At the beginning of the week, Dr Miklós Szócska, Minister of State for Health attended the annual major eHealth Conference which took place in Copenhagen. During the event, one of the EU’s high level advisory bodies responsible for developing the EU’s electronic healthcare strategy, the eHealth Task Force also held a meeting.
In relation to the implemented or planned developments in the Hungarian healthcare system, Dr Miklós Szócska is also a member of the Task Force. The Minister of State explained that the Task Force, established on the request of the Vice-President of the European Commission, prepared a report on data “liberalization”, meaning support to patients in accessing information and improve the effectiveness of decision making. The Minister of State emphasized that as the representative of Hungary and part of the Task Force, he managed to develop international relations which evolved into informal collegial relationships. These will be of great help for Hungarian developments, he added.
Speakers of the Conference drew the picture of a health sector in Europe being completely different by 2020 as it is today. Prevention shall receive more attention, the free movement of data shall be realized, everyone shall receive personalized treatment and health sector planning shall be adapted to demographic factors. European level databases will be established allowing researchers to find curative solutions to certain diseases in a shorter period of time. The early warning system will help treat emerging problems immediately. Inequalities will be reduced and the most vulnerable groups will have access to necessary healthcare services. Improved efficiency will generate increase in investment returns, as well as transparency.
In all these processes, digital healthcare will take a leading role by inducing cost effectiveness, high quality, more equal access as well as improving health indicators.
However, the current situation in Europe is that healthcare costs are rising significantly due to demographic changes, unhealthy lifestyles-related chronic diseases, extremely expensive equipment and the growing demand for quality care. Demographic ageing will also influence the macroeconomic indicators of Europe. By 2060, the population of the European Union will decrease and will be older. While each year the number of those above age 60 increases by more than 2 million, the rate of the working age population (age 15-64) decreases from 67% to 56%.
The majority of costs are publicly financed. However, the currently unstable economic situation also points out that the current healthcare systems are financially unsustainable. However, cost- and other effectiveness of digital healthcare may bring about a solution to the problem.
The majority of innovations capable of addressing healthcare challenges originate from outside the system, not to mention that they are a decade behind in comparison to other sectors. European healthcare systems are typically oversized and fragmented, and the interoperability of databases within and among Member States is yet to be solved.
The aim of the report prepared by the Task Force is to move forward the dissemination of digital healthcare, as well as to provide political, legal and technical recommendations for the European Commission and Member States.
(kormany.hu)
