Strategic value of eHealth

eHealth expansion

Over at the World of Health IT 2010 conference in Barcelona, European Union health ministers have signed a declaration that recognises the strategic value of eHealth and commits to greater collaboration across Europe.

The declaration was driven by the Spanish presidency of the EU, which wants eHeath to be an integrated part of European policies. The EC believes that giving citizens more control over their own health management is key to cutting costs in the sector and driving innovation.

As part of the declaration, the ministers responsible for eHealth said that they recognised the "importance of fully integrating digital healthcare into the European policy portfolio and the development of the post 2010 European strategy," eHealth Europe reports.

They said they will work toward "greater political coordination" between areas in which eHealth can improve healthcare and aim to remove barriers in its deployment.

Spain and Sweden

For successful implementation of eHealth, the rest of Europe should be looking towards Spain and Sweden, who have successfully managed to work with eHealth.

Karin Johansson, state secretary of the Swedish ministry of health, highlighted the importance of a proper evidence base to the success of eHealth projects. "Other success factors include strong team leadership, continuous follow-up of projects and a clear division of tasks." In Sweden, where a national patient summary is currently being implemented, annual progress reports provide all stakeholders with up-to-date information. Data on the benefits of every single application and on the costs of not implementing applications such as electronic medical records or electronic prescribing, is provided, HealthTech Wire reports.

Catalan in Spain, like many other regions, has been remarkably successful in implementing eHealth applications on a large scale in recent years. "We have focused on a regional shared medical record, a medical image depository, electronic prescribing, telemedicine and a personal health folder for patient access to data," said Joan Guanyabens, coordinator of health IT at the Catalan department of health, summarising what is now already available in Catalonia.

Speaking at the high level ministerial press conference, European commissioner for digital agenda Neelie Kroes said: "This declaration is crucial. This is a signed document and the beginning of a new era.

Market worth more than €15 billion per year

"Time is not our friend and we need to start now. The stakes are high. eHealth is now a market worth more than €15 billion per year and is the fastest growing market in health, despite the economic crisis.

"I'm convinced that without embracing eHealth, our health service will simply not work tomorrow."

By signing the declaration, the ministers also committed to organising activities at European level related to innovation and to the legal issues involved in managing healthcare data digitally.

Zoran Stančič, deputy director general of the European Commission's DG INFSO, inforced the EC's commitment to eHealth at the conference by saying it has financially supported and contributed to more than 400 projects and increased its spending from roughly €10 million annually 20 years ago to more than €100 million today.

Stančič added: "eHealth is not just a market of its own; it can boost and revive the innovation in traditionally very strong European health industries such as pharmaceuticals and medical devices. Currently, eHealth is clearly the fastest growing pillar of the healthcare industry."

New eHealth developments could also act as a driver for innovation in the pharmaceutical and medical devices industry, Stančič argued. In other words: eHealth offers not only the possibility to increase efficiency and quality of care, it can also be seen as a growth machine for Europe.

Jodie Humphries

Jodie Humphries graduated from Bath Spa University with a BA Hons in Creative Writing in 2008. She has worked for GDS Publishing for the digital group since July 2009. She has previous experience with writing for the web, running her own website since April 2007.

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