Brussels, 14/01/2014 (Agence Europe) - On 14 January, the European Parliament adopted by a show of hands the report by Pilar Ayuso (EPP, Spain) on the 2014-2020 action plan for e-health, which was presented by the European Commission in December 2012. E-health is the key to successful health reform because new technology is an added value - both in terms of efficiency and rationalisation of costs for the sector, states the report. “Currently, health systems within the EU are facing major challenges in the form of increased demands for health services due to the ageing of the population, the impact of chronic diseases, the mobility of patients and healthcare professionals, and the increasingly tight healthcare budgets”, said Ayuso. E-health has other advantages - giving access to care for people living in remote regions, improving working conditions and reducing waiting times. The development of these innovative methods must nevertheless be followed carefully by doctors, healthcare professionals and patients associations in order to achieve the objectives sought. In Ayuso's view, “it is essential that these projects are developed for the patients' best interests because essentially the prime objective is to improve the quality of healthcare delivered to the public in the EU, without overlooking the cultural differences that exist between member states in the field of healthcare”. The report also mentions the legal certainty which must surround the arrangements to be adopted on e-health so as to give confidence to patients and healthcare professionals in the new methods of care and to guarantee personal data protection. The Commission was delighted at the adoption of the report. “I welcome the Parliament's insistence on the importance of interoperability of e-health systems and the need for the Commission to take a leading role in establishing international standards and an EU e-health interoperability framework. The Commission will be working on these for the rest of the mandate”, said European Commissioner for the Digital Agenda Neelie Kroes. (IL/transl.fl)