Congress report - European Health Forum Gastein

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European Health Forum Gastein 2001
b) Working in the knowledge-based economy
c) Participation for all in the knowledge-based economy
3. Stimulate the use of the Internet
a) Accelerating e-commerce
b) Government online: electronic access to public services
c) Health online
d) European digital content for global networks
e) Intelligent transport systems
Health Online
The Health Online action underlines the strategic importance of full exploitation of new
information technologies in the public administration of health, for the benefit of the citizen
as consumer of both health care services and health information. The Member State
administration is of course the key actor in achieving the objectives set out in the Health
Online action, for it is at this level that the key decisions on implementation of the
information technology infrastructure in health car provision must be made. However, a
European dimension to the challenge exists in the identification and dissemination of best
practices and the joint development of relevant benchmarking criteria for eHealth.
The Health Online action recognises that the first step towards exploitation of the power of
information technologies in the health sector is the implementation of an infrastructure which
will provide user friendly, validated and interoperable systems for medical care, disease
prevention, and health education through networks which connect citizens, practitioners and
authorities on-line.
In order to assist Member States in reaching the stated target of ensuring that primary and
secondary care providers have the necessary health informatics infrastructure in place,
Health Online action sets out four action areas:
Best practices in eHealth will be identified and disseminated, in order to assist
purchasing departments in decision–making.
A set of quality criteria for health web sites will be developed to boost consumer
confidence in use of such sites and foster best practice in the development of sites.
A series of data networks will be established which will facile the sharing of
technology, application and product assessment in order to help informed
purchasing and European level quality assurance.
A publication on legal aspects of ehealth will be drafted which will clarify the
existing legislation impacting on eHealth in order to remove some of the
uncertainties and fears expressed by the health telematics related industry about
responsibility and data protection, the legality of providing on-line medical
opinions, as well as on-line pharmaceutical information and product supply.
It is clear that the targets of the Health Online action, as well as the targets set out in the
other ten action areas of the Action Plan, herald a great deal of work at both Member State
and European level. However, in endorsing the Action Plan the Heads of State have shown
that the political will to undertake that work exists, and thus we will now begin addressing
the challenge of eEurope, so that by the end of 2002 eHealth is a reality for every
European citizen.
International Forum Gastein, Tauernplatz 1, A-5630 Bad Hofgastein
Tel.: +43 (6432) 7110-70, Fax: Ext. 71, e-mail: info@ehfg.org, website: www.ehfg.org