DS CWA 15974:2009

Interoperability of the electronic European Health Insurance Cards (WS/eEHIC)

Scope

This document is likely to be of interest to any organisation or individual involved in eEHIC deployment, including providers of smart card enabled terminals for access to public services and software developers of Healthcare related applications.
This document is normative in the sense that it provides mandatory and optional elements.
This document:
- provides the definition of the dataset known as the Mandatory EHIC dataset, and of the rules for saving the dataset on the smart card;
- explains the basic principles that govern and support the implementation of the eEHIC as extended to multi-application smart cards;
- specifies the eEHIC interoperability interface between the smart card and the Client Application residing on the Workstation or Card Accepting Device (CAD) itself;
- specifies a logical format for exchange of eEHIC information between Healthcare Providers and Clearing Institutes;
- provides the definition of the metadata schemas that ensure interoperability; and
- provides a method to identify the presence of, and method of access to, the (specific) EHIC data set on the citizen’s smart card.
In addition, the eEHIC provides a single, common data set for all “new” implementations of the EHIC smart card and for all Health related services where access is provided through the use of the EHIC smart card as an indication of entitlement for Insurance within the European Union. The solution proposed will permit the Card Holder to perceive a common level of services from Health Care Providers across the Union.
Note that the CAD is often referred to as the card reader, or regarded as an integral part of the user terminal, and the smart card to CAD interface is often referred to as the card edge specification.