The European Parliament adopted a resolution tabled by the Committee on Environment, Public Health and Food Safety on enabling the digital transformation of health and care in the Digital Single Market; empowering citizens and building a healthier society.
Europes health and care systems face serious challenges in the context of an ageing society. The emergence of new technologies creates both opportunities and challenges for the development of better healthcare.
Spending on healthcare is growing fast and accounts for 9.6 % of GDP in the EU as a whole. Innovative digital solutions for health and care can boost the prevention of diseases and improve citizens quality of life. Healthcare digitalisation will not be limited to greater use of mobile health apps, but will also include data mining, i.e. the analysis of large data sets that serve as a foundation for artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning.
The progressive digitalisation of society will increasingly lead patients, caregivers, healthcare professionals and potentially all the actors in the healthcare chain to face the challenges of using information technology and the digital infrastructure of patient records, raising questions of personal data security and privacy.
Members welcomed the Commission communication on enabling the digital transformation of health and care in the Digital Single Market, which aims at the promotion of health and the prevention and control of disease, and at helping address citizens unmet needs, as well as representing an opportunity to improve the sustainability of health systems and make it easier for citizens to enjoy equal and affordable access to high quality care through the meaningful use of digital innovations. Compliance with EU legislation on data protection should be a precondition of the digital transformation of health and care in the Digital Single Market.
Access and sharing personal health data
The resolution stressed that citizens have the right to access and share their personal health data in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation in order to obtain better healthcare, and should be able to expect that this data be available in a timely manner and in a format that is layperson-friendly. Citizens should have secure access to a comprehensive electronic record of their health data, and should remain in control of and be able to share their personal health data securely with authorised parties, while unauthorised access should be prohibited in accordance with the data protection legislation.
The Commission is called on to:
Improved health data
Parliament called on the Commission to:
Better digital tools
Members considered that digital healthcare tools, such as portable patient information cards, could address the challenges of accessibility regarding health information and health literacy, both of which are essential for health promotion, better disease prevention and more effective disease management. Patients should benefit from the most up-to-date information about their medicines. Therefore the Commission is urged to develop further electronic product information, including use of e-leaflets, in order to improve regulatory efficiency and empower patients with up-to-date information on medicines.
The Commission is called on to examine the possibility of setting up a European smart health innovation hub to assess and promote smart health initiatives and provide a platform for all actors in the health chain to establish consortia to realise ambitious large-scale projects.
Policy Learning Platform
The Commission is called on to: