i2X project is shaping Europe’s digital health future: CPME brings doctors’ voices to centre stage
One of the main challenges facing European healthcare is the fragmented nature of digital systems.
In most hospitals and clinics, electronic health records (EHRs) are not easily shared between departments, and even worse, between hospitals or countries. Patient health data is often stored in separate software systems, which requires repeated entry and manual reconciliation, resulting in additional administrative effort.
This fragmentation reduces the time clinicians have available for direct patient care and limits the potential of digital health innovation.
The i2X project (Intelligent Implementations of the European Electronic Health Record Exchange Format), launched in April 2025 with participation from CPME, was established to address this challenge.
The initiative, which is co-funded by the Digital Europe Programme, brings together 38 partners from 12 Member States, including hospitals, technology providers, public authorities and professional organisations.
The aim of i2X is to show how health data exchange can improve the efficiency, safety and quality of care in real-world clinical conditions.
Unlike earlier research efforts, i2X is an implementation-based project. Its activities will be conducted directly within healthcare institutions — 12 hospitals across Europe — to test how the European Electronic Health Record Exchange Format can work in everyday settings.
The project aims to ensure that interoperability becomes not just a regulatory standard, but a practical reality that supports the medical workforce.
At the centre of this effort is a study coordinated by the University of Thessaly (Greece) in collaboration with CPME. This study marks the first phase of i2X and will gather evidence on the current experience of healthcare professionals using EHR systems.
The study aims to understand how doctors and other healthcare professionals interact with digital tools, the barriers they face and how these systems could be improved to make them more intuitive and clinically useful.
To achieve this, the project has developed the Needs Assessment Questionnaire for Healthcare Professionals. The questionnaire investigates areas such as the usability of existing EHRs, time spent on documentation, duplication of data entry, access to patient information from other institutions, and attitudes toward artificial intelligence (AI) applications such as automated documentation or intelligent search.
It also explores perceptions of interoperability, terminology standards, and information overload, issues that strongly influence the quality of clinical work.
The results will guide the development of innovative tools and methods that help EHR systems become more aligned with clinical workflows. This evidence will also inform recommendations to European policymakers and health authorities on how to implement interoperable solutions that genuinely support care delivery.
European healthcare professionals are encouraged to take part in this survey and contribute their experience. Their insights will help build a European Health Data Space that is technically robust, clinically relevant, and grounded in practical usability.
Click here for more information and to participate in the survey.