Introductory text

THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,

Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

Having regard to Directive 2011/24/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 9 March 2011 on the application of patients' rights in cross-border healthcare^f1, and in particular point (a) of Article 12(4) thereof,

Whereas:

Article 12 of Directive 2011/24/EU provides that the Commission is to support the Member States in the development of European Reference Networks (‘Networks’) between healthcare providers and centres of expertise in the Member States, in particular in the area of rare diseases^f2. For the purposes of this, the Commission shall adopt a list of specific criteria and conditions that must be fulfilled by European Reference Networks and healthcare providers wishing to join and become a Member of a Network (‘Member’). The Networks should improve access to diagnosis, treatment and the provision of high-quality healthcare to patients who have conditions requiring a particular concentration of resources or expertise, and could also be focal points for medical training and research, information dissemination and evaluation, especially for rare diseases.

According to Article 12(2) of Directive 2011/24/EU, each Network is to select at least three objectives from the list laid down in therein 12(2) of Directive 2011/24/EU and demonstrate that it has the necessary competences to pursue them effectively. In addition, Networks are required to fulfil the list of tasks or characteristics laid down in Article 12(4)(a)(i)-(vi) of Directive 2011/24/EU. This Decision sets out the specific list of criteria or conditions that will ensure the Networks fulfil these tasks. These criteria and conditions should provide the basis for the establishment and evaluation of the Networks.

Among the set of criteria and conditions necessary to enable Networks pursue the applicable objectives of Article 12(2) of Directive 2011/24/EU the Decision provides a list of criteria on the governance and coordination of the Networks that should ensure their transparent and effective functioning. Although Networks should be allowed to have different organisation models, it is appropriate to require that they all choose one of their Members as the coordinating Member. The coordinating Member shall appoint one person acting as the coordinator of the Network (‘Coordinator’). They should be governed by a board of the Network (‘Board’) composed of representatives from each Member in the Network. The Board should be in charge of producing and adopting the rules of procedure, work plans and progress reports and any other documents related to the activities of the Network. The Coordinator, assisted by the Board, should support and facilitate the internal coordination within the Network and with other healthcare providers.

The provision of highly specialised healthcare, one of the criteria to be fulfilled by the Networks, should be based on high quality, accessible and cost-effective healthcare services. It requires experienced, highly skilled and multidisciplinary healthcare teams and, most likely, advanced specialised medical equipment or infrastructures which commonly imply concentration of resources.

Healthcare providers who apply for membership of a Network should demonstrate that they fulfil the criteria and conditions laid down in this Decision. These criteria and conditions should guarantee that the services and healthcare are provided according to the highest possible quality criteria and available clinical evidence.

The required criteria and conditions for a healthcare provider would vary depending on the diseases or conditions specifically addressed by the Network of which they want to become a Member. It therefore appears necessary to establish two sets of criteria and conditions: a first set of horizontal criteria and conditions that should be fulfilled by all healthcare providers wishing to join a Network, regardless of the field of expertise or the medical procedure or treatment they perform, and a second set of criteria and conditions that may vary depending on the scope of the concrete area of expertise, disease or condition addressed by the Network they wish to join.

Among the first set of horizontal and structural criteria and conditions, those related to patients empowerment and patient-centred care; organisation, management and business continuity; research and training capacity appear to be essential in order to ensure that the objectives of the Networks are met.

Further horizontal and structural criteria and conditions related to the exchange of expertise, information systems and eHealth tools should help developing, sharing and spreading information and knowledge and fostering improvements in the diagnosis and treatment of diseases within and outside the Networks and to collaborate closely with other centres of expertise and networks at national and international level. Interoperable and semantically compatible information and communication technology (ICT) systems would facilitate the exchange of health data and patients' information, and the establishment and maintenance of shared databases and registries.

The ability to have an efficient and secure exchange of health data and other patient information as well personal data of the healthcare professionals in charge of the patient is a crucial aspect for the successful functioning of the Networks. The exchange of data should in particular take place in accordance with the specified purposes, necessity and legal grounds for the processing of data and be accompanied by appropriate safeguards and rights of the data subject. Personal data should be processed in compliance with Directive 95/46/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council^f3.

This Decision respects the fundamental rights and observes the principles recognised in particular by the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, as referred to in Article 6 of the Treaty on European Union and notably the right of human dignity, the right to the integrity of the person, the right to the protection of personal data and the right of access to healthcare. This Decision must be applied by the Member States in accordance with the rights and principles guaranteed in the Charter.

In particular, the Charter requires that in the field of biology and medicine the free and informed consent of the person concerned must be respected. As Clinical Trials could likely be one of the areas of work of the Networks it is important to recall that an extensive set of rules for the protection of subjects in clinical trials is foreseen in Directive 2001/20/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council^f4.

In order to ensure the exchange of personal data in the context of the Networks, procedures concerning informed consent for processing this data could be simplified by using one single common consent model that needs to be subject to the requirements set out in Directive 95/46/EC with regard to the consent of the data subject.

The criteria and conditions related to expertise, clinical practice, quality, patient safety and evaluation should help in developing and spreading the best practices for quality and safety benchmarks. They should also thus ensure the offer of a high level of expertise, produce good practice guidelines, implement outcome measures and quality control and follow a multi-disciplinary approach as required by Article 12(4) of Directive 2011/24/EU.

Member States with no Member of a given Network may decide to designate healthcare providers with a special link to a given Network, following a transparent and explicit procedure. Those providers might be designated as Associated National Centres focusing in the provision of healthcare or as Collaborative National Centres focusing in the production of knowledge and tools to improve the quality of care. Member States may also wish to designate a national coordination hub with all types of Networks. That might help Member States to pursue Article 12(3)(a) of Directive 2011/24/EU particularly if the objectives of the Network are among those listed under Article 12(2)(f) and (h) of Directive 2011/24/EU. The Coordinator should facilitate the cooperation with these healthcare providers linked to a Network. Those healthcare providers shall support the objectives and respect the rules of the Network and share the work related with the cooperation activities of the Network,

HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION: