This short paper discusses how the European Health Data Space (EHDS) is moving from legislation to real implementation across Europe. It explains why health data sharing matters for better care, research, AI, innovation and public health, while highlighting the practical challenges Member States face, including uneven digital maturity, interoperability gaps, trust, governance and citizen rights. Based on the plenary discussion, the paper connects the contributions of EU policymakers, Member State representatives, industry and digital health implementers to current EHDS developments, including implementing acts, MyHealth@EU, HealthData@EU, TEHDAS2, Health Data Access Bodies and AI in healthcare. Its main argument is that the EHDS will only create value if Europe turns common rules into usable, trusted and well-governed services by the 2029 and 2031 implementation milestones.
Nathan da Silva Carvalho (2025) studied this question.