In times of austerity, ehealth can be a source of efficiency and growth

Seven years after setting out its ‘ehealth Action Plan’ the European Commission is proclaiming Europe as a world leader in applying ehealth to make healthcare more convenient, effective and efficient.

However, the Commission also acknowledges that Europe “still has a long way to go” to reap the full benefits of ehealth, and now the recession threatens to undermine progress to date. Neelie Kroes, Vice President of the European Commission and Commissioner for Digital Agenda says the ageing population and a shortage of healthcare staff will lead to increased pressure on healthcare, at a time where European governments are facing budget austerity. “The challenge is to do more with less, in which information technology is a key enabler for delivering more effective, efficient and patient-oriented health care,” Kroes says.

John Dalli, European Commissioner for Health agrees, saying, “eHealth has the potential to deliver better healthcare, to more people in a more sustainable and cost effective manner.” The recent Directive on Cross Border Healthcare is the first EU law to contain provisions on ehealth, and Dalli is hopeful this will provide the impetus to increase effort. The European Commission is now setting up a network with the Member States to work on voluntary guidelines for eHealth across borders, including a common dataset for summarising patient records and common authentication measures.

This high level support from the European Commission was echoed by health ministers from the member states when they last met to discuss ehealth in Budapest in May. A joint statement following the meeting highlighted the power of ehealth to transform health systems and enhance the provision of timely and appropriate care, saying ehealth, “can contribute to improve sustainability, safety and efficacy [of healthcare].”

Austerity measures

However, there is real concern the cuts in spending on healthcare that are necessary to deal with the economic crisis will be applied across the board, blocking much-needed advances in ehealth.

There is a way to deal with shrinking budgets without compromising the quality of healthcare, and that is by boosting investment in ehealth and driving the digitization of medical information forward, according to John Vassallo, Associate General Counsel, Vice President EU Affairs for Microsoft. “Governments have an opportunity to partner with the private sector and look at approaches to healthcare delivery which will make better use of limited resources,” Vassallo says.

To highlight the opportunities that ehealth presents to reduce costs whilst improving quality, Microsoft and the high growth start-ups with which it works, along with other partners, are organising a conference, “Partnering for Better Health: improving care, accelerating growth and efficiencies,” in Brussels next week.

Following the conference, Microsoft will host a transatlantic videoconference debate between Brussels and Washington DC to discuss the “Better Health Manifesto” which is being developed under the EU – US memorandum of understanding on the “Cooperation Surrounding Health-related Information and Communication Technologies.”

Microsoft argues that technologies which have been de-risked and have proven their worth in other sectors are now ready to be applied in healthcare, to increase efficiency and make budgets go further.

Multiplier effect

The benefits are not limited to healthcare delivery or the economic benefits of having a fitter population. The European ehealth market is currently valued at Euro €15 billion per annum with an annual growth rate of 3 per cent. Europe has an ecosystem of high tech SMEs, many of which have developed their technologies with the help of European Commission Framework grants or through other public funding. Maintaining investment in ehealth will allow these and other start-ups to grow and create jobs, creating a multiplier effect. The products will be relevant to other sectors and will also allow SMEs to build international export markets.

Europe has many pockets of innovation that provide exemplars of how investing in ehealth translates to better healthcare at lower costs. Examples amongst Microsoft’s customers include:

Using Cloud Computing the Swedish Red Cross cut ICT costs by 25%, whilst increasing collaboration, making communications more reliable, and allowing ICT support staff to focus on strategic tasks.

Collaboration and Communication over Lync and SKYPE has allowed nurses at Enel-Med, one of the largest private medical care organisations in Poland to use shared online calendars to manage appointments, reserve rooms and beds, and check availability of equipment.

Similarly, a Patient Relationship and Case Management system installed at the Socialist Mutualities in Belgium provides 2.9 million members with access to personal records, allowing them to take more responsibility for their own health, whilst streamlining internal administration processes and reducing overheads by 12 – 15%.

In Germany, Business Intelligence and Data Visualisation tools enable data from 400 hospitals that is held in the Eye on Health system to be analysed by health providers to identify efficiencies and plan better services.

New and more Natural User Interfaces such as the touch screens that are driving the rapid development of the smartphone and tablet pc markets, or motion-responsive games controllers, can be adapted to bring healthcare support closer to home, allowing online consultations, or helping with the rehabilitation of people who have suffered strokes, or following extended hospital stays. In Poland and Croatia for example, specially-adapted Kinect games are used to provide physiotherapy for children recovering from cancer treatment.

Updating ehealth plans

Along with showcasing the benefits of ICT, the Brussels meeting will consider how national healthcare plans should be updated in line with advances in technology, and to reflect the greater potential for prevention that ehealth provides. At a technical level, there is a need to ensure Cloud Computing infrastructure is in place and ready for use in ehealth. This means having robust and agreed data protection rules and setting standards that will allow all the elements of ehealth systems to interoperate.

At the same time, policy makers must provide innovative SMEs working to develop and install ehealth systems on a local level with a supportive business environment, enabling them to scale-up and bring their innovations to a wider marketplace.

Finally, everyone who is involved in using ehealth – healthcare staff, administrators, patients and carers, must be properly trained in its use, to ensure we all reap the benefits and rewards of investing in ehealth.

Partnering for Better Health: improving care, accelerating growth and efficiencies, Brussels, 30 November, 2011