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European Conference eHealth2004
organised by the Irish EU-Presidency and European Commission on 5./6.May in Cork (Ireland)
Website ehealth Conference 2004
The Irish eHealth Conference will follow on from last year’s eHealth Conference under the Greek Presidency and present an ideal opportunity for Member States to discuss and showcase advances in eHealth with a specific emphasis on tools and services for the benefit of European citizens. Among the areas for discussion are:
- Health Cards,
- Integrated care records,
- Evidence based decisions,
- Health portals,
- Quality of Health Websites,
- Telemedicine.
The event will incorporate the 2004 eEurope Awards for eHealth. The Exhibition will provide the opportunity for real life demonstrations of the most current eHealth tools and the associated EU eHealth Awards ceremony will ensure that best examples will be exhibited. The conference will provide a forum for Member States to take stock of initiatives that are completed, ongoing or planned at EU level and to consider synergies between developments in the area at Council of Europe and WHO.
The Irish Presidency takes place at an historic time in the development of the EU, with the accession of ten new Member States.
The conference will primarily focus on the three themes of the call for the eEurope eHealth Awards. These are:
- eHealth information tools and services for citizens
- eHealth administrative tools and services for citizens
- eHealth homecare and telemedicine tools and services for citizens
However it will also provide an opportunity to take stock of the eHealth developments that have taken place since the Ministerial Declaration adopted during the first e-Health Conference in Brussels in May 2003.
It is hoped to illustrate, through a number of plenary and parallel sessions, how Europe’s citizens currently benefit from e-Health tools and services and how they will benefit in the years ahead. There will be a focus on access (such as health portals) and empowerment (such as health cards and telemedicine). The conference will also examine in some detail: integrated care records, evidenced based decisions, and clinical excellence.
An opportunity will be provided to consider synergies between developments in the area of eHealth at European Union, Council of Europe and World Health Organisation levels.
As part of the e-Europe 2005 mid-term review to showcase fully functional eHealth applications, it is planned to launch an Irish Health Services Portal and to highlight the imminent introduction of the European Health Insurance Card.
It is hoped that the eHealth tools demonstrated at the conference will enable citizens to make health related decisions to manage their lifestyles more effectively and empower them to take an active part in promoting and maintaining their own wellbeing. Some of the e-Health homecare and telemedicine tools, demonstrated at the conference will allow the citizen who is receiving health care to be supported in his or her homecare environment (fixed or mobile) outside traditional healthcare facilities.
It will also provide interface between administrative eHealth tools and health service providers electronically in order to better support the use of health services.
The timing of the conference will be very appropriate in terms of providing an opportunity to enhance the focus on promoting eHealth initiatives and sharing experiences in the enlarged European Union. It will also form the basis for the conclusions on eHealth which will be prepared for the Council of Ministers.