In line with the Commission’s Digital Single Market (DSM) strategyand after analysing the results of an Open Public Consultation, the European Commission published a Staff Working Document and a Communication on Digital Transformation of Health and Care in the Digital Single Market, empowering citizens and building a healthier society. These policy documents give direction to EU activities in this field for the coming years.
Three priorities
The Communication on Digital Transformation of Health and Care in the Digital Single Market identifies three priorities:
- Citizens’ secure access to their health data, also across borders– enabling citizens to access their health data across the EU;
- Personalised medicine through shared European data infrastructure – allowing researchers and other professionals to pool resources (data, expertise, computing processing and storage capacities) across the EU;
- Citizen empowerment with digital tools for user feedback and person-centred care – using digital tools to empower people to look after their health, stimulate prevention and enable feedback and interaction between users and healthcare providers.
Furthermore, the Communication provides a concrete set of actions on how each priority can be attained (see the infographic for an overview).
Your opinion counts
A public consultation on the transformation of health and care in the Digital Single Market was held between July and October 2017. It gathered input on the scope of policy actions to be pursued in order to improve people’s health and care. This consultation received nearly 1,500 replies of which over 90% of respondents agree that citizens should be able to manage their own data. More than 80% of the respondents agree that sharing health data can be beneficial and around 60% of respondents say that they do not have access to digital health services. A detailed summary of the results of the consultation is available.
Why digital?
Transformation of health care in the Digital Single Market will benefit people, health care systems and the economy. Digital technologies such as 4G/5G mobile communication, artificial intelligence or supercomputing offer new opportunities to transform the way we receive and provide health and care services. They enable innovative approaches to independent living or integrated health and social care.
Health data and advanced data analytics can help accelerate scientific research, personalised medicine, early diagnosis of diseases and more effective treatments.