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eHealth Action Plan 2012-2020 public consultation

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I. Introduction

The European Commission has been investing in eHealth research for over 20 years. Since 2004, it has been developing targeted policy initiatives aimed at fostering widespread adoption of eHealth technologies across the EU^[1].

In 2010, the flagship initiatives Digital Agenda for Europe^[2] and Innovation Union^[3] were launched as part of the EU's "Europe 2020" strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. Both flagships incorporate an important role for eHealth: the Digital Agenda for Europe includes a number of targeted eHealth actions and goals as part of a wider strategy towards sustainable healthcare and ICT-based support for dignified and independent living. The Innovation Union strategy, introduces the concept of a pilot European Innovation Partnership on active and healthy ageing, which will be launched in 2011.

Developing targeted policy initiatives aiming at fostering widespread adoption of eHealth technologies across the EU

In parallel, Member States have been taking a complementary and pro-active approach to eHealth. Council Conclusions adopted on 1st December 2009 called upon the European Commission to update the 2004 eHealth Action Plan. This has been followed up by the creation of the "eHealth Governance Initiative", driven by Member States and jointly supported by DG INFSO and SANCO. The overall objective of the initiative is to contribute actively to the shaping of the eHealth political agenda at EU level, with a specific focus on interoperability.

This second eHealth action plan (eHAP) provides an opportunity to consolidate the actions which have been addressed to date, take them a step further where possible and provide a longer term vision for eHealth in Europe, in the context the EU 2020 Strategy, the Digital Agenda for Europe as well as Innovation Union and its associated European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing (EIP-AHA).

II. Objective of the Questionnaire

The questionnaire forms part of the European Commission's official public consultation process. Wide consultation is one of the Commission’s duties according to the Treaties and helps to ensure that proposals put to the legislature are sound. By fulfilling its duty to consult, the Commission ensures that its proposals are technically viable, practically workable and based on a bottom-up approach. This serves a dual purpose by helping to improve the quality of the policy outcome and at the same time enhancing the involvement of interested parties and the public at large.

The questionnaire is open to all interested stakeholders and aims at understanding if the proposed policy objectives are in line with the aims, objectives and expectations of stakeholders. It further aims to examine if there are additional areas which require further development in the context of the action plan.

The public consultation closed on 25th May 2011. Following this, the results of the consultation were analysed and are taken into consideration in drafting a policy document setting out an Action plan for eHealth, which is planned to be adopted by the Commission in 4Q 2012. Read the report of this consultation for more details.

III. eHealth Action Plan – overall objectives

The proposed action plan will run from 2012 until 2020, mirroring the timeline of Europe 2020, the Digital Agenda for Europe and Innovation Union.

The overall policy objectives of the initiative are: to continue to support Member States and healthcare providers so that they may benefit from ICT solutions in the best interest of patients, healthcare systems and society; to help enable an innovation friendly environment and to make best use of innovation in health. In addition, eHealth Action Plan shall ensure the successful achievement of objectives of the Digital Agenda^[4] and European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing. To achieve such overall policy objectives at EU level, the Commission plans to work to:

Increase awareness of the benefits and opportunities of eHealth, and empower citizens, patients and healthcare professionals
Address issues currently impeding eHealth interoperability
Improve legal certainty for eHealth
Support innovation and research in eHealth and development of a competitive European and global market.

The questions outlined in the questionnaire have been organised under these four objective.

The questionnaire was open to all interested stakeholders and aimed at understanding if the proposed policy objectives are in line with the aims, objectives and expectations of stakeholders. It further aimed to examine if there are additional areas which require further development in the context of the action plan.

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Consultation reveals near consensus on the importance of pushing forward eHealth deployments

The final report on the public consultation has been published. The consultation, which involved a range of stakeholders including NGOs, academic institutions, enterprises, health and social care providers and public authorities from many Member States, aimed to validate four proposed objectives and to explore possible actions to be undertaken in the coming years. More than 90% of the stakeholders agreed with the four main objectives of the eHealth Action Plan and concluded that the main benefit of eHealth solution is to improve the quality, the efficiency and the sustainability of the available healthcare services.

The implementation of the relevant actions had initially been foreseen for the end of 2011. However, in light of the launch of a number of initiatives relevant to the development of the eHealth agenda at the European level, the Commission postpones the adoption of measures related to the eHealth Action Plan to 2012 in order to make sure that measures are built on consolidated views and visions from Member State representatives, stakeholders and experts.

Additional relevant information: eHealth Task Force
eHealth action plan 2004 assessment report

[1] Examples include: eHealth action plan COM (2004) 356 final; the Lead Market Initiative for Europe and the associated eHealth Roadmap [COM (2007) 860 final Annex I – Commission Staff Working Document: SEC (2007) 1729], the Commission Recommendation on cross-border interoperability of electronic health record systems (2008/594/EC), the Communication on benefits of telemedicine for patients healthcare systems and society (COM (2008)689 final),

[2] (COM (2010)245 final)

[3] (COM(2010) 546 final),

[4] DAE: Key Action 13: Work with Member States to equip 15% of Europeans with secure online access to their medical health data by 2015. By 2020 widespread deployment of telemedicine services. Key Action 14: Adopt EU wide standards, interoperability testing and certification of eHealth systems by 2015; Agree on a minimum set of patient data to be accessed/exchanged across Member States by 2011.