ACTIVITIES :: ICT for Health :: eHealth Governance Initiative
eHealth Governance Initiative
Highlights
This initiative is the result of years of informal cooperation between Member States on eHealth issues.
The eHealth Action Plan in 2004 marked the beginning of such cooperation and defined a policy context in which such cooperation could develop, with the support of the European Commission. The last three Ministerial declarations, following the yearly High Level Conference on eHealth, expressed the need and the will of Member States to cooperate more closely to implement and deploy interoperable eHealth services and address in a coordinated manned challenges linked to eHealth services. The Draft Council Conclusions on a Safe and efficient healthcare through eHealth, which were adopted by the EPSCO Council on December 1st, 2009, brought such cooperation to a further step. In the Draft Conclusions, Member States agreed on the importance of developing further the so-called eHealth Governance Initiative to bring forward eHealth for the "deployment and actual use of interoperable eHealth services within and between national healthcare systems".
The overall objective of the proposed initiative, as outlined at the first informal meeting of State Secretaries which took place in Prague on February 18th, 2009 and confirmed in the last meeting on October 23rd, is to contribute actively to the shaping of the eHealth political agenda at EU level, with a specific focus on interoperability. Member States aim at achieving Interoperability and increasing the quality and efficiency of care by strengthening their cooperation at High Political Level to get support in how to deploy eHealth services also across borders.
In the ongoing discussions Member States indicated that such cooperation should happen under the political guidance of State Secretaries (or equivalent) and facilitated by the European Commission. The Commission, (DG INFSO and DG SANCO) are planning to fund a Thematic Network and co-fund a Joint Action to support the cooperation between Member States. Activities in this area are ongoing, if proposals will be successful, EC support for the Initiative is starting soon.
A meeting took place during the eHealth Week 2011 (Budapest, may 11th), see presentation.
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