Real-world testing for eHealth interoperability

The Digital Health Projectathon, successor to the EPR Projectathon, enables all interested organisations to test the interoperability of their software solutions with national eHealth projects, including the electronic patient record (EPR) project, the Digital Health programme projects and other projects supported by the Confederation.

Internal link: Digital Health Projectathon 2025 Edition

External link: More information on DigiSanté

“Sharing with open standards”

The Projectathon is a test week for medical IT systems that was inspired by the IHE-Europe Connectathon. While the IHE Connectathon aims to test a wide range of international standards and profiles, the Digital Health Projectathon focuses on the profiles and standards used by national eHealth projects to support the interoperability of services in Switzerland.

The Digital Health Projectathon follows on from the EPR Projectathon, adopting its operational and organisational principles. The Digital Health Projectathon continues the interoperability tests for the electronic patient record (EPR) while also covering a number of new projects.

External link: (Re-)discover the IHE-Europe Connectathon

Testing for the electronic patient record (EPR)

The Digital Health Projectathon gives interested organisations an opportunity to test their IT systems’ suitability for the EPR. eHealth Suisse strongly recommends participation to anyone who is already connected to the EPR system or is set to be in the future – EPR communities, primary system providers (CIS, PIS, etc.), electronic ID issuers and healthcare facilities that intend to integrate the EPR themselves. The EPR interoperability tests are voluntary and non-binding for all participants. They are an opportunity for intensive knowledge-sharing and represent a steep learning curve for everyone.

Participants run the tests in the reference environment alone, in partnership with another company or in a group. The tests focus on all the IHE profiles needed for EPR – in particular, the IHE profiles specific to Switzerland known as national extensions. In this way, organisations can prepare themselves for the adoption of EPR in practice as well as for future developments in EPR functionalities.

Internal link: Overview of specifications relevant to EPR implementation

External link: Overview of IHE Integration Profiles for EPR (609 KB, 10/04/23)

External link: Maturity level of IHE Integration Profiles for EPR (423 KB, 09/26/24)

Year-round testing in the EPR reference environment

The EPR reference environment provides a permanently online test platform. Validation processes for specific components (use cases), targeted and organised separately, are sometimes conducted as "Mini Projectathons".  Ongoing work is shared and discussed in the Digital Health Projectathon Google Group (EPR Projectathon).

External link: EPR reference environment

Stay up-to-date

A Digital Health Projectathon Google Group gives IT specialists a forum in which to share questions and information related to the event, e.g. about registration dates, profiles for testing, etc. and about the EPR reference environment. If you wish to join the group, please contact the group leaders. For general information on the Digital Health Projectathon, you can also subscribe to the eHealth Suisse and IHE Suisse
newsletters.

Register for:

External link: Digital Health Projectathon Google group

Internal link: eHealth Suisse newsletter

External link: IHE Suisse news

History of the EPR Projectathon

The first EPR Projectathon took place in Köniz (Canton Bern) in 2017. It then took place annually until 2024, generally in Bern, in the second or third week of September. In Spring 2018 and 2019, special EPR Projectathon sessions were held within the IHE-Europe Connectathons in The Hague and in Rennes. The September 2022 EPR Projectathon took place alongside the Joint IHE Connectathon in Montreux (Canton Vaud).

External link: Final EPR Projectathon reports 2017–2024 (16 MB, 04/14/25)