Short answer: ELGA (Elektronische Gesundheitsakte) is Austria's national electronic health record, live since December 2015 and run by ELGA GmbH, owned by the federal government, the regions and the social insurance. It is opt-out (every insured person has one unless they object) and document-based: hospitals, outpatient clinics, doctors, pharmacies and care facilities publish e-Befunde (discharge letters, laboratory reports, radiology reports, nursing summaries) as HL7 CDA documents into regional IHE XDS registries that ELGA connects, and retrieve documents about a patient they are treating. e-Medikation records prescriptions and dispensing nationally; the e-Impfpass is a central, structured vaccination record that proved its worth in the pandemic. Citizens access everything through the ELGA portal on gesundheit.gv.at with ID Austria.
What is in ELGA
Austria's ELGA contains e-Befunde, meaning discharge letters, laboratory and radiology reports and growing document types as CDA documents; e-Medikation, a national list of prescribed and dispensed medicines for the past year; the e-Impfpass, a structured central vaccination record; and patient-controlled settings to hide documents, exclude providers, opt out and read the access log.
- e-Befund: discharge letters (medical and nursing), laboratory reports, radiology reports, and growing document types (outpatient letters, pathology), each as a CDA document following the ELGA CDA implementation guides, with a human-readable part and coded entries at ELGA's conformance levels.
- e-Medikation: a national list of prescribed and dispensed medicines for the past year, written by doctors and pharmacies, with a check for interactions by the dispensing software.
- e-Impfpass: all vaccinations, recorded centrally in structured form (FHIR-based), with reminders and certificates; since 2020 it has been the basis for national immunisation programmes.
- Patient-controlled settings: hide individual documents, exclude specific providers, opt out of parts (for example e-Medikation) or entirely, and read the full access log.
- In development: structured laboratory data, the e-Patientenkurzakte (patient summary), telemonitoring data and imaging links.
How it is built
Austria's ELGA is a federation of regional IHE XDS affinity domains with document registries and repositories, joined by central components run by ELGA GmbH: a patient index, a healthcare provider index, an authorisation system based on e-card contacts at the point of care, and the citizen portal. Documents stay in their repository until a provider retrieves them.
ELGA is a federation: each region (and the hospital groups and the e-card system of the social insurance) runs XDS affinity domains with document registries and repositories; ELGA's central components provide the patient index (based on the central residents' register and the social insurance number), the healthcare provider index, the authorisation system (which provider may see which patient's documents, based on a contact confirmed via the e-card at the point of care, for 28 days, 90 days for GPs) and the portal. Documents never leave their repository until retrieved; the registries hold metadata.
Providers connect through their own software (GDA-Software), which implements the ELGA interfaces (IHE XDS.b, XCA for cross-domain, PIX/PDQ, ATNA logging, XUA for assertions) and is tested in ELGA's conformance environment. The e-card infrastructure of the social insurance is the identity backbone for professionals and patients at the point of care.
Standards and codes
Austria's ELGA uses HL7 CDA R2 documents with ELGA implementation guides at three conformance levels, IHE profiles for registry, retrieval and audit, and HL7 FHIR with Austrian profiles for the e-Impfpass and new services. Codes are ICD-10 BMSGPK for diagnoses, LOINC for laboratory, ATC and national pharmaceutical codes for medicines, and increasingly SNOMED CT.
- CDA R2 with ELGA implementation guides per document type; ELGA defines three levels of structure (EIS Basic, Enhanced, Full Support) and publishes schematrons.
- IHE profiles for everything around the documents; HL7 FHIR for the e-Impfpass and new services, with Austrian profiles (HL7 Austria).
- Codes: ICD-10 BMSGPK (the Austrian ICD-10 edition) for diagnoses, LOINC for laboratory, ATC and the national pharmaceutical codes for medicines, SNOMED CT (Austria is a member since 2020) increasingly, ELGA value sets through the national terminology server.
The legal frame and the EHDS
Austria's ELGA is governed by the Gesundheitstelematikgesetz (GTelG 2012) and its regulations, which define mandatory participation for hospitals, contracted doctors and pharmacies, the opt-out, access periods, logging and citizens' rights. Austria exchanges the patient summary and ePrescription through MyHealth@EU, and the European Health Data Space will extend ELGA's exchange to the priority categories.
The Gesundheitstelematikgesetz (GTelG 2012) and its regulations govern ELGA: who must participate (all hospitals, contracted doctors and pharmacies), the opt-out, access periods, logging and the citizen's rights. Austria operates a national contact point and exchanges the patient summary and ePrescription with other member states through MyHealth@EU; the EHDS will extend this to the priority categories in the European format, for which ELGA's document base and its new structured services are the foundation.
For a person with ELGA
A person with an Austrian ELGA logs in at gesundheit.gv.at with ID Austria to see their documents, medications and vaccinations, download them, decide what each provider may see and check who accessed the record. Downloaded e-Befunde and the vaccination record can be kept in a personal record such as Anpheros Daily for a clinic abroad.
Log in at gesundheit.gv.at with ID Austria to see your documents, medications and vaccinations, download them, set what each provider may see, and read who accessed your record. A record such as Anpheros Daily can hold your downloaded e-Befunde and your vaccination record, with the original CDA kept and the coded content in FHIR, for a clinic in another country; see How to transfer your medical records.
National systems change often. This page describes the situation as published by the operators linked under Sources, last reviewed in October 2026; the operator's documentation is the authority for connection requirements.
Related pages
- National electronic health records in Europe and the US
- MyHealth@EU and the cross-border patient summary
- Your medical data in the EU: GDPR, EHDS and your rights
- Health records online: how to access yours in the EU, UK and US
- CDA and C-CDA explained
- FHIR Immunization explained
Sources
- ELGA GmbH
- ELGA: technical documentation and CDA implementation guides
- Gesundheitsportal Österreich: ELGA portal
- HL7 Austria
- RIS: Gesundheitstelematikgesetz 2012
Frequently asked questions
Is ELGA mandatory?
Participation is opt-out: everyone insured has an ELGA unless they object, in whole or in part (for example only e-Medikation). Hospitals, contracted doctors and pharmacies must participate as providers.
Who can read my ELGA documents?
Providers with a confirmed contact (your e-card read at their practice or admission), for a limited period, unless you have excluded them or hidden the document. Every access is logged and visible to you.
Is ELGA structured data or documents?
Mostly documents (CDA), with coded sections depending on the document's level; e-Medikation and the e-Impfpass are structured. Structured lab data and a patient summary are being added.
Can a foreign doctor access ELGA?
Not directly. The patient summary and ePrescription are exchanged with participating EU countries through MyHealth@EU; otherwise you share documents you download from the portal.
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