Malta Health Data Access Body – Development of Digital Business Capabilities

ongoing

The setting up of a national health data access body for Malta will include the development of four digital business capabilities and a health data quality unit. This development involves organizing data on currently existing public health registries into a publicly accessible metadata catalogue; establishing a data access application handling process and portal; creating a secure processing environment; creating a cross-border digital gateway to handle cross-border transfer of health data for secondary use; setting up a unit that focuses on health data quality; and setting up compliance checks and public reporting. A health dataset catalogue shall be set up presenting searchable metadata of current health data registries to the public. This catalogue shall be made available via a dedicated Government website with the dual purpose of receiving online applications and updating status of requests within the handling process. Applicants will use a secure login process to access health data within a secure processing environment. This space shall also contain statistical software functionality that can be used by data users to perform data analysis within this environment. Statistical output is extractable however raw data will not be downloadable. The secure processing environment shall record access logs as well as report multiple attempts of failed logins and flagging of potential cyber-attacks for counter-measures. Additionally, the secure processing environment shall serve as a platform for data holders to submit supplemental data either as enriched data sets to current registries or as new data. All data will be made available in line with GDPR criteria. This shall be ensured by a set of data pre-release compliance checks that must be confirmed before release is allowed. Results shall be used for refining the data access process and to report performance criteria to the public on a regular basis.