Twenty-first century health systems have to be built around data and information. An integrated health information system enables the secure flow of data to where they can be used, to provide information to strengthen integrated care delivery, enable public health monitoring and management, and foster medical and health research and innovation.

Twenty-first century health systems have to be built around data and information. An integrated health information system enables the secure flow of data to where they can be used, to provide information to strengthen integrated care delivery, enable public health monitoring and management, and foster medical and health research and innovation. This report describes the requirements and the benefits of an integrated health information system; outlines the current situation in the Netherlands in the context of progress across OECD countries; and recommends legal, policy and operational changes to overcome barriers to the efficient exchange and sharing of health data and to establish an integrated health information system.

Twenty-first-century health systems will be built around data and information. An integrated health information system enables the secure flow of data to where they can be used to create information and knowledge to advance policy and health system objectives. This report describes the requirements and the benefits of an integrated health information system and outlines the current situation in Korea.

Health data are essential to modern health care delivery, health system management and research and innovation, and must be well governed to foster their use while protecting privacy and data security. The 2016 OECD Recommendation on Health Data Governance provides a roadmap towards more harmonised approaches to health data governance across countries.

What are public health services? Countries across Europe understand what they are or what they should include differently. This study describes the experiences of nine countries detailing the ways they have opted to organize and finance public health services and train and employ their public health workforce. It covers England France Germany Italy the Netherlands Slovenia Sweden Poland and the Republic of Moldova and aims to give insights into current practice that will support decision-makers in their efforts to strengthen public health capacities and services. Each country chapter captures the historical background of public health services and the context in which they operate; sets out the main organizational structures; assesses the sources of public health financing and how it is allocated; explains the training and employment of the public health workforce; and analyses existing frameworks for quality and performance assessment. The study reveals a wide range of experience and variation across Europe and clearly illustrates two fundamentally different approaches to public health services: integration with curative health services (as in Slovenia or Sweden) or organization and provision through a separate parallel structure (Republic of Moldova). The case studies explore the context that explain this divergence and its implications. This study is the result of close collaboration between the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies and the WHO Regional Office for Europe Division of Health Systems and Public Health. It accompanies two other Observatory publications Organization and financing of public health services in Europe and The role of public health organizations in addressing public health problems in Europe: the case of obesity alcohol and antimicrobial resistance (both forthcoming).