The e-health market has witnessed robust growth during the past 20 years? According to a #GSMA report, the global e-health market is projected to grow to USD160 billion in 2015? making for an annual growth rate of 16%? Dr. Patrice #Cristofini, Member of the Board of Directors at the European Health #Telematics Association #EHTEL, provides a glimpse of the general state of e-health, particularly in #Europe, and the challenges to different stakeholders. E-health for all? #WinWin: What are the differences between e-health, #telehealth, and #telecare? Patrice Cristofini: Telehealth means the provision of health services at a distance using a range of technologies, such as #telephone or #video consultation to support #diagnosis. Telecare relates to the #remote or enhanced delivery of care services to people in their own #home or #community. The concept of e-health is the broadest, covering nearly all aspects of healthcare issues. It mainly involves two areas – infrastructure and services. Telehealth and telecare belong to the service part. E-health is generally a matter of transferring, exchanging and managing data between public health institutions and citizens using ICT solutions. The main target of bringing ICT solutions in healthcare is to seamlessly connect all stakeholders such as hospitals, insurance companies, general practitioners #GPs, the #pharmaceutical industry, and regional public health agencies, with patients at the core. For patient care, these advanced technologies enable remote patient monitoring, better transport information for patients, improved access to health advice, and quicker access to emergency services. For healthcare practitioners, the technologies also help to deliver better training and improve disease surveillance, data collection, and management of patient records, thus enhancing service transparency and accountability. WinWin: The ITU views “e-health for all in 2015” as a credible and realistic objective. What are the key drivers that can propel that growth? Cristofini: The general environment is the first driver. Take Europe, as an example. By 2025, one in five Europeans will be over 65 years old. The rising aging population puts increasing pressure on public healthcare resources. Meanwhile, in many regions, we haven’t produced enough doctors to serve the aging population. The enormous social demands will compel policymakers to invest more to facilitate technologies growth so as to address the shortage of doctors. As for individuals, there has been growing awareness of using health-related information available online and managing personal health records by themselves. They demand customized care, differentiated services, and ubiquitous & timely access to professional advice and expertise. Besides, the advancement of ICT technologies contributes to speedy connectivity and better access. The availability of mobile devices also facilitates health monitoring and remote diagnosis. WinWin: E-health holds the promise of fulfilling many of the communication needs of stakeholders, but what specifically are they? Cristofini: As more and more patients tend to access information and manage their personal records via mobile phones and tablets, their big concern is where their personal data is hosted and who accesses their records besides themselves. Therefore, for individuals, the connection needs to ensure the security and confidentiality of the patients’ data. #Cloud #storage technology can help in this circumstance. Currently, economic constraints are a huge challenge for hospitals, especially as we are suffering an economic ...
Posted on: Tue, 13 Jan 2015 20:48:46 +0000
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