EHTEL, eHealth Focal Point for Europe

Active for Health in Europe:

EHTEL Symposium 2011 and RENEWING HeALTH Midterm Workshop (30 November/1 December 2011): More than 150 eHealth stakeholders met on November 30th and December 1th to discuss how to change the traditional delivery models of European healthcare and welfare for making them better fit to the long-term needs of persons with chronic conditions. The dialogue on new strategies and their implementation was particularly inspired by a keynote from Kaiser Permanente, US. The EHTEL2011 Symposium - colocated with the RENEWING HeALTH Midterm Workshop - convened European-wide leaders, drivers and frontrunners, including health policy, competence centres and many stakeholder representatives. The event was kindly hosted by the EESC, the voice of organised civil society in the Union's decision-making process. [Presentations of Day 1 can already be downloaded (PDF) - Day 2 to be added on short notice].

"eHealth 2020 – What Synergies for Europe?" [EHTEL - Intel Workshop] (12 October 2011): More than one hundred eHealth-enthusiasts – representing a wide stakeholder spectrum and many Nationalities – joined in to discuss two main perspectives of the future of eHealth: 1) From Experience to Vision: Trusting eHealth; 2) From Vision to Actions: Synergies for the Future of eHealth in Europe. The objective of the workshop was to highlight what is needed both at European and Member State level to take eHealth services a significant step forward, i.e. beyond the mere deployment of infrastructures and supporting a long term vision for eHealth in Europe. The objective of this report is not to minute what has been said, but to highlight the key messages that have been delivered by the panellists and by the proactive audience. “Still a lot to do for making eHealth part of our real life. Don’t give up” opened Milan Cabrnoch, MEP and host of this workshop. This message has been well received, loud and clear. [read on, EHTEL event page with presentations]

"Regions as Incubators for Sustainable eHealth Deployment" (12 May 2011): The EHTEL hosted session at eHealh Week 2011 took once more forward the momentum and lessons learned at the Symposium “eHealth in Europe’s Regions: Acting for Citizens’ Health” – jointly organised by EHTEL and the networks of the regions (AER & EUREGHA) in autumn 2010: Healthcare and welfare delivery take always place in local or regional settings and thus regions have at least some level of autonomy in the administration of healthcare and health promotion. Regions play an essential role in deploying innovative services. Thus, the agenda for innovation in healthcare should be better balanced between the European, National and Regional level. Speaker at the session demonstrated what can be done concretely to strengthen the impact of the regions on the development and deployment of eHealth. [EHTEL event page with presentations] [Read more at HealthTechWire]

"Lessons learned" available (24 March 2011):  The Symposium “eHealth in Europe's Regions: Acting for Citizens’ Health” provided a platform for regions all over the continent to share experiences on promoting health and welfare, on the deployment of eHealth services and on the organisation of healthcare with the aid of information and communication technologies. The Symposium was jointly organised by EHTEL with the Assembly of European Regions (AER) and the European Regional and Local Health Authorities (EUREGHA). It was hosted at the Committee of the Regions (CoR) in Brussels. The Symposium programme was kindly supported by 37 high level speakers and attended by 170 participants among which were representative of 42 Regions from 22 countries. Read more