ACTIVITIES :: eTen :: Projects :: Project of the Year 2005
Health Optimum eTEN project of the year 2005
The result
The visitors of the eTEN website have elected Health Optimum as eTEN project
of year 2005. By winning the election, Health Optimum is for 2005 the best
communicating eTEN project. Health Optimum is validating a new
telemedicine-enabled healthcare delivery model in three European regions (Veneto
in Italy, Aragon in Spain and Funen in Denmark). The project is a clear winner
since it received more than 40 % of the votes. Voters could choose between 10
different projects. A voter explained his/her vote for Health Optimum by stating
that ‘ telemedicine is the future for giving high quality services on the
territory’. It was also seen as an ‘innovator’ and a project that ‘may have a
good impact on future life’.
Second was the Riser project that received over 20% of the votes. Their service
offers the verification of address information trough access on official
registries to companies and citizens. The MAP project received a vote from 14%
of the web visitors and became third. The MAP project aims to help public
information offices and emergency services to increase the quality of life and
the security of citizens.
The winning project
The services that the Health Optimum project will validate are seen as
promoters of far-reaching changes in the way health services are organised and
healthcare is delivered. The project is carrying out an in-depth analysis of the
current organisational structures in the targeted countries, to identify and
market validate the most suitable set of telemedicine services.
The aim of the project is to verify if demand and offer for telemedicine
services match and if the cost of introducing them can be offset by economies
(in the broadest sense of the term) obtained in other parts of the health
system. In order to check the economic viability of the service in a public
health system ,the benefit will be compared to the cost required to deploy and
run the telemedicine infrastructure and services. Results from the trials will
also be extrapolated to the liberal medicine models to evaluate if and how the
Health Optimum services can be deployed in countries which have adopted that
model of medicine.
By proposing a system able to enhance the quality of healthcare services,
improve their accessibility by citizens, and ensure their economic and social
sustainability, Health Optimum promises to increase appropriateness and
accessibility of healthcare whilst reducing its overall cost to the society.
The election
The election took place for the second time. Last year the eTEN programme has
started the project of the year election as part of the eTEN programme’s effort
to "reach out" and to increase the eTEN website's impact. Similar to last year
the election was specifically held to decide which project communicates best
about the e-Service they have been, or are, validating or deploying. Visitors
could vote from 6 until 23 December for one of the 2005 eTEN projects of the
month. Everybody could give one vote only.
The turn-out was comparable to last year: almost 800 web-visitors voted. While
selecting their favorite project, voters were encouraged to visit each of the
ten project websites and decide which one would get their vote, on the basis of
which presented its objectives and service ambitions and achievements in the
clearest and most understandable manner. There is no prize for the winner but
the honour of being the best communicating eTEN project of 2005.