Digital Health, Made Clear

The official vocabulary of French digital health can be opaque. Here are the 17 most important terms, explained simply.

A

AI Act

· European AI Regulation

EU Regulation 2024/1689 entering into force in stages. Health AI systems are classified as "high risk" and subject to strict obligations (documentation, conformity assessment, human oversight) from August 2026. My Data My Care V1 remains explicitly outside medical device scope — predictive AI is planned for V2 with AI Act framing.

Argon2id

· Secure Key Derivation

Modern algorithm for key derivation from a password. Winner of the Password Hashing Competition 2015. Resistant to GPU and ASIC attacks. Used by MDMC to derive your encryption key from your passphrase, directly on your device.

C

Cloud Act

· US Extraterritorial Access Law

2018 US law (Clarifying Lawful Overseas Use of Data Act) that allows US authorities to demand access to data held by a company subject to US law, even if that data is hosted outside the USA. Any French health service hosted on AWS or Azure is concerned. MDMC hosts exclusively with a French HDS-certified provider — outside the Cloud Act.

CPS

· Health Professional Card

Smart card issued by ASIP Santé to French healthcare professionals, containing their professional identity and RPPS number. Enables strong authentication to digital health services (DMP, MSSanté, FSE). MDMC supports CPS natively via the IN-RPPS teleservice.

D

DMP

· Shared Medical Record

French digital medical record created in 2004, piloted by CNAM, now integrated into Mon Espace Santé since 2022. Contains hospitalization reports, analysis results, prescriptions, vaccinations. MDMC consumes it via the Mon Espace Santé API.

E

EHDS

· European Health Data Space

EU 2025 regulation creating a common framework for health data portability between the 27 member states. Every European citizen will be able to consult and share their medical record from one country to another. MDMC is built from the outset to interface with EHDS.

F

FHIR R4

· Health Data Exchange Standard

Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources, version R4. International HL7 standard for structured medical data exchange. "FR Core" profile under consolidation by ANS for France. MDMC uses FHIR R4 end-to-end — including for the GDPR portability export in 1 click.

FSE

· Electronic Care Sheet

Dematerialized version of the paper care sheet, transmitted to CNAM via SEPHORA. Mandatory for practitioners in private practice. Integrated in the MDMC pro module.

G

GDPR

· General Data Protection Regulation

EU Regulation 2016/679 applicable since May 2018. Defines people's rights (access, rectification, erasure, portability, opposition) and the obligations of data controllers. Health data is classified as "sensitive data" (article 9) with reinforced safeguards.

H

HDS

· Health Data Host

French certification required to host personal health data (article L. 1111-8 CSP). Issued by an accredited certifying body. HDS v2 version mandatory from May 16, 2026. MDMC and its host are HDS v2 certified.

I

INS-IAS

· National Health Identity

Unique and permanent patient identifier in France, calculated from their civil status (INSEE number + identity traits). Checked via the INSi teleservice. Mandatory for any French health service since 2021. MDMC verifies INS-IAS at registration.

L

LAP

· Prescription Support Software

HAS certification attesting that medical software respects good prescribing practices (interaction alerts, therapeutic choice support). The MDMC LAP relies on Thériaque (ANSM, non-commercial) or BCB, never on Vidal (commercial publisher).

M

Mon Espace Santé (MES)

· French National Patient Portal

Public service automatically opened in 2022 to all insured persons. Aggregates DMP, agenda, secure messaging, partner application catalog. MDMC is a candidate for the MES catalog referencing — positioning us as an official consumer application of your public health data.

MSSanté

· Secure Health Messaging

Set of operators approved by ASIP Santé (Mailiz, Sisra, Medimail…) allowing health pros to exchange medical messages and documents in GDPR/HDS compliance. MDMC integrates the 3 main ones with automatic failover.

S

SecNumCloud

· ANSSI Sovereign Qualification

Qualification issued by ANSSI guaranteeing that a cloud service is immune to extraterritorial laws (Cloud Act). Required for sensitive state data. Qualified providers in France are mainly OVHcloud, Outscale and Scaleway. MDMC aims for SecNumCloud qualification for its production infrastructure.

Ségur du numérique

· National Digital Health Acceleration Plan

National program piloted by ANS and DNS to make French healthcare software interoperable (LGC, hospitals, pharmacies, labs). Wave 2 underway until October 14, 2026. MDMC is designed from the outset to be Ségur V2 referenced.

Z

Zero-knowledge

· Server-Less Access Architecture

Software architecture in which the provider hosting the data cannot access it. Data is encrypted by the user before sending, with a key that never leaves their device. MDMC is built according to this principle: even under judicial constraint, we technically cannot unlock your passport.

A term is missing? Suggest an addition to contact@mydatamycare.com.