Individual calls with NRENs

• GARR overall interested in the TF activities
• Emphasis should be added on Storage : providing storage services
  for the eHealth community is a key objective for GARR, and in this
  sense synergies and exchanges of best practices should be
  pursued within the TF activities. Storage means also the need
  for the eHealth community to archive their data in a safe manner
  and perform backups.
• Mirroring of Relevant eHealth Data Sets is also an option NRENs 
  could consider to support the eHealth community
• Informed consent and related tools targeting the possibility for users
  to express it is one relevant item of interest TF could be involved in
• To clearly separate and distinguish the various specific domains in 
  dealing with eHealth is fundamental:  eIDAS and eduGAIN in this 
  respect have different target communities and needs
• IRODS (irods.org)  is a key emerging technology to be considered in eHealth support

• organise a thematic TF meeting 
  devoted to Storage Services for 
  eHealth

• very limited direct
  manpower available
  to directly work on the
  current TF workplan

•  SURF currently engaging as key IT partner in the Dutch national eHealth initiative,  https://health-ri.nl  focusing 
  on health data sharing and implementing new data-based services for health. Goals of Health-RI are:
  
  • Build an integrated health data research infrastructure accessible for researchers, citizens and care providers.
  • Facilitate and foster the optimal use of knowledge, tools, facilities, health data and samples to enable a learning healthcare system and accelerate sustainable and affordable personalized medicine and health.
• SURF is helping with. procurement and governance too.
• Current main focus for SURF is more on  the  secondary  use of health data:  share of medical data to support research
• An archiitecture is being defined and possible approaches to data sharing  being evaluated (centralized vs decentralized), the role to be played in the model by the individual health institution
• Data Sovereignty is a key feature  of SURF strategy 
• With respect to the required  IT sevices for health, both acces to computing resources and storage are relevant. However there is an acknowledgement that emphasis should go above all on Storage. Storage needs, options, available services to support Health Research.
• Computing will become also increasingly. important in relation to AI
• For primary usage of Health data, interoperability is still the main issue to solve.  Current focus necessarily on secondary usage of Health data for medical Research. At this level interoperability is (a bit)   less of an issue.
• About what can be done of useful with  other NRENs via the eHealth task force:
  • Since other countries are also in the process of defining the IT architecturre of their national eHealth infrastructures, it would be good to share plans and ideas across NRENs - given the main  constraints and requirements are similar 
  •  Liaising with the EC Commission and provide information to all NRENs about new regulations, communications, strategic plans and funding opportunities for NRENs like nel calls frorm the main EU Programmes on eHealth. (EU4Health, HorizonEurope...etc) - Focus is on secondary usage of Health  data for research, also  in relation to key Life Science and  Health Research Infrastructures,  starting from EOSC-Life.
  • Also getting to know/being able to contribute to the plans for eHealth. in GN5 would be interesting and useful.
  • IRODS for federated storage is an interesting option, SURF would be interested to gather forces on this topic, share experiences, also,  possibly, through the. organisation of a dedicated event.

