Looking back to look forward – the midterm review of the Digital Single Market Strategy helps determine future actions
The mid-term review of the Digital Single Market Strategy of 2015 has just taken place, providing an opportunity to take stock of the achievements in eHealth and to prepare the ground for further actions. DG Sante's Head of Unit for eHealth Tapani Piha, speaks about what the Commission has in mind.
First things first, what exactly is the Digital Single Market?
The Digital Single Market (DSM) is a market environment in which the free movement of goods, persons, services and capital is ensured — and where citizens and businesses can easily access online goods and services. It's one of the Commission's top priorities to create and support this market, which could contribute €415 billion to the European economy and yield other important benefits.
How can the Digital Single Market impact public health?
The DSM can be an important driver to support the much needed reform of health and social care models in Europe. Particularly exciting are the possibilities of collecting and exchanging health data, and opportunities for new apps and other solutions for people to manage their health.
The initiative to digitalise healthcare can catalyse the emergence and scaling up of new integrated health and care solutions across Europe, improving the health and quality of life of its citizens, and making its health and care systems more sustainable while boosting the economy.
What have been some of the key developments?
The European Reference Network is going to open completely new possibilities for diagnosis and treatment of patients with rare diseases. They will benefit from the expertise of specialists across the EU. In addition, the digital solutions used by European Reference Networks can pave the way to a more general use of telemedicine.
Another development, one of many, is that the Health Digital Service Infrastructure will facilitate the cross-border exchange of electronic prescriptions and patient summaries, clearly benefitting travellers.
What future action does the mid-term review suggest is necessary?
There is a need to deliver a coordinated, coherent policy vision on digital health and care innovation as part of the DSM Strategy. So far, proposals have been centred on moving forward in three areas to (1) fully realise every citizens’ right to access and share their personal health data, (2) support the development of a secure data infrastructure to pool health data to further research, disease prevention and personalised health and care, and (3) to cooperate on a European level to accelerate large scale adoption of innovative solutions such as telemedicine and mobile health applications.
Activities at EU level
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European Commission – Health and Food Safety |
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European Commission – Digital Economy and Society |
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European Commission – Digital Economy and Society |
News
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Midterm review on the Digital Single Market Strategy shows good progress The Digital Single Market Strategy was launched in 2015. Midway through the four-year plan, this review highlights progress made and work still to be done. A Commission Communication, including a section on digital transformation of health and care, has been adopted. |
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10 top things not to miss at eHealth Week 2017... and much more! Get the list in the Commission's specially dedicated newsletter on eHealth, ageing and wellbeing and keep up with the latest eHealth developments, from a mobile app helping to detect Parkinson's Disease to a sensor-fitted suit to analyse stroke patients' movements. |
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European Reference Networks raise hope for patients with rare diseases The networks were launched in March 2017. They will greatly facilitate contact between patients with rare diseases and the specialists who can help them. Read more about the European Reference Networks in the Health EU newsletter of 9 March, 2017, which focused on the topic. |
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Digital Service Infrastructures (DSIs) to deliver networked cross-border services A core service platform serves as a central hub at EU level, to which national infrastructures link up. A sector specific DSI on eHealth allowing the exchange of electronic prescriptions and patient summaries between Member States will become operational in 2018. |
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European Commission publishes study on Big Data in public health, telemedicine and healthcare The study outlines policy recommendations in 10 areas: awareness raising, education and training, data sources, open data and data sharing, applications and purposes, data analysis, governance of data access and use, standards, funding and financial resources, and legal and privacy aspects. |
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Key results and outlook published for European Patients' Smart Open Services Key goals of this project were to improve the quality and safety of healthcare for citizens when travelling throughout Europe and to develop a practical eHealth framework and ICT infrastructure. epsSOS gave rise to the exchange of e-prescriptions and patient summaries, now being put in place through the eHealth DSI. |
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The e-SENS project involved over 100 public and private actors from 22 countries and aimed to consolidate the work done in previous Large Scale Pilots, providing generic IT solutions for cross-border communication which can be applied to any policy domain. |