European Union Member States are advancing at different speeds in the digital transformation in health and care
A study was launched by #SmartHealthSystems initiative by German foundation, Bertelsmann Stiftung, to identify international trends in digitalising healthcare systems.
Countries that are succeeding in digitalising healthcare systems feature:
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An effective strategy.
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Strong political leadership.
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A coordinating institution with a clear national mandate.
The 30+ year old private foundation focuses on investigatory studies around Europe, health, the economy, and more. On its official website, the Bertelsmann Stiftung foundation makes publicly available statistics and infographics showing the key results of the study.
The study concluded that European Commission and Member States should:
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Continue to foster the exchange of best practices between health systems.
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Promote common technical specifications and standards for digital health tools and exchange formats.
EHTEL members from any of the 17 countries covered by the 2019 #SmartHealthSystems study will be interested to see the progress made on digital transformation in the healthcare sector.
Mette Atipei Craggs, EHTEL’s Vice President, and Janne Rasmussen, EHTEL board member, whose country – Denmark – is one of the top five highlighted by #SmartHealthSystems, had this to say on reading the report:
“Our country has been working long and hard to forge ahead on digital health. Digital readiness is really key for us. We’re very happy to work with EHTEL on ensuring bigger steps throughout Europe are taken on the digital transformation of health and care by even more countries. Evidence-based reports like this one help us do our job even more effectively.”
Want to know more?
- Check out if your country is among the 17 countries covered by the 2019 #SmartHealthSystems study.
- For the opportunity to get more involved in the digital transformation of Europe’s health and care systems, please contact EHTEL Secretariat.
- Download below the resource Upscaling Telehealth - the need for policy engagement. It illustrates seven policy actions in the field of telehealth, emerged from the United4Health project. In that initiative, ten European countries identified 19 successful and innovative health and care services. See the resource Telehealth in Practice: Care Delivery Models from 14 Regions in Europe to know more.