"E-Health"conferentie in teken van online gezondheidszorg in EU (en)

The introduction of new information technology in the health service is the objective of the 8th "e-Health" Conference that will be attended by Health Ministers from the EU in Barcelona on Monday.

The conference, which will be opened by the Spanish Minister of Health, Trinidad Jiménez, and the European Commissioner for Digital Agenda, Neelie Kroes i, aims to be a milestone in the development of common strategies, as well as celebrating the 10th anniversary of the start of the European e-Health Strategy.

Spain is the European leader in the development of online healthcare. It has a decentralised healthcare system across 17 autonomous regions, which have co-operated with the Government implementing the digital clinical history service (HCD) and electronic prescriptions, as well as telemedicine services available in every region.

The use of electronic media creates time savings of more than 30% between the initial medical visit and the diagnostic tests, and between these tests and the resulting treatment, according to sources at the Ministry of Health. It also reduces delays and bureaucratic costs, avoids the need for duplication of tests and allows better monitoring of chronic illnesses.

The Spanish Ministry of Health will be carrying out the “epSOS” (European patients Smart Open Services) pilot project, that aims to extend HCD with a view to unifying patient histories for all Europeans.

To be able to provide cross-border treatment for patients, it is essential that digitisation does not create technical barriers between countries and that national systems are compatible.

The sector's most prestigious event of the year, the World Healthcare Technology Exhibition during "e-Health Week 2010", will take place at the same time as the ministerial conference.

The European Commission describes e- Health as the combination of information technology tools and communications, used for preventing, diagnosing, treating and monitoring as well as managing health and lifestyles.

That includes the interaction between patients and healthcare service providers, the transfer of data between institutions, health care information networks, electronic medical histories, telemedicine services and communications systems for monitoring and providing assistance to patients.

These tools allow, for example, life saving data to be rapidly communicated which is vitally important with the increase in cross-border movements.

The Spanish Presidency is supporting a fully integrated digital healthcare system on the post-2010 European Agenda, which contributes to the objectives of economic recovery, growth, employment, and economic, social and territorial cohesion.