The impact of eHealth on the European economy

Healthcare systems are at risk due to increasing demand, spiralling costs, inconsistent and poor quality of care, and inefficient, poorly coordinated care processes. Governments are developing a variety of initiatives as a response and the promotion of eHealth deployment, often as part of broader strategies, represents one of them . Indeed, information and communication technologies are having a transformative power in our societies, including healthcare. More and more, eHealth plays a relevant role inside care organisations and supporting home care. In particular, the recently launched Digital Agenda for Europe (DAE) by the European Commission (EC)) as one of the seven flagship initiatives of the Europe 2020 Strategy tackles wider deployment and more effective use of digital technologies which will thus enable Europe to address its key challenges and will provide Europeans with a better quality of life through, for example, better healthcare. In addition, eHealth is regarded a powerful ally for good and affordable healthcare. the benefits of eHealth in quality of life and in supporting sustainability of health systems are wide and of different nature. The economic benefits are not only limited to efficiencies and a decrease in healthcare utilisation which contribute to the sustainability of health systems. The economic benefits are also related to an improvement in the quality of life of citizens which ultimately result in increased labour productivity. In addition, the eHealth industry represents a relevant sector in terms of innovation and job creation. Other benefits from eHealth are those related to the unprecedented generation of big data which would allow for faster identification of adverse events (of particular relevance for new drugs released) and enhance the development of evidence based medicine as well as measure the effectiveness of specific interventions. Hence, it supports research and development in life sciences.

LLUCH Maria; 

2013-12-11

Fundación Ideas

JRC85563

978-84-15386-39-1,   

http://www.fundacionideas.es/sites/default/files/pdf/Sumando_Ideas_III_Una_salida_digital_a_la_crisis_en_Europa.PDF,    https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC85563,