Telehealth 2007: Home page
TeleHealth 2007
Europe is facing the challenge of delivering quality healthcare to all its citizens, at an affordable cost. The increasing demand by citizens for best quality healthcare, the costs of managing chronic diseases, and the need for prolonged medical care for an ageing society are major factors behind this challenge.
The TeleHealth 2007 conference focused on telemedicine and innovative
technologies for chronic disease management in Europe. The conference provided a platform for exchanging experiences and discussing the reasons why
telemedicine is not yet as developed as it should be. The European Commission
aims to propose concrete actions and solutions at a European level. Purely
national issues, e.g. those related to specific national legislation, will not
be addressed. The conference focused on issues common to several Member
States or related to cross-border activities and that would benefit from a
European slant.
TeleHealth 2007 is one of the stepping stones that will lead to a communication
on 'telemedicine and innovative technologies for chronic disease management'
that the Commission plans to publish in October 2008. Another such stepping
stone will be the results of a
public consultation, launched in October 2007, aimed at gathering
telemedicine expertise in all Member States .
The conference took place in the Breydel building in Brussels on 11th
December.
It was structured as a sequence of four to five roundtable
sessions, each of them dealing with a specific class of problems, such as:
• Legal obstacles: tax, social security, liabilities, claims
• Financial issues: patient reimbursement
• Practical issues: accreditation, certification, labelling
• Data protection and privacy
• Interoperability
See full conference programme
::
Report of
the Conference ::
This report outlines the conferences’ main ideas, presentations, discussions and
debates. It provides a first insight into all the possible reasons why the
European Commission is exploring the possibilities for a future action plan for
Europe on telemedicine. A proposed timetable is introduced that lasts over the
course of 2008-2009 which shows the directions towards the publication of a
possible Communication. This report encourages the members of the Union, and the
wide range of stakeholders concerned, to explore what difficulties may have to
be overcome to facilitate wider telemedicine deployment throughout Europe.
We welcome any comments and contribution to help building the Communication at eHealth@ec.europa.eu.