Brussels, 09/05/2012 (Agence Europe) - During the “Smart Health - Better Lives” conference organised in Copenhagen on 7-9 May as part of “eHealth week 2012”, the working group on e-health published a series of recommendations in an effort to transform the European Union healthcare environment.
The group was set up a year ago to explore opportunities provided by new technology as a means to improve the way in which healthcare systems operate. According to the group of experts, Europeans will only be able to benefit from the affordable, less intrusive and more personalised health care which information and communication technologies (ICT) can bring if agreement is reached on how to use health data. The group delivered this and other recommendations on how to unlock the potential of eHealth for safer, better and more efficient health care in Europe. Neelie Kroes, European Commissioner for the Digital Agenda, and John Dalli, European Commissioner for Health and Consumer Policy, said: “Information and communication technologies are making our health systems more efficient and sustainable… How we'll manage data will be critical for the effectiveness of our health research, diagnostics and healthcare delivery... Supporting health literacy is also key for patient empowerment and for building trust in eHealth solutions.”
The experts recommend the following action: (1) create a legal framework and space to manage the massive amounts of health-related data. Implement safeguards so that citizens can use health applications (apps) with the confidence that their data will be handled appropriately; (2) support health literacy. Health data needs to be available in a form that patients can understand; (3) create a “beacon group” of member states and regions committed to open data and eHealth, including pioneers in eHealth applications; (4) use data power. eHealth applications must prove worthy of users' trust. Only then will users make their data available; (5) re-orient EU funding and policies - specific eHealth budget lines need to be responsive and to enable the development of good ideas into fast prototyping and testing.
The taskforce's recommendations will feed into eHealth-related EU initiatives, including the eHealth Network, which is being established according to the provisions of the directive on patients' rights in cross border healthcare. In the second half of 2012 the Commission will present the eHealth Action Plan 2012-2020 to scale-up eHealth for empowerment, efficiency and innovation. (IL/transl.fl)