European Observer

European Union pays great attention to eHealth. It is a right decision. Using of modern information and telecommunication technologies in health care is a logic way towards higher quality and safety health care and towards more effective use both human and financial resources as well as capacities of health care facilities. The same policy to eHealth have other developed countries like United states, Israel or Canada. I welcome cooperation among EU member countries and other countries in development eHealth service.

European Union pays great attention to eHealth. It is a right decision. Using of modern information and telecommunication technologies in health care is a logic way towards higher quality and safety health care and towards more effective use both human and financial resources as well as capacities of health care facilities. The same policy to eHealth have other developed countries like United states, Israel or Canada. I welcome cooperation among EU member countries and other countries in development eHealth service.

Interoperability is a big challenge for the EU Member States. We need to work together to ensure that the information be useful in patient care, no matter which medical facility is he or she located. We managed to achieve the free movement of persons throughout the community. Now we need to provide them with the quality health care which is not possible without information sharing.

The European Commission pays much attention to the development of eHealth and funds a number of projects that aim to exchange experience and promote cooperation in the development and use of eHealth services. In addition to electronic health records and health information exchange Commission also supports projects aimed at assisting the disabled and the elderly under the project Ambient Assisted Living. Information technology enables people live at home, giving the alternative to life in institutions.

The European Parliament has repeatedly supported the development of eHealth services. We were ready to support significantly the transmission and sharing electronic health information (health information in electronic form) in cross-border healthcare. But we met with a very conservative approach of the European Council and had to retreat from our ambition.

In Council at the level of individual member countries outweighs strictly conservative approach. Some member countries have already started their own eHealth services development and are not yet ready to participate in a interoperable solution. Individuals who move between countries absolutely need to have their health information portable. This is certainly not a reason to create a single European information system. Just when the experts agree on technology standards to store and transfer data. Individual countries can join to these standards voluntarily. This is already happening in some cases and it is beneficial for the transmission of information not only between countries but also in between medical facilities in one country.

For a long time I support the management of medical records in electronic form. There is a large amount of information in health care. This informations are especially valuable for the patient but also for the public health, including medical science. We need the information in place and time the decision is made.

The information in electronic form are easier stored, processed, better searched and easier to transmit and share. Most of the information in today's health care has been electronically processed. Data are produced in laboratories, hospitals and doctors' offices. Only a smal amount of information is still kept in paper form.

Concerning the information processed in a hospital, a medical records, the duty and responsibility to protect such information from unauthorized access is same for information both on paper and in electronic form.

As regards health information transmitted outside the medical facility we need patient's consent. Only citizen is to decide whether he or she will use information that already exist for further treatment or not. He or she will consider whether to accept a certain risk associated with information leakage, or undergo the risk associated with treatment without health related information. After many years of experience I can say, that especially the healthy people fears the leak of medical information. Patients are mostly interested in ensuring that all information can be correctly used in the right time during in their treatment.