Denmark leads in European mhealth market readiness

Denmark is the best country to start an mhealth business, according to a survey conducted by research2guidance in partnership with HIMSS Europe. It is also the most advanced country in ehealth adoption; almost all doctors use ICT at work, the electronic transfer of data (laboratory results, communication between health care practitioners etc.) as well as using eprescription is very common. It is also the only country where exchanging patients’ medical data electronically is very common (91 per cent of doctors), average of other covered countries is only 34 per cent. After Denmark, Finland has high patient involvement in ehealth — seeking health information online (66 per cent of internet users) and making online appointments (35 per cent of internet users) is higher then the EU average. In seeking online health information only Germany is doing better than Finland (69 per cent of internet users).

In mhealth market readiness, Denmark is followed by Sweden, Finland, Spain and the Netherlands. All these countries have a digitalised society and are already used to using technology in health care and have a supportive regulatory framework. The countries with the lowest market readiness are the Czech Republic, Poland and Romania because of their low acceptance of ehealth, low digitalisation and low internet usage.