This is eHealth Forum
week, a time to discuss how technology can bring positive changes into
healthcare systems and turn today's health and ageing challenges into
economic growth. This year's Forum takes place in Greece, where the
successful use of eHealth tools, developed as a result of EU research
and innovation funding or support- can inspire other EU countries.
ePrescription
During the
forum, the eHealth Network - the leading body for EU cooperation on the
interoperability of eHealth, will meet to discuss guidelines for the
interoperability of ePrescriptions, due to be adopted in November.
The Greek ePrescription system was first
introduced in 2010, and is today used by 98% of pharmacies and 90% of
doctors in Greece. It already covers more than 6 million electronic
prescriptions and 1.5 million diagnostic referrals. The system supports
decision-making by health authorities on issues such as how to improve
patient services and public health planning.
The
ePrescription system has been a good basis for further modernisation of
the Greek health system, which includes an Electronic Medical Record
(EMR) containing a patient summary (a summary of all medication a
patient is taking, along with other medical and personal data). This is
especially helpful for preventing over-prescription and conflicting
medication, and it can be life-saving for travelers. The patient summary
was developed according to the European patient summary dataset, recently adopted by the eHealth Network with guidelines for this data to be shared across borders.
The Greek ePrescription system was built on the basis of EU-funded epSOS project (more on this video).
Greece also teamed up with Sweden to share best practices on
ePrescription. All in all an interesting example for other countries to
follow, and a fertile ground for them to export their own good
practices, thanks to ICT interoperabilities.
Innovation Partnerships
Last year, Greece established
a network for the Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing.
This partnership of professionals in health and care aims to address the
challenges of an ageing society with innovative services and practices,
along the formula of the European Innovation partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing
(@EIP_AHA). This commitment to a European project at national level
sets another good practice to follow by other Member States.
mHealth – wearable tech...
"Wearable tech" is a growing field for health application. Under the USEFIL project which will be demonstrated at the eHealth Forum today, the combination of a smart watch and an even smarter mirror can show
you & your carers how you feel and what you do. The product was
developed through an EU-funded research project coordinated by Demokritos,
the Greek National Centre for Scientific Research. Cameras behind the
mirror register a patient's facial expression and body language.
Meanwhile, a smart watch around the wrist records daily activities,
blood pressure and heart rate. All this information is combined into
infographics and shown on the mirror's surface, along with a calendar
and clock. The information is also shared with carers who can use this
feedback to prescribe appropriate medication, to decide an appointment
is needed soon, to send reminders of appointments through the mirror,
ensuring patients will not forget them. The smart mirror and watch are
unobtrusive: people don't need to change their home or way of living, to
use them. The system helps elderly people stay independent for longer.
Although the project will be completed only at the end of this year, it
is already expanding and forging partnerships with American companies.
Staying mentally fit
SOCIABLE offers
ICT-assisted cognitive training and social activation to senior
citizens, older adults with Mild Cognitive Impairment and patients
suffering from mild Alzheimer’s disease, helping them stay mentally fit.
At the heart of the project is a single platform (a tablet, an
'all-in-one' PC or a 'digital table', a table with a touch-screen) and
over 25 applications. These include cognitive training exercises
(covering logical reasoning, language and constructional practice and
spatial orientation). They also include the “Book of Life”, a personal
diary application, where people can store life experiences, memories and
thoughts, in the form of texts, pictures and video, which can also be
shared with others, thus remaining active socially. SOCIABLE is being
used in seven organisations in Greece, Italy, Norway and Spain. The
project coordinator SingularLogic S.A.
is planning further commercial roll out of Sociable and is negotiating
with a big medical centre in Germany to include Sociable solutions in
its services. In parallel, SOCIABLE functionalities and services are
being enhanced and adapted for new clients and in other EU-funded
projects (e.g. IDF, Cloud4All, Prosperity4All).
One of the improvements is a training module for fall prevention.
SOCIABLE will be demonstrated live at SingularLogic's booth at the
eHealth Forum.
Background
The European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing (@EIP_AHA)
is a multi-stakeholder partnership to implement innovative ICT-driven
technologies for active and healthy ageing at European scale and to
remove barriers that prevent their deployment.
epSOS is short for European patient Smart Open Services. This large scale project provides:
-
a Patient Summary: a digital summary of your medical status shared among healthcare professionals to make care received abroad better and more efficient; it is especially helpful in an emergency situation.
-
ePrescription: a digital drug prescription, so you can pick up your medication in a participating pharmacy abroad.
To make use of these services, please consult your doctor.
The Active Assisted Living Joint Programme (@AAL_JP)
is an initiative driven by the EU's member states for applied research
on ICT products and services for ageing well. Over a hundred projects
have been funded since 2008 and it should be continued under H2020: €25
million of EU funding is foreseen in 2014 and the same amount again in
2015.
