Affiliated partnership is a European Commission-led initiative developed to address concerns regarding the geographic coverage of the ERNs. In 2019 a call was open for healthcare providers to apply to become 'affiliated partners' of an ERN. Applicants had to be designated on a national level but were not required to meet the same criteria as ERN members. Affiliated partner designations could not be made by member states with a member hospital already involved in ERNICA.
There are two types of affiliated partner:
An Associated National Centre is a healthcare provider with at least some special expertise matching the global thematic domain of a given reference network that concentrates primarily on the provision of healthcare directly related to the activities and services of this specific network, including any type of diagnostic contribution supporting this provision of healthcare.
A National Coordination Hub is a healthcare provider that can link the national healthcare system to a number or all European Reference Networks. National Coordination Hubs function as interfaces between the national healthcare system and those Networks where a given Member State is neither represented by a full member nor by an Associated National Centre. National Coordination Hubs do not need any specific medical expertise.
ERNICA affiliated partnerships have been formalised for the following healthcare providers:
University Hospital Graz (Austria) - Associated National Centre
Kepler University Hospital Linz (Austria) - Associated National Centre
General Hospital of Vienna (Austria) - Associated National Centre
Sozial Medical Center East, Wien (Austria) - Associated National Centre
Children's Clinical University Hospital, Riga (Latvia) - Associated National Centre
La Paz University Hospital, Madrid (Spain) - Associated National Centre
Hospital Clinic of Barcelona (Spain) - Associated National Centre
Vall D'Hebron University Hospital, Barcelona (Spain) - Associated National Centre
Hospital de Sant Joan de Déu, Barcelona (Spain) - Associated National Centre
Vilnius University Santaros Clinics (Lithuania) - Associated National Centre
Hospital of Lithuanian University of Health Sciences Kauno Klinikos (Lithuania) - Associated National Centre
University Hospital Centre Zagreb (Croatia) - Associated National Centre
Mater Dei Hospital (Malta) - National Coordination Hub
The remaining applicants have not yet had their affiliated partnership status formalised.
The involvement of affiliated partners in ERNICA activities depends on the capacity of the healthcare provider and their level of expertise.