The patient is the most underused resource in healthcare, we’ve been told. But the relationship between health professionals and patients is changing: informed and active individuals have great potential in tackling healthcare challenges. “Patient empowerment” is the word of the moment.

The US-based health plan Kaiser Permanente (KP) is among the forerunners of digitally assisted care delivery in the world. During the last decade, KP has built up a fully integrated care network that allows designing evidence-based care plans and sets standards in terms of transparency and patient involvement.

Optimal care of chronically ill patients requires proper access to individual patient data and a user-friendly disease management infrastructure that puts the patient at the centre of care. The Danish Shared Medication Record and the European Renewing Health Project take ICT-assisted chronic care seriously.

The Finnish Telestroke Network offers assistance to hospitals that have to treat stroke patients but cannot provide a neurologist at night and on weekends. The telestroke consultations result in a high rate of successful thrombolysis treatments.

With the core groups establishing themselves, the European Innovation Partnership (EIP) on Active and Healthy Ageing is entering a new phase. The action plans for the numerous EIP actions will be due in October. The ultimate goal is to accelerate on the path towards large scale deployment.

From 1 July 2012, the European Union's mobile roaming regulation will be extended to include price caps for data downloads which will mean significant savings for those using maps, email and social networks when travelling. For a typical businessperson travelling in the EU this will mean savings of over €1000 per year. A family taking an annual holiday in another EU country can expect to save at least €200.

"yesterday I was reminded of just how much innovation and impact those smaller companies can make, when I awarded the best ideas for active and healthy ageing". Blog post by N. Kroes

Denmark, England and Scotland have been pioneers in the use of electronic communication in and across the health and social care sectors. The three pioneers have been able to integrate telehealth into standard patient treatments, according to a new study from the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (IPTS)

Ministers for Health and top government officials from all of Europe are on their way to Copenhagen to discuss health IT and telehealth. Together with the European Commission, The Danish Minister for Health, Astrid Krag, hosts the yearly “High Level eHealth Conference” which takes place in Copenhagen on 7-9 May. It is connected to the EU Presidency and is part of “eHealth Week 2012” alongside a number of other events. Follow us on twitter: @EU_ehealthweek #eHW12.

In what areas and how could EU action on social media benefit employability, jobs and growth across Europe? These questions will be addressed during the Digital Agenda Assembly on 21 and 22 June in Brussels, more specifically in the workshop Social Media Social Networking for Economic Recovery, Jobs and Growth. We will explore the use and great potential of social media for growth and jobs in Europe from three perspectives: 1- businesses; 2- social media platform providers; 3- the public sector. Join the discussion today!

Join in the Online Engagement Platform to Discuss in the online groups, Contribute to the Digital Agenda Assembly, Help us to shape the Mid-Term review of the DAE! Use the following hashtags: #DA12 #DA12social

Los valencianos serán los primeros de España cuya historia clínica podrá consultarse en centros sanitarios europeos cuando reciban asistencia gracias al proyecto epSOS, un sistema transfronterizo cofinanciado por la Comisión Europea y que evitará problemas a las personas que acuden al médico en el extranjero.

The European Health Insurance Card is being used in epSOS, a pilot project co-financed by the European Commission, which aims at developing cross-border eHealth services to improve the quality and safety of healthcare for citizens travelling to another European country. epSOS can make a significant contribution to patient safety by reducing the frequency of medical errors and by providing quick access to documentation. In emergency situations, this documentation provides the medical personnel with life-saving information and reduces the (sometimes needless) repetition of diagnostic procedures.

After more than three years of hard work to develop feasible cross-border eHealth services, epSOS is moving from pilot to operational cross-border eHealth services. In this piloting phase the solutions that have been developed are tested in a real-life environment over a one-year period. The major challenge for secure cross border data exchange in respect of EU and national privacy regulations has been successfully addressed in a common approach accepted by the participating nations.

SALAR, the Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions (Sveriges Kommuner och Landsting - SKL, in Swedish) has recently launched the 'Centre for eSociety' - CeSam (Center för eSamhället, in Swedish) to accelerate the development of digital welfare services across Sweden's municipalities, counties and regions. CeSam's work is run in close cooperation with SALAR's divisions in the following activity areas: eHealth, school, business and labour, town planning, traffic, environment, culture, leisure and hospitality, democracy and participation, support, and structural conditions.

Access to fast and reliable broadband connections has become crucial for both consumers and businesses and is essential for future economic growth and job creation. In order to ensure that networks keep pace with rising demand for bandwidth and become a platform for innovation, the Digital Agenda for Europe sets ambitious broadband targets and requires EU Member States to implement equally ambitious national broadband plans which define a set of suitable measures to achieve these targets.

A number of recent highly publicized drug safety issues have shown that adverse drug reactions (ADRs) may be detected too late - when millions of patients have already been exposed. As a result, the EU-ADR funded project is working on the basis of the asumption that earlier detection is needed. Before launching a new drug onto the market, appropriate tests are conducted. However, adverse reactions may only be detected once the drug is more heavily used. EU-ADR proposes an alternative approach towards the detection of ADR signals with the objective of overcoming the limitations of spontaneous reporting databases and providing a solid basis for large-scale monitoring of drug safety.

The European Commission has asked the European Court of Justice to impose a fine on Portugal because it has not respected a 2010 Court judgment requiring it to follow EU telecoms rules when deciding who should provide universal service in Portugal. The Commission is suggesting a lump sum of €38 984/day and a daily penalty payment of €7 571 until the obligations are fulfilled.

epSOS to lay the groundwork for a union-wide system of easily exchangeable patient data, to be in place by 2015. This way, citizens travelling around Europe could receive their medication even if they were not holding the related prescription.

Up to date 26 Cities committed to the Green Digital Charter. Barcelona and Eindhoven were the latest cities signing up on the 28th and 29th of February.