Data protection and patient mobility in Europe

As for the Directive on the application of patients’ rights in cross-border healthcare,1 patient mobility means the possibility for a person to benefit from healthcare in a Member State other than the Member State of affiliation. In this context, the Directive insists, rightly, on the necessity to protect patient’s personal data.2 Protecting patient’s personal data implies that any patient who benefits from cross-border healthcare is entitled to expect that one’s personal data will not be processed by anyone in any way e.g. when using electronic medical records or transferring data for reimbursement purposes or for scientific research. In addition, it means that the patient is entitled to see his or her rights recognized on his or her personal data. The patient is also entitled to expect that specific mechanisms and bodies will contribute to ensuring the effectiveness of data protection. In other words, a patient receiving healthcare in a Member State other than the Member State of affiliation is entitled to expect to enjoy the same level of data protection as in his Country of affiliation, all other things being equal. That being said, we still have to agree on the significance and properties of this right to data protection to which the patient could claim in cross-border healthcare, both in its affirmation and in its implementation through the new European General Data protection Regulation.