United States Department of Veterans Affairs
United States Department of Veterans Affairs

G-8 Healthcare Data Card Project

Overview of G-8 Healthcare Data Card Project

The G-8 members along with the European Commission decided to take the opportunity offered by the Ministerial Conference being held in BRUSSELS on February 25-26, 1995 to identify a number of selected projects where international co-operation could be an asset. These projects would aim at demonstrating the potential of the Global Information Society and stimulate its deployment. The projects will be initially undertaken by the G7 partners but are meant to be open. The participation of other partners, including international organisations, is encouraged.

Theme 8 of the 11 theme areas is devoted to Global Healthcare Applications. Sub-Project 6 concentrates on the Healthcare Data Card. The official title is "International harmonisation of use of data cards in healthcare". This project deals with the development and piloting of:

  • an international emergency card that would provide the essential medical information that is vital for an emergency situation, as well as     
  • an international harmonized administrative data set, and     
  • an international professional card that will allow the secure identification of healthcare professionals when accessing medical data and network services.

A major emphasis is being placed upon developing technical interoperability so that all cards from all participating manufacturers can read in the different participating countries. The specifications have been used to create development implementations whose interoperability has been demonstrated at CardTech SecureTech 2000 in Miami on May 3, 2000 as part of the conference Healthcare Track. Another demonstration was given at the Netlink Seminar in Rome Italy on September 27, 2000. Under the Netlink project during 2000, Italy has distributed 130,000 cards that comply with this specification to pilot sites in northern Italy.

NETLINK Requirements for Interoperability (version 2.1)
Current Specification - June 1, 2000

G-8 Project Participants and picture of attendees at meeting in Washington D.C. April 1998