Two major international organisations, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the World Health Organization (WHO), are now developing roadmaps and action plans on AI.
EHTEL’s in-depth exploration of “EHR systems and AI” has enabled the association to participate in two major Thought Leadership activities organised by the OECD and the WHO:
Overall, AI is now changing how health is delivered, received, and managed. Healthcare is struggling to optimise the opportunity presented by AI. This is indeed a complex challenge, due to healthcare systems’ fragmented health data foundations and often risk-averse culture. In parallel, there are challenges to designing, creating, and implementing responsibly scaled and proven AI solutions.
EHTEL is thrilled to have had the opportunity over the last couple of months to contribute to the policy advocacy work on AI of these two major organisations.
OECD and its AI Action Plan
The OECD is currently formulating an AI Action Plan. The work on which the plan is based has been prepared by Eric Sutherland, OECD senior health economist responsible for digital health. On 10 March 2026, a workshop was hosted which provided feedback on the draft documentation. The workshop started with an overview of potential barriers to AI take-up.
EHTEL’s General Secretary, Marc Lange, had the opportunity to provide feedback on these barriers to the take-up of AI.
Marc added, in his highlights, the need for good data interoperability and the current lack of appropriate data governance.
He also drew attention to EHTEL’s working paper #2, produced with the support of the XiA project. The paper describes how – provided the necessary governance is in place – AI can help to improve semantic interoperability of data.
EHTEL looks forward to hearing more about the OECD’s intentions on AI which are due to materialise in summer 2026. For example, “pre-consultation” work is planned in May 2026. Expert-led discussions will be held on the AI Action Plan to overcome legacy barriers and accelerate activities. The overall aim is for the benefits of AI to be achieved equitably and effectively.
On 10 March 2026, EHTEL was able to contribute its ideas on data interoperability and data governance to the OECD, thanks to a kind introduction made by the NIN expert group.
The NIN Expert Group
NIN stands for the National Initiatives Network, an expert network of 19 countries, 81 organisations, and 130 people. This year, NIN celebrated its 5-year anniversary. This informal network is led by Saara Malkamäki, who is now at the University of Basel’s Innovation office in Switzerland and was formerly at SITRA, the Finnish Innovation Fund.
EHTEL was pleased to be able to share its opinions on AI at NIN’s latest online event. In the future, it hopes to continue working with NIN on other important topics, like the European Health Data Space at scale.
More information is available on NIN online at LinkedIn.
SPI-DDH work on Digitalisation and Responsible AI
The World Health Organization (WHO) is working on a WHO European roadmap for action on AI in health 2026-2033. In spring 2026, the WHO conducted a survey on the survey content. EHTEL was especially pleased to be able to contribute to the survey.
In 2026, the WHO has published a useful report on how artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming health systems across the European Union (EU). With the momentum generated by the EU’s adoption of the first comprehensive AI law, the world is now looking to the European region for guidance in navigating this new era of AI in health. This WHO report provides a focused assessment of AI readiness in EU health systems, drawing on insights from the 2024-2025 survey on AI for health care in the WHO European Region. The report examines national AI strategies, legal and ethical frameworks, data governance, stakeholder engagement, workforce preparedness, and the integration of AI applications across health services. It particularly provides useful tables which outline each of the 27 EU Member States’ state of readiness for AI.
Throughout 2025, the WHO worked on AI through a working group on digitalisation and responsible AI, just one part of the WHO Strategic Partners’ Initiative for Data and Digital Health (SPI-DDH) – to which EHTEL and its members contributed ideas and initiatives.
For further information
- Take a look in particular at EHTEL working papers 2 and 3
- Visit once more the outcomes of Sessions 2 and 3 at the Radical Heath Festival Helsinki.
- Session 2 – Structured high-quality data with AI
- Session 3 – Electronic health record (EHR) algorithm communication