Reaching thousands: Using the internet to improve outreach, collaboration, and information dissemination

Better access, quality and effectiveness of care in the context of globalisation

         Today at least four out of five European doctors have an Internet connection, and a quarter of Europeans use the Internet for health information. E-Health refers to medical information in the sense of developing methods and systems for the acquisition, storage, retrieval, sharing of information and biomedical data. Patients need to contact general practitioners, doctors need to talk to hospitals, and hospitals need to interact with clinics and research centres, all with the aim of providing better access, quality, and effectiveness of care.
In 2004, the European Commission introduced its Communication on e-Health and it’s Action Plan for a European e-Health Area. This action plan forms a central part of the Union’s response to support Member States in meeting the challenges and expectations facing Europe’s health and healthcare sector. The challenges include the increasing mobility of patients and health professionals, quality and easy access to healthcare for all citizens in a demographically ageing society, and the need to provide the best possible healthcare under increasingly limited budgetary conditions. Health sector structures, and the responsibilities of the various stakeholders involved in the provision of health services and systems, differ considerably among countries and regions: if there are currently 25 different national health services in 25 Member States, there may be as many as 250 – even 2,500 – different health services in Europe’s regions. Some of the main challenges, which are outlined here, are the many different cultures and societies within Europe’s boundaries; the relative lack of market development in the e-Health domain; and the lack of adequate and appropriate user development in design and development...

         Most of the implementation problems of action plans appeared in Eastern countries rather then Western European countries as a consequence of the economical, social cultural and educational differences.
         From early nineties, Eastern European countries made efforts to improve the health system, and since 2004 have been preparing to include themselves in the European action plan. The use of e-health might be a solution for increasing benefits of quality access and care of the patients. In the e-health field, these countries have to face organizational and cultural challenges because the countries of Eastern region are in the middle of an economical and social reform process and the funds spent for healthcare are limited. Despite the current situation, the expectations of society regarding the economical state and the quality of healthcare services in this area are increasing.

      The aim of this case study is to give a general view of the e-health concept, its benefits and problems of implementation, based on the evaluation of a list of indicators specific to the Eastern European context.