About eHealth ERA
Background: a need for cooperation between EU and Member States and among Member States
Health care is a national and in some countries regional responsibility. Nevertheless, there is a need for cooperation between the European Commission and the Member States as well as among Member States, in particular with regard to eHealth:
Reducing treatment costs and enhancing treatment quality: It is recognised more and more that European cooperation may support Member States to achieve their health system objectives. For example, in border regions it may in certain cases be cheaper and better to have patients treated in the neighbouring country. As a matter of fact, more and more patients use health services in other countries at their own discretion. This development is fostered by European and national law and decisions of the Luxembourg Court of Justice. In any case, efficient treatment of patients from other countries requires electronic systems and procedures that are compatible with the ones across the border. Consequently, it is worth while for Member States to ensure compatibility and to find common solutions.
Reducing eHealth RTD and implementation costs: Member States may want to carry out cooperative RTD or to draw from other countries’ RTD and implementation experience. This may save costs – preventing to “reinvent the wheel” and preventing implementation errors.
European policy for fostering growth of the eHealth industry: eHealth constitutes a market with high economic growth perspectives. In economic policy terms, cooperation is needed to establish a clear and stable European policy framework so that both health care providers and industry accelerate the development and uptake of eHealth technology and services.
Overall objectives
The overall goal of the eHealth ERA project is to support Member State
innovation-oriented eHealth RTD, identify opportunities for multilateral
joint activities, and take steps towards further integration of eHealth
deployment and implementation across countries.
Towards this end, the project will contribute to
- greater transparency across Member States with regard to eHealth strategies, RTD policies, and the current state of eHealth implementation,
- identification and analysis of priority deployment goals and RTD needs,
- exchange of experience in developing and managing eHealth strategies and programmes,
- preparation of sustainable mechanisms for trans-national cooperation between Member States for mutual benefit.
Participating countries will thus benefit from an exchange of key information about ongoing activities and lessons learned in other countries, a better understanding of eHealth RTD and implementation in Member States, and an analysis of common priorities and opportunities for concerted actions.
Workplan
The consortium will fulfil the project objectives in five work packages (WPs) which are further subdivided into work tasks. The objectives of the work packages are listed in the following.