Last Monday 26th May, the launching event of the HealthData@MAD-R&I project was held at the DIGITALIZA MADRID Innovation Centre, which brought together the professionals involved and representatives of the Regional Ministry of Health and the Regional Ministry of Digitalisation of the Community of Madrid.
The aim of this project is to create an interoperable, secure and ethical health data space that allows the reuse of clinical information for the purposes of research, innovation, policy formulation and improvement of healthcare. The initiative was born with a very clear idea: to take advantage of the health data that already exists in our system to do better research, innovate better and, ultimately, provide better care to patients.
The institutional opening was led by Ana Isabel González González, coordinator of the project, with opening speeches by Nuria Ruíz Hombrebueno (General Director of Digital Health), Inmaculada Ibáñez (General Director of Research and Teaching), and Miguel Amengual (Director of FIIBAP).
HealthData@MAD-R&I® is led by the Directorate General for Research and Teaching of the Regional Ministry of Health, in collaboration with the Directorate General for Digital Health, the FIIBAP Foundation, and with the support of the hospitals Clínico San Carlos, 12 de Octubre, Gregorio Marañón, La Paz, La Princesa and Primary Care.
The project is aligned with the European Health Data Space Regulation (EEDS) and will contribute to improving clinical and public health decision making by ensuring secure access to data for the research community and other key stakeholders.
To validate this infrastructure, four real use cases have been defined :
- Improve the referral process for rheumatic diseases.
- Follow-up care for women who have survived breast cancer at least five years ago.
- Prevent unexpected hospital admissions.
- To study the effect of statins in people over 75 years of age.
At the closing ceremony, Álvaro Roldán, Deputy Director General for Health Research and Documentation, highlighted the joint work developed over the last few years and the strategic value of the project at regional, national and European level.
The project will end in June 2026 and has funding of €2,337,568, provided by the Ministry for Digital Transformation and the Civil Service and by the European Union, through funds from the Next Generation EU instrument under the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan (code TSI-100121-2024-79).
Clara Urbano Molina is Head of Communication and semi-senior technical-scientific staff of the HealthData@MAD-R&I® project.
The opinions expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the position of the HealthData@MAD-R&I® project, nor that of its participating or funding organisations.
