30/04/08 

Innovative telemedicine services to benefit both health and economy 

In view of the EU eHealth conference in Slovenia on May 6th and 7th, EHTEL is pleased to draw HFE members’ attention to its recently published briefing paper on the state of the art of European, national and regional level progress towards sustainable telemedicine services. Based on this study, EHTEL, an association of key actors in the field of eHealth, has drawn together a winning vision of the future of telemedicine services that will benefit citizens and patients, health care professionals, industry and national health systems alike. Indeed, telemedicine services do not only have a significant positive impact on the quality of life of chronically ill patients and elderly people by allowing them to be cared for at home, providing support for self-management and sustained follow-up, but are also moving towards alleviating pressure on national health systems faced with shortage of workers in an ageing society  

As for health care professionals, EHTEL’s vision is that telemedicine services will make a physician’s everyday work easier, as, for example, teleconsultation of x-rays or telemonitoring of diabetes patients in remote areas saves them travel and time. These services will thus speed up the diagnosis and enable faster decision on a patient’s treatment, helping care providers to work in a more efficient and effective way.

Regarding the delivery of care, EHTEL believes that along with a paradigm shift from care to prevention and acute to chronic models of care, SMEs are emerging, within the eHealth field, as providers of competitive quality care. Different highly innovative and entrepreneurial SMEs are already operating in various EU member states, delivering health and social services.  This paradigm shift will potentially contribute to the Lisbon Strategy for Growth and Jobs through the creation of innovative products and services, developing a market with high economic and societal value. I wish to see you all in Portorož to discuss the future of these services and see how we can all contribute to the creation of a dynamic and competitive European eHealth area, delivering quality care for all.   

Yours,
Mario Romao,
Member of the Board, EHTEL

For more information about EHTEL, please click here.
For the policy paper of EHTEL, please click here.