The article explores the transformative potential of health data in improving population health, highlighting its applications in prevention, personalized medicine, care quality, crisis management, and equity. It emphasizes how digital technologies and data integration can enhance clinical decision-making, reduce costs, and drive systemic efficiency. Despite these benefits, strict privacy regulations—particularly in Italy—often hinder data reuse for research, slowing innovation and limiting the impact of public health policies. The authors examine the legal complexities surrounding the GDPR and national legislation, calling for more harmonized and pragmatic frameworks. Case studies, such as the Finnish and Danish models, demonstrate how data access can coexist with robust privacy protection. The chapter also introduces synthetic data and secure data environments as promising solutions to circumvent bureaucratic constraints while preserving privacy. It concludes with a call for centralized coordination, infrastructure development (like the EHDS), and improved data linkage to overcome the persistent “data gap” that impedes the measurement of important health phenomena. Ultimately, the work argues that balancing ethical data use with accessibility is crucial for enabling evidence-based, equitable, and innovative healthcare across Europe.

Keywords: Health data, Privacy, EHDS, Digitalization, Research, Italy.

JEL Code: I18, K29, K39.