Electronic Healthcare: Testing Environments launched

The Ministry of Health has opened the first testing environment for Central Electronic Healthcare Services. The new interfaces will enable healthcare providers and software suppliers to test connections to key national systems and prepare for their live operation. For example, the Root Registry of Patients, Temporary Storage, and eApplications are available. The launch of the testing environments is an important step not only for the digitization of Czech healthcare, but also for harmonization with European standards within the framework of the upcoming European Health Data Space, which aims to enable secure and interoperable sharing of health data across the EU.

The Ministry of Health has launched the first test environment for Central Electronic Healthcare Services (CSEZ) as part of the Digital Electronic Health Services project. These environments will enable healthcare providers and software suppliers to prepare for the future live operation of individual systems, check technical connections in time, and test the functionality of their solutions.

Testing is now available for three basic modules:

• Root Registry of Patients

• Temporary storage

• eApplications

According to the Ministry of Health's schedule, other components will be made available in the coming months as well. In October, for example, these will include electronic medical reports and the agenda of firearms and ammunition license holders. In November, the Shared Health Record will be launched, including emergent records and the results of preventive and screening examinations. In September 2025, test versions of support tools were also launched – a unified API gateway for B2B services, an EH service catalogue, and an activity journal, which provide unified access to interfaces and an overview of activities in the system.

European context

The development of Czech eHealth is in line with the planned European Health Data Space (EHDS) framework, which the EC presented in 2022. The EHDS aims to create a common space for the secure use and sharing of health data across EU Member States. The EHDS is based on two pillars:

• primary use of data – availability of patient health records throughout the entire EU,

• secondary use of data – anonymized data for research, innovation, and policymaking.

National systems are therefore being developed using international standards, in particular HL7 FHIR. This will ensure compatibility and the possibility of cross-border data exchange, which is important, for example, when providing care to EU citizens abroad.

Author: Markéta Hrubá