The Design and Implementation of a National AI Platform for Public Healthcare in Italy: Implications for Semantics and Interoperability

Abstract: The Italian National Health Service is adopting Artificial Intelligence through its technical agencies, with the twofold objective of supporting and facilitating the diagnosis and treatment. Such a vast programme requires special care in formalising the knowledge domain, leveraging domain-specific data spaces and addressing data governance issues from an interoperability perspective. The healthcare data governance and interoperability legal framework is characterised by the interplay of different pieces of legislation. Data law is the first to be taken into proper account. It primarily includes the GDPR, the Data Governance Act, and the Open Data Directive. Also, the Data Act and the European Health Data Space proposals will have an impact on health data sharing and therefore must be considered as well. The platform developed by the Italian NHL will have to be integrated in a harmonised manner with the systems already used in the healthcare system and with the digital assets (data and software) used by healthcare professionals. Questions have been raised about the impact that AI could have on patients, practitioners, and health systems, as well as about its potential risks; therefore, all the parties involved are called to agree upon to express a common view based on the dual purpose of improving people's quality of life and keeping the whole healthcare system sustainable for society as a whole.