e-Health

e-Health is the delivery of healthcare by means of information and communication technologies. It has the potential to improve the entire life cycle of health issues, from prevention through diagnosis to treatment, as well as monitoring and managing health and lifestyle. e-Health is an important element of the digital single market strategy to make the European Union (EU) fit for the digital age.

The European Commission’s digital single market strategy, adopted in 2018, sets out a plan that puts citizens at the centre of the healthcare system by:

enabling secure, cross-border access to citizens’ electronic health records and the possibility of sharing their records between EU Member States;
facilitating the use of larger data sets through a shared European data infrastructure to prevent diseases, determine personalised medical treatment and better anticipate epidemics; and
providing digital tools that enable citizens to manage their health more actively within integrated care systems.

This approach serves as the basis for EU action in digital health, which includes support for the exchange of e-prescriptions and electronic patient summaries, enabling the cross-border exchange of full electronic health records, voluntary coordination in sharing data and resources for disease prevention and research, capacity building and the exchange of innovation and best practices for healthcare authorities.