On 1 July 2013, Commissioner responsible for the Digital Agenda Neelie Kroes published an interesting opinion on her blog.
Taking note of today’s challenges doctors are facing, Mrs Kroes claimed eHealth might the answer. She advocates for eHealth tools to be embedded into our healthcare system and cites the successful example of the so-called “Reference Sites” taking part in the European Innovation Partnership. The Commissioner further develops certain areas which the Partnership is interested in:
Mrs. Kroes claims telemedecine shoud be more widespread among doctors. Moreover, she mentions eHealth as ‘great way for people to get empowered to take control of their own healthcare’. Interestingly, Nellie Kroes shares her desire to start a discussion with EU countries, e.g. on the codes of conduct for health app makers.
The current work on the interoperability of digital health services raises the question of patients’ privacy. On this topic, Mrs. Kroes mentions the high privacy safeguards in the EU, but deplores the inconsistency in their application in the different Member States.
Mrs. Kroes concludes by claiming that healthcare innovation has the potential to help young people boost the economy for a job-rich recovery, and helping the elderly too through better healthcare.
