INDICATORS

Summary of Joint Action for ECHIM
GENERAL OBJECTIVES: 1) To implement ECHI indicators in all Member States;
2) To improve, document and maintain ECHI indicators; 3) To maintain a network
of national health indicator experts for ECHI indicators and their collection.
STRATEGIC RELEVANCE & CONTRIBUTION TO THE PROGRAMME:
Joint Action for ECHIM will implement the core tasks of the Health Programme
and its Work Plan 2008 (point 3.4.1.2.). It is the backbone for the whole Health
Information and Knowledge System and for the implementation of comparable
health indicators in Member States and at EU level. It will result in comprehensive
and comparable information on health in all Member States. Without its efforts the
EU would continue to have very uneven data on health in different Member States,
without any comparability.
METHODS AND MEANS: Work will be divided between several R&D Centres
under the coordination of the Finnish National Institute for Health and Welfare
(THL; merged KTL and STAKES since 2009) and under the supervision of the
ECHIM Core Group. The R&D work and the Bilateral Discussions with Member
State experts will result in country specific implementation plans guiding the work
of national experts and key persons in Member State administrations. The existing
international network of health indicator experts will support both the development
and implementation of indicators in all countries.
PARTNERS: a) Coordinator: THL, b) Associated partners: ISS (Italy), LIGA.
NRW (Germany), LSIC (Lithuania), RIVM (the Netherlands), RKI (Germany), c)
Collaborating Partners: Belgium, Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, Ireland, Slovenia,
Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom, d) Other Member States involved: Bulgaria,
Cyprus, Denmark, France, Hungary, Latvia, Luxembourg, Malta, Poland, Portugal,
+ Iceland, Norway, Republic of Moldova.
EXPECTED OUTCOMES: 1) New releases of the ECHI shortlist at 2–3 year
intervals; 2) A formal method to evaluate and update the ECHI shortlist; 3) Country
specific guidelines for ECHI shortlist indicator implementation; 4) An ongoing
process for implementing health indicators to be installed in most Member States; 5)
Enhanced data and methods for analysing and presenting comparable health indicators
in Europe; 6) The first joint analyses and reports on data based on ECHI shortlist
indicators; 7) A website containing all relevant information on ECHI indicators; 8)
An electronic data reporting system for health indicators; 9) Interim ECHIM report
on health indicators and their implementation; 10) A plan for permanent EU health
monitoring.
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