AEGIS: eHealth Strategy

Imagine the following scenario: A French patient with a pacemaker suffers a heart attack while on vacation in Spain. The attending Spanish emergency doctor knows neither the exact medication nor the pre-existing conditions. An MRI would be absolutely life-threatening due to the metal in the patient's body, but exactly this critical information is locked away, inaccessible in a French patient record.

This problem is not medical in nature, but purely technical and bureaucratic. Every year, over 100 million EU citizens cross European borders (for tourism, work, or studies), yet their health data remains trapped nationally. In this article series, we look at the next chapter of the AEGIS ecosystem: The architecture of the eHealth Strategy.

The Problem: National Data Silos

The status quo in Europe is characterized by isolated, proprietary systems. Each EU country cooks up its own solution for electronic patient records (ePA):

• Germany uses the ePA (Gematik).
• France relies on the Dossier Médical Partagé (DMP).
• Spain uses the Historia Clínica Digital.

The fundamental architectural problem: These systems do not talk to each other. There is neither a common interface nor standardized data formats or a shared authorization logic. While the EU is planning a long-term solution to this interoperability problem with the "European Health Data Space" (EHDS) , full implementation is not expected before 2027 to 2030. Until this infrastructure is in place, people are dying from preventable information gaps.

The AEGIS Solution: The "Universal Health Adapter"

We cannot wait for the completed EHDS when it comes to critical patient care. Here, AEGIS presents itself as a "Universal Health Adapter" acting as a secure data courier between national healthcare systems. The core of this architecture is called "Patient-Controlled Data Portability".

The technical process is as pragmatic as it is secure:

• Authorization: The patient scans their ID via the EUDI wallet at the hospital terminal, granting access to their home country's ePA.
• Data Retrieval: AEGIS authenticates itself via the source system's API, uses the patient's token, and downloads relevant data such as allergies or medication lists.
• Translation: The retrieved data is converted "on the fly" into the international standard format HL7 FHIR by AEGIS.
• Provision & Deletion: The foreign target system receives access via a secure REST API. After the authorization expires (e.g., after 24 hours), the data is irrevocably deleted from the AEGIS RAM.

Uncompromising Security: Zero-Persistence and E2EE

Since health data is highly sensitive according to the GDPR (Art. 9), stricter data protection requirements apply. AEGIS solves the compliance and trust problem through a rigorous "Zero-Persistence" design.

At no time is the data stored on permanent hard drives; it resides exclusively in volatile RAM. In addition, strict end-to-end encryption applies: AEGIS cannot read the data in plain text during transit and acts merely as a "Blind Courier". Every data access is also recorded in an audit-proof manner in audit logs (Who? When? What data?). Most importantly: The patient retains full control at all times via the consent model and can dynamically restrict access.

Conclusion: Saving Lives through Technology

The eHealth strategy of AEGIS is not a mere "nice-to-have", but an absolute necessity for a continent where cross-border mobility is the norm. Instead of waiting for a perfect, harmonized EU healthcare system in the distant future, AEGIS is building the pragmatic bridge that would already saving lives today.

In the next post, we will skip the technical details and move on to the more in-depth strategy. This will be followed by the concept paper for “The European Powerhouse Strategy” and “VISION 2030: The European Identity.” So that your thinking always remains stimulated.