Terms of Reference - ETSI TC eHEALTH (eHEALTH)

Approved at Board#134, September 2021 [BOARD(21)134_008] 

Scope

TC eHEALTH should form the ‘horizontal’ nucleus for the co-ordination of ETSI's activities in the Health ICT domain.  TC eHEALTH will work in close co-operation with all relevant Technical Bodies and ISGs within ETSI, 3GPP, and oneM2M.  Vital aspects to be considered by TC eHEALTH are security of systems and data, quality of services, interoperability and validation by testing and usability.

The main objectives of TC eHEALTH are:

• to collect and define the Health ICT related requirements from relevant stakeholders and to input the requirements to the concerned ETSI Technical Bodies; 
• to identify gaps, where existing ETSI standards do not fulfil the Health ICT requirements, and suggest further standardization activities to fill those gaps; 
• to develop Health ICT related deliverables in all areas not covered by existing system specific and horizontal Technical Bodies or other SDOs; 
• to ensure the co-ordination of Health ICT related activities with the relevant ETSI Technical Bodies in order to avoid duplication of effort and deliverables; 
• to ensure that activities within TC eHEALTH are co-ordinated with other European and International Standards making bodies to avoid duplication of effort and deliverables; 
• to co-ordinate ETSI positions on Health ICT related issues and represent ETSI externally. 

Areas of activity

The activities of TC eHEALTH will be performed in close co-operation with relevant standards activities within and outside ETSI.

The activities of TC eHEALTH include the following broad areas:

• preparation of ETSI deliverables for describing Health ICT related requirements for relevant stakeholders including health professionals and other end-users; 
• co-ordination of Health ICT related requirements in order to produce a consistent set of ETSI deliverables and to undertake measures to efficiently continue and stimulate further Health ICT related work within ETSI;
• provision of mechanisms for the effective liaison between ETSI TBs/ISGs and with relevant external organizations such as SDOs, Health professionals, end-user representatives, local, national and regional Government Authorities, the European Commission, EU projects and Emergency Authorities/Organizations; 
• provision of a centre of expertise in the area of requirements for Health ICT systems and be able to offer advice to ETSI Technical Bodies/ISGs, the ETSI Board and the General Assembly. 
• organization of regular meetings/workshops with appropriate Health ICT stakeholders. 

Organization

TC eHEALTH shall work in accordance with the rules as given in the ETSI Directives and, in particular, the Technical Working Procedures.

Existing related work and subsequent updates should remain in the current Technical Bodies (i.e. such as ERM (e.g. TG30 - Wireless Medical Devices), TC SCP, TC EMTEL, TC CYBER, TC HF, TC SmartBAN, TC SmartM2M, ISG OEU, OCG, OCG-AI, etc.) and be co-ordinated with TC eHEALTH where relevant.  New standards should only be prepared within TC eHEALTH where no appropriate ETSI Technical Body exists.

Where appropriate, joint working groups with other Technical Bodies may be created to develop deliverables for submission to the lead body.

It is expected that TC eHEALTH members attending international standardisation meetings and fora as delegates will handle any necessary informal liaison with those group. 

Participation in EP eHEALTH is open to all ETSI members in accordance with the Technical Working Procedures.  Observers and non-members may participate at the discretion of the Chair in-line with clause 1.4 of the Technical Working Procedures

TC eHEALTH will set-up the appropriate communication channels to the following groups both within and outside of ETSI.

 

ETSI groups

• All ETSI groups that have an interest in health and societal matters, these groups include:
  • 3GPP 
  • oneM2M
  • OCG
  • OCG-AI
  • SC USER
  • TC ATTM WG SDMC
  • TC CYBER
  • TC SmartBAN
  • TC ERM (TG UWB, TG11, TG28 and TG30)
  • TC ITS
  • TC SmartM2M
  • TC EMTEL
  • TC SCP
  • TC HF
  • TC DECT
  • ISG OEU  

External groups

• CEN TC 251 (cooperating with ISO TC 215)
• IEC TC 62
• BDVA TF7.SG3
• ITU-T
• HL7 International
• Continua Health Alliance