---
title: 'Portugal: Centralizing Digital Health Decision Making and Solution Design'
type: 'episode'
url: 'https://doc.social/episodes/portugal-centralizing-digital-health-decision-making-and-solution-design'
show: 'Faces of Digital Health'
show_url: 'https://doc.social/podcasts/faces-of-digital-health'
published: '2024-09-05'
audio: 'https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.megaphone.fm/DHT2688915688.mp3?updated=1725600394'
---

# Portugal: Centralizing Digital Health Decision Making and Solution Design

## Summary

This episode gives an in-depth insight into healthcare digitalization in Portugal. Cátia Sousa Pinto, Head of Global Digital Health and International Affairs at SPMS - shared services of ministry of health of Portugal talked about healthcare digitalization in Portugal, European Health Data Space (EHDS), patient data and more.

### Key Points Summary

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**Portugal's Digital Health System Design**: To accelerate digital health development, Portugal created a national eHealth agency (SPMS) over a decade ago.

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**SPMS Role**: SPMS plays a dual role, not only regulating but also developing and maintaining ICT solutions for Portugal's healthcare system. This centralization helps prevent fragmentation and ensures interoperability.

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**European Health Data Space (EHDS)**: EHDS is the EU's regulatory framework for cross-border health data sharing, building on initiatives like MyHealth@EU. The goal is to allow seamless healthcare across Europe, where any EU citizen can access healthcare in other countries as if they were at home.

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**My Health at EU**: A foundational initiative that enables cross-border exchange of health data like patient summaries and e-prescriptions between EU countries.

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**Patient Data**: Catia emphasized the importance of patients controlling their health data and being able to share it across healthcare providers. This includes e-prescriptions, laboratory results, and, eventually, medical images.

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**Portugal's National Electronic Health Record**: A key project for the country is the creation of a unified electronic health record system, allowing citizens to access all of their health data, both public and private, from a single source.

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**Use of EU Funding**: Portugal has allocated €300 million from the EU's recovery funds for digital health transformation, focusing on infrastructure, citizen-centric services, and reducing the burden on healthcare professionals.

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**Challenges and Future Outlook**: The integration of digital health into national governance and improving interoperability between systems remain ongoing challenges. Katia stressed the importance of moving towards real-time, structured health data to improve future healthcare outcomes.

www.facesofdigitalhealth.com

Newsletter: https://fodh.substack.com/

Show notes:

[00:02:00] - Overview of Digital Health in Portugal

[00:06:00] - National-Level Initiatives and Successes

[00:10:00] - European Health Data Space (EHDS) and My Health at EU

[00:16:00] - Cross-Border Care and Digital Infrastructure

[00:20:00] - The Role of SPMS in Portugal’s Digital Health Journey

[00:30:00] - Challenges and Workforce Management in Digital Health

[00:34:00] - Benefits of Centralization in Small Countries

[00:38:00] - Electronic Health Records and Expanding Digital Services, Secondary use of data [00:42:00] - Portugal’s National Electronic Health Record

[00:46:00] - Future Vision for Health Data Integration