The European Commission wants to determine the need and scope of measures to promote digital innovation in healthcare and long-term care.

In its mid-term evaluation from May 2017, the European Commission mentioned its wish to focus on the digital transformation of health and care as part of completing the Digital Single Market. The aim of the public consultation is to collect information in order to strengthen their efforts during the course of the year. The Commission is asking all interested parties whether there is a need for European measures to promote digital innovation in order to improve people’s health and address the challenges facing the healthcare systems. These policy measures must be aligned with legislation on data protection, patient rights and electronic identification.  

The three pillars of the consultation

The consultation is based on three pillars: firstly, the EU Commission wants to find out what the stakeholders think about cross-border access to personal health data and how it is used. Secondly, it wants to know the stakeholders’ opinions on sharing resources to accelerate research, the prevention of illnesses, treatment and personalised medical care. The focus here is on rare and complex diseases, tackling epidemics and identifying infectious threats, and assessing the effectiveness of medicinal products. Thirdly, the Commission wants to gather information on how digital innovations can be widely implemented, particularly with regard to patient-centred and integrated healthcare. The focus here is on the interaction between patients and healthcare providers. The consultation is aimed at a large target group including health insurance companies, EU citizens, patient organisations, healthcare professionals, national authorities and researchers. 

Interested parties have until 12 October 2017 to submit a response to the Commission’s questionnaire. The results will be published in a communication which will be published by the end of the year.