The BioHealth network under the Europe INNOVA Initiative held a Seminar under the auspices of the Member of the European Parliament Milan Cabrnoch, MD.

eHealth has a strong impact on every citizen. It concerns the application of information and communication technologies (ICT) across a whole range of functions. The Health ICT Industry has the potential to become the third largest industry in the health sector with a global turnover of €50-60 billion, of which the European activity could represent one third. By 2010, a double digit growth rate in the industry of up to 11% is foreseen. Anyway, some obstacles such as the missing of legal regulations and the lack of interoperability between systems may slow up the diffusion of eHealth and the development of the eHealth market.

One of the solutions indicated to overcome such growth factor inhibitors have been identified. More intensive, appropriate and punctual use of standards is one of the key success factors. The problem is that standards are not well known, especially in small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). In this context the Europe INNOVA initiative funded by the European Commission, Directorate General Enterprise and Industry, operates with the target of assisting SMEs and other key stakeholders in the field of entrepreneurial innovation. In particular, to foster multilateral and comprehensive communication and interaction among experts, businessmen and politicians, the BioHealth project team, in close collaboration with the Member of European Parliament Mr. Milan Cabrnoch, MD, organised on 15 October 2007 the seminar „eHealth Standards and Interoperability“, which was held in Brussels at the European Parliament.

The seminar was opened by Mr. Cabrnoch, who stated that only efficient and interoperable eHealth tools and services could fulfill needs and demands of European citizens. Furthermore he expressed a sincere appreciation for the contributions offered by the BioHealth project in promoting the standards which are favourable to the development of innovative tools and services in the field of eHealth.

The first section of the seminar focused on basic information about history, current status and the future of BioHealth project activities. Rolf Engelbrecht from GSF National Research Centre for Environment of Health (Munich, Germany), the organization coordinating the BioHealth project under the Europe INNOVA initiative, presented the basic features of the project centered on the setting up of national and regional meetings, formation of stakeholder groups and the modalities of project presentation and dissemination, including the BioHealth Internet Portal. Mario Savastano, of the National Research Council (CNR) of Italy and Asbjorn Hovsto, of ITS Norway, informed the audience about the growing importance of ID-Management in the eHealth sector. In particular they stressed that the diffusion of RFID (Radio Frequency IDentification) and biometrics should proceed in parallel with a careful consideration of related privacy, ethical, social and legal aspects. They concluded the presentation underlining the benefits potentially arising from the creation of a EU initiative in the field of the coordination of the ID-Management „human aspects“.

Bernd Blobel and Peter Pharow (University of Regensburg, Germany), presented the work carried out in the BioHealth project centered on the creation of a standards review section. This activity, based on an appropriate selection of the instruments for standards identification and collection, represents a focal part of the BioHealth activity within the Europe INNOVA Standards networks and highlights the complexity of the field characterized by an enormous diversity.

The second section of the seminar was dedicated to the presentation of reports offered by projects and activities relevant for the development and use of eHealth standards and interoperability. Marc Lange (EC Technical Committee for Data protection, Brussels) informed the participants about broader, legal, economic and political contexts of eHealth interoperability. He demonstrated the example of European Health Insurance Card (EHIC). Tomáš Mládek (IZIP, Prague, Czech Republic) presented the interoperability aspects of the internet patient record IZIP as well as the TEN4Health Project. Heiner Grönewald (Debold & Lux, Hamburg, Germany), emphasized the importance of paying attention to the promising economic impact of interoperable eHealth Systems. Noel Nader (Sesam Vitale, Paris, France) presented the project NETC@RDS, paving the way towards the electronic European Health Insurance Card. The last presentation of the seminar was delivered by Tomáš Trpišovský (IMA, Prague, Czech Republic) and Petr Struk, (MEDTEL, Prague, Czech Republic). They reflected and illustrated the Europe INNOVA BioHealth project topic from a broader point of view, using both historical examples and comparisons of recent technological trends.

Finally, Ilias Iakovidis (Deputy Head - ICT for Health, European Commission DG Information Society and Media) provided in his closing remarks a description of the main features of the Commission’s eHealth policies and outlined the important role played by the EU member states. Mr. Iakovidis stressed that some limitations currently do exist in the implementation of eHealth in the EU and recommended the BioHealth team to transmit the expertise acquired in the field of eHealth standards to other already running eHealth projects and activities.

The seminar on eHealth Standards and Interoperability represented a good opportunity for participants to share experiences, views and knowledge and to tune the efforts in order to enhance eHealth usabilty by users, politicians, administrators, experts, developers and providers. Organisers and participants agreed on the necessity of fostering the independent consulting capacity of BioHealth to support the development of interoperable solutions and public procurement applying experience and practices of other sectors of Europe INNOVA to achieve interoperability in eHealth. The next European Parliament seminar on eHealth could appreciate the progress in fulfilling such instances and could be characterised by a higher involvement of health care providers whose presence, experience and motivation are considered crucial for the success of every initiative in the sector of eHealth.

Info and Contact:

Petr Struk
[struk@medtel.cz]
MEDTEL, Czech Republic

BioHealth project: http://mirc.gsf.de/biohealth/