz.

Strategically (adopting Open Innovation in Science and roadmapping techniques):

• Establishing national and European partnerships for developing the DH-Convener open platform through the upcoming EU funding scheme.
• Linking and harmonizing our efforts with European and global health organizations, e.g., the WHO, International Medical Informatics Association (IMIA), the European Federation for Medical Informatics (EFMI), ECHAlliance, and others.
• Adopting EU frameworks and recommendations created by EU projects, e.g., TEHDAS, Digital Health Europe, EHDEN, etc.
• Conducting co-creation workshops with patients and stakeholders on health data democratization, and patients empowerment and engagement.
• Participation in the DAYONE workshops to create future health data scenarios in Europe. We launched an interactive toolkit for these scenarios and a questionnaire on how to apply them within EHDS. We presented this toolkit at the Medical Informatics in Europe conference (MIE 2022).
• Participation in the European Institute of Innovation & Technology (EIT) Health round tables for EHDS implementation in Austria. More info: EIT Health Austria report: The path to the European Health Data Space in Austria (Opportunities, challenges, approaches) https://eithealth.eu/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Der-Weg-zum-EHDS-in-Osterreich-EIT-Health-Austria-Report-v1.0.pdf

Thus, the DH-Convener participates in paving the way for self-care in Europe as a key component of personalized medicine.

For more information see this publication

DH-Convener is selected as finalist of the X-eHealth Interoperability Award 2022!

Related Publications:

• HL7 Patient Empowerment Workgroup. Patient Contributed Data (PCD) White Paper [Internet]. 2022. Available from: http://www.hl7.org/documentcenter/public/ballots/2022SEP/downloads/HL7_PCD_R1_I1_2022SEP.pdf
• Abedian S, Taucher C, Perscha S, Djuris M, Hussein R, Hanke S. An In-Depth Exploration of Mapping openEHR and PGHD: A Case Study on Fitbit-Generated Data. Stud Health Technol Inform. 2024 Aug 22;316:437-441. doi: 10.3233/SHTI240442. PMID: 39176771.
• Jathissa P, Rohatsch L, Sauermann S, Hussein R. OMOP-on-FHIR: A FHIR Server Development to Facilitate Data Interaction with the OMOP-CDM and FHIR for PGHD. Stud Health Technol Inform. 2024 Aug 22;316:157-158. doi: 10.3233/SHTI240367. PMID: 39176696.
• Katsch F, Hussein R, Duftschmid G. Converting Entity-Attribute-Value Data Sources to OMOP’s CDM: Lessons Learned. Stud Health Technol Inform. 2024 Aug 22;316:356-357. doi: 10.3233/SHTI240419. PMID: 39176749.
• Hussein R, Scherdel L, Nicolet F, Martin-Sanchez F. Towards the European Health Data Space (EHDS) ecosystem: A survey research on future health data scenarios. International Journal of Medical Informatics. 2023 Feb 1;170:104949.
• Hussein R, Sareban M, Treff G, Niebauer J. Roadmap for Aligning Cardiovascular Digital Health in Austria with the European Health Data Space (EHDS) Ecosystem. Stud Health Technol Inform. 2023 Oct 20;309:101-105. doi: 10.3233/SHTI230750. PMID: 37869816.
• Hussein R, Stainer-Hochgatterer A, Niebauer J, Palfinger T, Kaisler R. Health Data Democratization in Austria: Patients’ Perspective. Stud Health Technol Inform. 2023 Jun 29;305:18-19. doi: 10.3233/SHTI230412. PMID: 37386946.
• Falkenhein I, Bernhardt B, Gradwohl S, Brandl M, Hussein R, Hanke S. Wearable Device Health Data Mapping to Open mHealth and FHIR Data Formats. Stud Health Technol Inform. 2023 Jun 29;305:341-344. doi: 10.3233/SHTI230500. PMID: 37387034.
• Jayathissa P, Sareban M, Niebauer J, Hussein R. Patient-Generated Health Data Interoperability Through Master Patient Index: The DH-Convener Approach. Stud Health Technol Inform. 2023 Jun 29;305:20-23. doi: 10.3233/SHTI230413. PMID: 37386947.
• Hussein R, Pichon A, Oldenburg J, Sareban M, Niebauer J. Can Patient Contributed Data (PCD) Leverage Connected Health Technology for Cardiac Rehabilitation in Austria? Stud Health Technol Inform. 2023 May 18;302:8-12. doi: 10.3233/SHTI230054. PMID: 37203599.
• Katsch F, Hussein R, Korntheuer R, Duftschmid G. Converting HL7 CDA Based Nationwide Austrian Medication Data to OMOP CDM. Stud Health Technol Inform. 2023 May 18;302:899-900. doi: 10.3233/SHTI230300. PMID: 37203528
• Khaled M, Sareban M, Kreuzthaler M, Schulz S, Hussein R. Overview of Existing Tools for Extracting Health and Fitness Data from mHealth Apps. Stud Health Technol Inform. 2022 Jun 29;295:49-50. doi: 10.3233/SHTI220657. PMID: 35773803.
• Hussein R, Wurhofer D, Strumegger EM, Stainer-Hochgatterer A, Kulnik ST, Crutzen R, Niebauer J. General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Toolkit for Digital Health. Stud Health Technol Inform. 2022 Jun 6;290:222-226. doi: 10.3233/SHTI220066. PMID: 35673005.
• Katsch F, Hussein R, Sabutsch S, Prenner H, Prasser F, Stamm T, Duftschmid G. Extending the Austrian National EHR System with Patient-Reported Outcome Data. Stud Health Technol Inform. 2022 May 25;294:561-562. doi: 10.3233/SHTI220523. PMID: 35612144.
• Hussein R, Crutzen R, Gutenberg J, Kulnik ST, Sareban M, Niebauer J. Patient-Generated Health Data (PGHD) Interoperability: An Integrative Perspective. Stud Health Technol Inform. 2021 May 27;281:228-232. doi: 10.3233/SHTI210154. PMID: 34042739.