eHealth:
- refers to tools and services using information and communication technologies (ICTs) that can improve prevention, diagnosis, treatment, monitoring and management.
- can benefit the entire community by improving access to care and quality of care and by making the health sector more efficient.
- includes information and data sharing between patients and health service providers, hospitals, health professionals and health information networks; electronic health records; telemedicine services; portable patient-monitoring devices, operating room scheduling software, robotized surgery and blue-sky research on the virtual physiological human.
Goals of the EU:
- to improve citizens' health by making life-saving information available – between countries when necessary – using eHealth tools
- to increase healthcare quality and access by making eHealth part of health policy and coordinating EU countries' political, financial and technical strategies
- to make eHealth tools more effective, user-friendly and widely accepted by involving professionals and patients in strategy, design and implementation.