VoiceIt: “A pan-European eHealth infrastructure would revolutionise healthcare”

The theme of the European eHealth Conference currently taking place in Slovenia is “eHealth without frontiers”. HealthTech Wire talked to Dr. Karl Stroetmann, senior research associate of the research and consulting firm empirica, about ongoing pan-European projects facilitating cross-border eHealth services.

Published: 05/06/2008

The European Commission will soon launch an eHealth project for patients travelling within the EU. What is the goal of this project?

Smart Open Services – S.O.S. – is a large-scale pilot of patient summary and electronic prescription to be supported by the European Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme (CIP). 13 Member States will start implementing it later this year.  It aims to develop services providing patients travelling across Europe with access to high-quality care. As its acronym "S.O.S" suggests, one focus is on getting basic, but important patient data to foreign doctors urgently when needed, another is on enabling patients travelling in another country of the EU to use a local pharmacy to obtain their prescription medicines via ePrescription.

How will unauthorised access or loss of data be avoided?

The project will implement reliable and safe methods of storing and transferring personal data. Building on national initiatives, it is expected that a European minimum data set, incorporating emergency and demographic information, will be agreed. Limiting the data set facilitates translation and ensures that the foreign doctor fully understands the patient's data. Citizens can thus be confident of receiving appropriate medication and care. To achieve the new services, the participating countries will for the first time establish IT links between their healthcare systems. The Smart Open Services project has the potential to lay the groundwork for a future pan-European eHealth infrastructure which would help to revolutionise healthcare by supporting seamless care, reducing medical errors and avoiding unnecessary treatment.

As part of the eTen programme, the European Commission has already launched the TEN4Health project. How does this project improve borderless healthcare provision?

The TEN4Health service package is geared towards improving healthcare provision for mobile European Union citizens. This service guarantees citizens access to healthcare in participating Member States’ hospitals, based on a secure web service and its integration into the developing European eHealth infrastructure networks. The package’s key components include information on local rules, co-payments and other aspects of healthcare for citizens in their respective language at the point and time of treatment abroad as well as instantaneous online verification of their insurance status for healthcare providers. For fast electronic post-processing at national level and the digitisation of reimbursement procedures across Member State borders, special attention is given to interoperability. The TEN4Health service package greatly enhances and extends its added value by integrating efficient support for electronic post-processing at EU level.

More information on the TEN4Health project can be found at: www.ten4health.eu

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