Europe is setting its sights on the interoperability of electronic health records by 2015. The European Commission on Wednesday issued a recommendation on cross-border interoperability.

The initiative is akin to work under way in the United States to create a nationwide health information network for sharing medical information throughout the country.

In its recommendation, the commission has put forth guidelines with a view to creating a minimum level of steps to ensure that an EHR can cross borders effectively within the EU. These cover emergency data and patient summaries, the sharing of data among different EU healthcare systems based on a limited range of applications already in use, and the building of networks that fulfill required legal, operational and educational aims.

The European Commission places responsibilities on member states that include research, inter-country dialogue, analysis of risks, provision of resources and implementation. It also calls for conformity in testing procedures for EHRs across the European Union.

"Travelling around the European Union is taken for granted until something goes wrong, (which) is why the EU's initiatives on e-health intend to remove linguistic, administrative and technical barriers, by making it easier for people to receive treatment even when they are away from their home country," said Viviane Reding, commissioner for Information Society and Media. "I expect our recommendation to make an important contribution to saving patients' lives in emergencies."

"The benefits of interoperability are clear," said Ilias Iakovidis, deputy head of ICT (Information and Communications Technology) for Health. "There will not be, and should not be, any monopolies within e-health - there are too many players. Industry needs to deal with interoperability as soon as possible."

Iakovidis will address healthcare industry leaders on behalf of the European Commission at the World of Health IT Conference and Exhibition in Copenhagen later this year.