Are you ready for the xShare Yellow Button? Learn why the button is yellow

14/06/2024

The xShare Yellow Button will allow Europeans to share our health data safely and with trust in the European Electronic Health Records Exchange Format (EHRxF). It is a practical implementation of directions identified in the upcoming European Health Data Space (EHDS) Regulation. The button itself provides a means for people all over Europe to get involved in the safe data-sharing of health data. The button is being developed in the Horizon Europe xShare project.

But why is it called a Yellow Button?

The inspiration for the yellow button came from a flower which grows all over Europe: the buttercup. The yellow colour of the buttercup is due to pigments which absorb both blue and green light.

Scientifically speaking, the outermost layer of the petals, the epidermis, is made up of flat cells containing the pigments. It is separated from the endodermis, a deeper layer devoid of pigments, by a thin air gap. Incident light is partly reflected and transmitted on each surface: the upper surface of the epidermis, the lower surface of the epidermis, and the surface of the endodermis. The epidermis reflects light in a preferred direction while the endodermis, which has a strong reflective power, diffuses light outwards in all directions.

As the blue and green components of light are absorbed by the pigments of the flower, the light reflected on the surface of the epidermis is slightly dominated by yellow. The light that is reflected deeper, which is more filtered by the pigments, comes out as intensely yellow. The concave shape of the petals concentrates the yellow light onto just a small area.

The ambition of the xShare Yellow button is to use the European Electronic Health Record Exchange Format (EEHRxF) as the foundation (endoderm) which will allow the use of data in all critical information domains and create a new value (light). Not only will this move enable the extended use of FAIR data in the clinical domain, but it will also create a close connection between primary and secondary uses of data.

And what other analogies are there?

Another analogy is that of the European Union flag. All the stars on the European flag are yellow while the flag's background is blue. This portrayal of the yellow and blue colours can be seen as a reference to the blue button which has been deployed in the USA. Like the buttercup, the blue European “pigment” of the EEHRxF is the condition needed to create the intense yellow colour of the button, which will then be reflected in a large number of business use cases.

To sum up

The xShare Yellow button thus provides the threshold to a collaboration between domains and the creation of a dynamic and transparent value-based ecosystem that is in the hands of citizens and patients.

For more information about xShare

See:

The xShare project and what is EHTEL's role
The official project website
Co-leader of the xShare project, EHTEL member, MedCom

Original xShare article written by Luc Nicolas, Digital Health Facilitator at EHTEL.

Contact the author at luc.nicolas@ehtel.eu

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