Public consultation on Transformation of Health and Care in the Digital Single Market

The Digital Single Market Midterm review proposes that the Commission adopt in 2017 a Communication addressing the need and scope for measures on digital health and care, in line with legislation on the protection of personal data, patient rights and electronic identification, particularly:

• Citizens’ secure access to electronic health records and the possibility to share these across borders.

• Support data infrastructure to advance research, prevent disease and personalise health and care in key areas.

• Facilitate feedback and interaction between patients and healthcare providers enhance disease prevention and empower people to take responsibility for the management of their own health.

Demographic change, increased longevity, the rise of chronic conditions and the re-emergence of infectious diseases combine into a major challenge for health care provision in Europe. All EU countries have seen an increase in public expenditure on health and long-term care over the last decades. Costs are expected to rise further, primarily due to the ageing population. In 2015 healthcare spending accounted for 8.7 % of GDP in the EU. It could reach up to 12.6 % of GDP in 2060. The extra years of life gained through increased longevity are not necessarily spent in good health. In fact, there has been a decline in the average Healthy Life Years (HLY) in the EU28 between 2010 and 2014.

The Communication on effective, accessible and resilient health systems concluded that Member States’ future ability to provide high-quality care to all will depend on making health systems more resilient, while remaining costeffective and financially sustainable.

Digital technologies can offer cost-effective tools to support the transition from a hospital-based health care model to a patient-centred and integrated model, improve access to care, and contribute to the sustainability and resilience of healthcare systems.

The purpose of the consultation is to define the need and scope of policy measures that will promote digital innovation in improving people’s health, and address systemic challenges to healthcare systems. This must be aligned with legislation on the protection of personal data, patient rights and electronic identification.

The consultation seeks to collect information on:

• Cross-border access and portability of personal health data

• Sharing of resources (scientific research expertise, data capacity and advanced digital infrastructure) that will accelerate research and advance prevention, treatment and personalised medicine; initially in three areas:

• Rare and complex diseases in order to facilitate the transfer of knowledge from the laboratory to the clinical setting;

• Preparedness for upcoming epidemics and EU-wide identification of infectious threats within days;

• The use of real world data for the purpose of pharmacovigilance and assessment of effectiveness of products placed on the market.

• Measures to ensure widespread uptake of digital innovations, enabling more patient centered and integrated healthcare, and allowing for feedback and interaction between patients and healthcare providers.

How to submit your response

As indicated above, the purpose of this consultation is to define the need and scope of policy measures that will promote digital innovation in improving people’s health, and address systemic challenges to health and care systems. Those measures must be aligned with legislation on the protection of personal data, patient rights and electronic identification.The consultation collects views on:

• Cross-border access to and management of personal health data;

• A joint European exploitation of resources (digital infrastructure, data capacity), to accelerate research and to advance prevention, treatment and personalised medicine;

• Measures for widespread uptake of digital innovation, supporting citizen feedback and interaction between patients and health care providers.

Respondents can reply in any EU language. It is strongly encouraged to respond through the online questionnaire. Questionnaires sent by e-mail or on paper will not be analysed except those due to accessibility needs of people with visual impairment. Moreover, responses received after the closing date will not be considered.

The consultation is available on the below link: https://ec.europa.eu/eusurvey/ runner/Public_consultation_Tra nsformation_Health_Care_DSM

The public online consultation will close on the 12th of October 2017.

The European Commission reserves the right to publish all contributions to the consultation unless non-publication is specifically requested in the general information section of the questionnaire.