Ilves-Chaired E-Health Working Group Convenes in Budapest
President Toomas Hendrik Ilves has accepted an invitation from heads of the European Commission to take the helm of a working group of senior advisers that will shape the future of online public health services in the European Union.
The first meeting will take place on May 10 in Budapest, capital of the EU's current president, Hungary. All of the health care ministers - Social Affairs in Estonia's case - will attend.
“Use of information and communication technology possibilities is a natural and integral part of the health care system in the 21st century,” said Ilves from Budapest. “Information means data on case histories; communication and secure sharing of information in the patient's interests, because our health care arrangements must also adapt to freedom of movement as one of the fundamental rights in the European Union.”
“The best-suited motto for the working group convened by the European Commission would be 'information as the servant of health,'" said Ilves
One of the many specialists taking part in the group from across the EU is Madis Tiik of the Estonian E-Health Foundation, who says the field has been seen in the EU up to now as primarily a "project," not a comprehensive strategy for changing the system.
Ilves has been a key champion of broader online services, once known for initiating the Tiger Leap idea of an online computer in every school back when Internet was not as ubiquitous.
The working group's raison d'être is to present proposals to the Commission in July 2012 as to how to use online public health services to achieve more effective and safer health care throughout the EU in the fields of diagnostics, prevention and treatment.
One of Estonia's major activities is related to the "X-road" state portal, as the new version is compatible with similar platforms in other countries
Ilves praised the effectiveness of the portal, noting: “A 70 percent rate of digital prescriptions was achieved in Estonia in nine months whereas it will take three to five years to reach this level in other countries."
Kristopher Rikken