Commission's e-Health action plan plots a course to progress
Every EU Member State should develop national or regional roadmaps for e-Health by 2005, according to the recommendations set out in an action plan on e-Health adopted by the European Commission on 3 May. The action plan 'e-Health - making healthcare better for European citizens' specifies around 20 practical steps for making better use of information and communication technologies (ICT) within the health care sector, with the goal of establishing a European e-Health Area. Responsibility for achieving these steps is shared between the Commission and Member States. 'The greater use of technologies and services - such as the Internet - as a partner in improving health care must be encouraged,' said Enterprise and Information Society Commissioner Erkki Liikanen. 'This plan helps us to do this because new technologies and services make access faster and easier, reduce errors, and improve the effectiveness of health care systems.' As well as developing their roadmaps, between 2004 and 2008 European governments are also expected to support the deployment of health information networks, such as Denmark's medcom, which, according to the Commission, deliver savings, speed up diagnosis and treatment, and reduce the risk of medical errors. By 2005, EU countries are also expected to agree a common approach to benchmarking the quantitative and qualitative impacts of e-Health, and the action plan states that: 'An assessment of e-Health developments should be completed ahead of the second part of the World Summit on the Information Society in Tunis in 2005.' The actions that the Commission has set itself begin with the creation of a high level e-Health forum before the end of 2004, made up of stakeholders from national, regional and local hospital authority levels. The forum will be responsible for following up the various roadmaps developed across Europe, and identifying further areas for action. In addition, the Commission pledges to develop a summary of European best practice in e-Health by mid 2005 to help guide Member States and, by the end of the same year, create an EU public health portal giving access to European level health information. Currently, a quarter of Europeans use the Internet to find information about illnesses and other health matters, but according to the Commission, e-Health solutions include products and services that go far beyond simply Internet-based applications. '[e-Health] offers governments and tax payers a means - through substantial productivity gains - to cope with increasing demand on healthcare services [and] reshape the future of health care delivery, making it more citizen centred,' according to the action plan. Health and Consumer Protection Commissioner David Byrne added: 'Patients will benefit from the use of information and communication technologies in healthcare. With the adoption of the e-Health action plan yet another element is in place to address the many issues that confront health services throughout the EU.' The Commissioner concluded by pledging that, following the e-Health Ministerial Conference in Cork on 6 May, he and Europe's health ministers would work to ensure the best use of technology to improve the quality, availability and effectiveness of health care in Europe.