“Europe is well placed to seize the arising opportunities”

The European Commission has identified a growing demand for innovative eHealth services in Europe. As a consequence, the eHealth market became part of the European Lead Market Initiative in December 2007. Mike Palmer from the European Commission’s “ICT for Health” unit spoke to HealthTechWire about the initiative.

Published: 05/08

PORTOROZ, SLOVENIA - (HealthTech Wire) - What is the goal of the Lead Market Initiative in terms of eHealth?

The European Commission wants to accelerate the development of the European eHealth market by removing barriers to deployment. This can be achieved first and foremost by reducing market fragmentation and the lack of interoperability that is severely hampering the European eHealth market at the moment. We are also aiming to improve legal certainty for providers and users, to optimise funding opportunities and to improve procurement.

What is the national government's role in this process?

The role of the Member States has been clearly defined in the action plan linked to the Lead Market Initiative Communication. In general, the governments of the Member States need to include eHealth in the political vision for the way healthcare will be structured, organized, managed and financed. They need to build up incentive models to align incentives between who pays for and who benefits from ICT in health. There is an urgent need to further involve end users, i.e. medical doctors and patients, in the development of ICT solutions. Member States are also urged to further encourage standards-based building blocks for use case-driven interoperability. Finally, the Member States need to foster emerging concepts of information governance and shared responsibility, especially with regard to electronic medical record systems.

How competitive are European companies in the field of eHealth?

In terms of market size, the European eHealth industry has a leading position in fields like personalised health systems, medical equipment, and in several sectors of integrated eHealth solutions. The focus is on telemedicine and homecare and on clinical information systems in the primary healthcare sector. The EU industry is relatively weak in more traditional hospital–based fields related, for example, to administrative and management systems or basic computing infrastructures. All in all, Europe is well placed to seize the opportunities arising, but there are still critical factors that need to be addressed in order to fully exploit this potential.

What can the EU do to ensure the high quality of eHealth services in Europe?

The European Commission does not interfere directly with the national health systems of the Member States due to the principle of subsidiarity. What we certainly can do is to sustain research activities and help to exchange quality criteria and encourage certification efforts, for example in the field of teleradiology. The EU can also promote benchmarking activities and help in the exchange of best practice examples to encourage industry, health professionals and health authorities to improve the quality of services.

Mr. Palmer, thank you very much for your time and answers. (PP)

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