 |
| E-Health | |
| |
| |
| |
eEurope - An
Information Society for
Europe
DG Health and Consumer
Protection collaborates closely
with
DG
Information Society to
deliver health-related actions
specified under the
eEurope
initative
 launched by the
Commission in 1999.
The
eEurope
Action Plan
was adopted by the Commission
on 14 June 2000 and endorsed by
the European Council in Feira,
Portugal on 19-20 June 2000.
Policy actions detailed under
the Health Online chapter were
as follows :
- Ensure that primary
and secondary healthcare
providers have health
telematics infrastructure in
place including regional
networks
- Best practice in
electronic health services in
Europe identified and
disseminated, benchmarking
criteria set
- Establish a set of
quality criteria for
health-related websites
- Establish health
technology and data assessment
networks
- Publish a
Communication on « Legal
Aspects of eHealth »
Regular updates on
progress are published by DG
Information Society on the
eEurope
pages of its Europa
website.
The
eEurope
Action Plan was endorsed by
the European Council in
Seville, Spain on 21-22 June
2002. It has set the objective
for Europe to have, by 2005 «
modern, online public services
». One of the proposed actions
is to promote ehealth services.
Specific plans are:
Electronic
health cards. Building on the agreement
at the Barcelona European Council the Commission has worked to
replace the paper based forms needed for health treatment in
another Member State by a European health insurance card
(more at http://ec.europa.eu/employment_social/healthcard/index_en.htm).
The Commission further intends to support a common approach to patient identifiers and
electronic health record architecture through standardisation and will support the exchange
of good practices on possible additional functionalities, such as medical emergency data and
secure access to personal health information.
For these purposes, addressing the issues of data protection and privacy is of crucial
importance. A Working Party was set up under Article 29 of Directive 95/46/EC as an
independent European advisory body on data protection and privacy
issues and the Working
Document on the processing of personal data relating to health in electronic health
records can be consulted here.
Health
information networks. By
end 2005, Member States should
develop health information
networks between points of care
(hospitals, laboratories and
homes) with broadband
connectivity where relevant. In
parallel, the Commission
intends to set up European-wide
information networks of public
health data and co-ordinate
actions for Europe-wide rapid
reactions to health threats.
Online health services.
By end 2005, Commission and
Member States will ensure that
online health services are
provided to citizens (e.g.
information on healthy living
and illness prevention,
electronic health records,
teleconsultation,
e-reimbursement). Some of the
health and related preventative
services (e.g. air and water
quality online information)
could be expanded to a
trans-European level through
the eTEN programme. The
Commission will monitor actions
taken by Member States to make
health information as
accessible as possible to
citizens as well as initiatives
to implement
quality
criteria for web sites.
Health
Telematics
The High Level Committee
on Health has established a
Working Group on Health
Telematics. This Working Group
has been asked to review the
introduction of information and
communications technology (ICT)
in the health sector, the
factors promoting or inhibiting
its development, and areas
where Community legislation
could be beneficial. The Group
considered particular
applications of ICT in health,
namely health cards, virtual
hospitals and provision of
health-related information to
health professionals and
patients. Their
report was
accepted by the High Level
Committee on Health in April
2003.
Activities
under the Research Framework
Programmes
Many of the projects
supported by DG Information
Society under the EU Research
Framework programmes are of
direct interest to DG Health
and Consumer Protection's
policy work. Information on
these can be accessed through
the
Information
Society's Thematic
Portal.
Key document
COM (2004) 356 final:
"e-Health - making healthcare better for European citizens: An action plan for a European e-Health Area"
eHealth High Level Conference
The eHealth 2009 conference, with the theme of ‘eHealth for individuals, society and the economy’will be
held in Prague between February 18-20.This is the seventh in a series of high-level eHealth
conferences that have taken place since 2003.
The event is a collaborative effort of the Czech Presidency and European Commission (DG Information Society and Media and DG Health
and Consumers). It constitutes a key event in the eHealth annual policy awareness-raising agenda.
The event will highlight, among others, the collaborative work and best practices in eHealth (including user involvement), the focus
on cross-border healthcare provision, and the ongoing proposals and projects on eHealth interoperability.
A wide range of stakeholders, including patient and health professionals' organizations, is expected to attend.
You can find more information, including the draft programme and invitation possibilities, at www.ehealth2009.cz
Additional contacts to: content.ehealth2009@mzcr.cz
| |
| | |
|
|
