Monitoring and benchmarking Health ICT (eHealth) adoption and use.
An OECD expert meeting was organised in Paris on May 25 on measuring the progress of global eHealth diffusion. Both the European Union and the World Health Organisation (WHO) have recognised ICT-facilitated solutions as key enablers for modern, patient-centered and efficient healthcare services. To support health policies, it has become mandatory to monitor and benchmark Health ICT (eHealth) adoption and use. This is also a priority topic for EU/USA cooperation in the field of eHealth. The OECD plans to coordinate global activities, including involvement of WHO, to develop appropriate approaches and measuring tools.
Currently, indicators on eHealth availability and use are not uniform, and do not cover all OECD countries. The European Commission funded empirica studies on eHealth Indicators and eHealth Benchmarking compiled a comprehensive inventory of available statistical evidence on eHealth in Europe, Canada and the USA. This research also developed an indicator framework to support and guide the development of and agreement on a comprehensive set of key global indicators and procedures for data gathering on eHealth. Furthermore, detailed policy recommendations were drafted to take the work on indicators forward.
empirica’s director Werner B. Korte and eHealth expert Dr. Veli N. Stroetmann presented the results of these studies at the OECD meeting in Paris and discussed together with other country and OECD/WHO experts and policy makers how to harmonise key global indicators, including how best to coordinate national and European surveys to comparatively measure eHealth progress.
Additional Information
See also: ICT for Health – Studies