Rdovan Igliar

• Our unit deals with services and  relations to users: basically, everything towards users: CESNET connects medicine faculties, UNIs,   and  all  big hospitals: regional hospitals, some of the municipal hospitals: research and faculty are one.  We have research hospitals. hospitals are regular users for us: we provide them with connectivity,  storage, AAI, some  computing; services like AAI-a-a-S: basically we provide to Health users the full stack  of our services. We are also leading activities related  too  COVID, security, cyberattacks. 
• We established  Hospitals  SOC, hSOC: Security operations team: a lot  of activities on Security and Disaster recovery for hospitals:  Hospital SOC - hSOC [HSOC] (cesnet.cz)  (  https://hsoc.cesnet.cz )
• We also cooperate with ministry of Health on digitalization of health: we do not deal with medical records directly: we are more  interested in how to interchange  Health data: how data should be interoperable  and interchangeable; how  to use Identity Management (IdM) too -  For the ministry, we are consultants, we do not really do it ourself. The ministry does it: There is a national ministry  strategy on eHealth : we are both consultants and members.
• We have established for the user communitya set of  of working groups.  We are involved mostly in the TECH and Emergency  working groups of HSOC. Topics these group are working on are: how to do  disaster recovery, also human resources in digitalization; emergency and tech WGs are our one's
• We also established a private network: HSOC VRF: They have their own VRF in CESNET so that hospitals can interchange  data safely.
• There is a national eHealth initiative, but other people are involved in the National eHealth initiative. ( It started 2 weeks ago, very recently) : Coordinate by the ministry of health; a new deputy  appointed 1 month ago for digitalization of eHealth; they are discussing the future calls, financing sources and the strategies - now the ministry is working on the strategy document . Milan Blaha from the ministry. They are working on the strategy document 2021-2025 several goals….responsible…resources…
• Another part of activities is: government has a  body called research and  education  board, responsible to  head of the government - they discuss how Health should be working closely with  research - research in medical areas, there are some research infras (BB-MRI, BioImaging, ELIXIR ( there are around 7-10 ResInfras in Czech republic):  This second pillar of activities deals with how these res infras should be linked to health
• There are 2 tracks of  activities and  they are discussing now how these  tracks should combine. Health  Sector and  ResInfras and to share data too ! - For example: Some  genetic  research, they do does  not combine the data from the hospitals: research people do not have data from hospitals - also : how to share data.
• Research funded by project, hospitals funded by public health insurance - how to share data between these 2 branches of activities
• we in CESNET are leading the national EOSC initiative, we are  the national coordinator of EOSC: there is a WG related to Health in the EOSC national node

What would be useful to do with other NRENs ?

In General  knowledge sharing, best practice sharing

There are similar activities in all states, no rocket science. 

National relations mainly. 

One thing is to share best practices and knowledge

also ,  calls for Health,monitor those, to follow those, info sent to the list, 

forward this info from the list, this is very interesting

EU and national strategies should interact

Our ministry of health was not aware of the initiative

eHealth is not fully dealt with

Check ministry of health did start the 

Competence Centre on Health

National Competence centre - established by the ministry

INFO ON WHAT GOES ON AT EU LEVEL IN  GENERAL

3) within the community, we  work with guys providing

NIX-ZD

NIX-ZD:

They are building eHealth eID

And interchange  for medical  data.

Cross-border medicine. 

This is led by one of the municipalities, a region. several hospitals involved.

But it is actually under the project called CEF programme of EU

National eHealth centre

we provide connectivity and  also STORAGE for them

NIX-ZD are not hosted in the ministry

hosted  in Jihlava

4)

We do provide data storage services

We provide core infra storage for  du.cesnet.cz

certification

ISO27001 certification 

but for the storing of data are certifications are required

Support on the certification process

learn  from others  how certification for health infrastructure will be  good to know

we are building   a  new service called sensitive cloud

sensitive cloud  in future will be  the  service to interchange Research and Hospital health  data

Computing but mainly about storage

so we are preparing this service, we know how to do

we use ELIXIR AAI

not EOSC-Life AAI migrated

EOSC and Data sets are 2 parts of activities

2023-2029  3 areas funded :

1. infrastructures 
2. data  repositories to  store in FAIR principles 
3.  EOSC to put things together

It seems it is all about the EOSC  but in reality there are 3 funding streams:

Infras

Data sets

And  integration of  all this under EOSC.

Certifications   in  relations  to  Sensible 

irods: DICE foor  EOSC: about interoperability of data storages

not related to Health in particular

https://www.cesnet.cz/projects/data-infrastructure-capacity-for-eosc/?lang=en

CESNET is at least for now not specifically interested in irods. 

Certifications  are  really  important  for us, also in relation  to sensitive cloud services

(based on  openstack)

EU funding opportunities and strategies - regulations / communications

About a shortlist of what is interesting for CESNET: (final wrap up):

• STORAGE  YES
• FAIR principles in eHealth
• eIDAS services which are seekd  by some hospitals
• Data Sovereignty is also a key for us
• share plans and ideas
• linking health systems together (cross-border medicine)