The European Commission adopted a Communication and a Staff Working Document on Digital transformation of health and care to boost European Union action.
Health data and data management are crucial when it comes to empowering citizens and building a healthier society.
Secure access to health data
The first priority of the Communication on Digital Transformation of Health and Care in the Digital Single Market focuses on citizens' secure access to their health data, including when they are abroad. The goal is to make it possible for citizens to exercise their right to access their health data across the EU, including, inter alia, the interoperability of Electronic Health Record (EHR) systems.
Personalised medicine
The second priority of the Communication stresses the importance of personalised medicine through a shared European data infrastructure. Researchers and other professionals should pool resources such as data, expertise, computing processing and storage capacities for better health prevention, and faster and more personalised diagnosis and treatment. In order to achieve this, authorities and other stakeholders share data and infrastructure for prevention and personalised medicine research and treatment.
Citizen empowerment
The third priority targets the empowerment citizens, with digital tools for user feedback and person-centred care. This empowers people to look after their health, stimulating prevention, and enabling feedback and interaction between users and healthcare providers.
Improved research and treatment
Access to healthcare data helps researchers to produce more accurate, faster tests on medicines to be launched on the market. For exammple, the EU-funded AirPROM project helped to develop a breakthrough pill against asthma, with the use of digital airway models to predict both disease progression and response to treatment. The research and the development of the pill was much faster and more efficient than normal. It is estimated that about 20 years were saved.
Through the use of big data, researchers can help health care professionals and health policy makers to identify, simulate, select and monitor the effectiveness of current and new treatments. Examples of projects are:
- Evotion project - on hearing loss;
- BigO project - on child obesity;
- iPrognosis - on Parkinson's Disease
- SOMA - on work-related stress
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