The European Commission has released details of a new ‘Action Plan′ to improve the take up of e-Health across Europe. Among its key proposals are plans to finally specify the explicit structure of patient record data so that they can be exchanged across borders, improve patients′ digital “health literacy,” the release of a mobile health green paper by 2014, improve the market conditions for e-Health entrepreneurs and many other steps.
"We have to adapt to digital technology"
Announcing the plan, European Commission VP and digital agenda commissioner Neelie Kroes claimed, “Many health conditions are long-term and degenerative. That trend will continue as our population gets older. People with that kind of condition don′t always need the same pattern of care, so we have to adapt and digital technology is there to help us change - whether it′s remote monitoring that lets you be cared for at home, robots to help around the house, or simply mobile apps that empower you to take control of your own healthcare.”
For Tonio Borg, Commissioner for Health and Consumer Policy, "e-Health solutions can deliver high quality, patient-centric, healthcare to our citizens [as it] brings healthcare closer to people and improves health systems′ efficiency.
“Today′s announcement will help turn the e-Health potential into better care for our citizens [and] channels our joint commitment to find interoperable solutions at EU level."
The Plan points out the rising cost of providing care using current approaches - some EU governments are spending up to 15% of their budgets this way. It then points out the rise in e-Health as a possible aid, given that the global telemedicine market grew from $9.8bn in 2010 to $11.6bn in 2011, while the global m (mobile) Health market is set to grow to €17.5bn a year by 2017.
Kroes and her team contrast such approaches to current national approaches to health care provision, which she claims were designed to deal with a model of acute care based around stays in hospitals or institutions.
“That was fine for the 20th century,” she said. “But cracks in the system are beginning to show.”
A “leadership gap” between e-Health technology and patients
But there is a lag in adopting new, tech-enabled health care approaches, she added, something she characterises as a “leadership gap” between e-Health technology and patients.
“The [medical] sector has been hesitant to embrace the digital revolution, preferring to stick to traditional methods and models. Politicians have preferred not to upset a system that has worked well in the past.”
Which hits the nail on the head; the question is to what extent politicians will actually pay any attention to the Plan and look to use technology to reform what are often genuinely “cracking” systems of provision - which will have to mean more access to the ‘market′ by private tech firms, surely?
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Quelle/Source: British Journal of Healthcare Computing, 13.12.2012
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