Last week marked a pivotal milestone for the openEHR community with the first openEHR International Conference. Held in Reading in the South of England, the conference brought together healthcare professionals ranging from long-term advocates to curious leaders wanting to learn more.

Over the 2 days, speakers from all over the world, discussed real-world case studies from national infrastructure to specialist clinical projects, underpinned by openEHR. It was inspiring to see how far the industry has come in the last 1-2 years. Here are my 3 reflections from the conference.

1. Case studies & innovations

A major highlight was watching all the presentation of real-world applications of openEHR. From national-scale health records in Catalonia to specialty clinical solutions in Nigeria, the conference highlighted projects that have successfully implemented openEHR to tackle interoperability challenges and build modern solutions where vendor lock-in has prevented innovation.

It was fascinating to hear more detail about the case studies in Europe, Africa, and Australasia, and to hear that other countries face the same challenges that the NHS does here in the UK. It demonstrated the versatility of the standard and its ability to adapt to diverse healthcare environments.

I was impressed that almost allof the case study projects had started and completed in the last 2 years, showing how much the industry has grown in such a relatively short period of time.

2. The ecosystem

It was great to meet so many other vendors at the conference, some familiar faces and some completely new product vendors that realise openEHR is the standard of choice for storing clinical data.

Both Vitagroup and Better, two big Digital Health Platform (DHP) vendors, had large stands, and were demonstrating the functionality of their respective platforms. It was fantastic to see two strong DHP vendors at the conference, and the choice this gives healthcare organisations as they choose which vendor is best for their needs.

I also enjoyed seeing many clinical system vendors and healthcare consultancies, who have recognised that to support new models of integrated care, healthcare applications need to separate the data layer from the application layer using openEHR and a vendor-neutral architecture.

3. Learnings for the UK

Despite the conference being held in Reading a considerable proportion of the vendors and delegates were from Europe. This correlated with the data on openEHR adoption where European healthcare providers are leading the way.

It reminded me how often the UK is dominated by US healthcare vendors and that the NHS still has a lot to learn from Europe. I am a big believer that the structure of the NHS is more similar to healthcare organisations in countries such as France and Germany, rather than the US. The best digital architectures mimic reality.

There is a huge opportunity for the NHS to digitise and integrate effectively if we can learn from the use-cases across Europe while applying the bold American spirit, and I believe that openEHR is the best standard to persist healthcare data across these care settings.

Attending the first openEHR International Conference has left me feeling positive about the future of healthcare interoperability. The event highlighted the impressive growth of openEHR worldwide, demonstrated by diverse case studies and a flourishing ecosystem of vendors. It is clear that openEHR is creating meaningful change across continents, breaking down silos, and empowering healthcare providers to build modern applications.

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