eHealthNews.EU Portal / Publications News

Observatory for Digital Health Technologies in Europe - Final Report

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 10:00:00 +0200

This report offers a comprehensive analysis of the EU27 digital health landscape, combining market intelligence, stakeholder insights and economic modelling to inform future policy and investment.

The first part of the report provides a detailed overview of the EU digital health technology market. It identifies the key drivers, barriers, and structural characteristics of the European digital health ecosystem, including vendor distribution, market fragmentation, maturity levels of different technology domains, and the roles of providers, regulators, and investors. The analysis highlights strong growth perspectives for the EU digital health market, where Artificial Intelligence stands out as a key technology.

eHealth Network Guideline on Hospital Discharge Report

Tue, 09 Jan 2024 10:00:00 +0100

The Member States in the eHealth Network have adopted these supplementary clauses to the general guidelines for the electronic exchange of health data under Cross-Border Directive 2011/24/EU to support the exchange of Hospital Discharge Report for continuity of care in a cross-border setting. The Hospital Discharge Guideline builds on the foundations laid out by the Patient Summary and the ePrescription Guidelines (including datasets and code systems). The eHealth Network guidelines build a set of guidelines that should be seen as complementing each other in different use cases and are operating under the umbrella of the General Guidelines.

Strategic Research and Innovation Roadmap of Trustworthy AI

Mon, 03 Oct 2022 10:00:00 +0200

This document is the first version of the Strategic Research and Innovation Roadmap of the TAILOR project, focussed on Trustworthy Artificial Intelligence (AI) through Learning, Optimization and Reasoning. The project objectives are extremely ambitious, and address topics that are currently very actively investigated. Therefore, defining a roadmap is itself an ambitious goal. We have started analysing many documents containing Roadmaps and Research and Innovation agendas of AI related initiatives (in particular we have analysed the AI4EU Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda and the AI, Data and Robotics PPP Strategic Research Innovation and Deployment Agenda and the AI Watch Index 2021).

Blockchain Applications in the Healthcare Sector

Wed, 09 Feb 2022 10:00:00 +0100

The healthcare industry faces challenges due to constantly changing conditions, including demographic transitions and the advancements we have achieved until now in health science and the healthcare industry. Life expectancy has increased, and we live longer with chronic diseases (Anderson & Hussey, 2000; Bongaart et al., 2015). This requires the healthcare industry to focus on an increasingly older population with a more complex disease burden than healthcare previously dealt with. As a direct consequence of the demographic shift, non-communicable and chronic diseases are becoming more prevalent, straining all health systems (Harris, 2019).

The Programme for the Union's Action in the Field of Health 'EU4Health Programme'

Mon, 17 Jan 2022 10:00:00 +0100

On 24 March 2021, Regulation (EU) 2021/522 of the European Parliament and of the Council1 was adopted as part of the Multiannual Financial Framework for the 2021-2027 period. That Regulation established a Programme for the Union's action in the field of health ('the EU4Health Programme').

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused an unprecedented health crisis in the Union and beyond, with severe socio-economic consequences and human suffering. The EU4Health Programme represents an unparalleled Union level financial commitment for health actions in comparison with previous health programmes.

Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare Report

Wed, 17 Nov 2021 10:00:00 +0100

This study presents an overview of the development, adoption and use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies and applications in the healthcare sector across all Member States. The main aim of this study was to support the European Commission in identifying and addressing any issues that might be hindering the wider adoption of AI technologies in the healthcare sector. The study will help the Commission to take action to achieve its long-term goal on the effective implementation of AI in the healthcare sector, based around common legislation and policy framework.

Ethics and Governance of Artificial Intelligence for Health: WHO Guidance

Tue, 06 Jul 2021 10:00:00 +0200

Artificial Intelligence (AI) refers to the ability of algorithms encoded in technology to learn from data so that they can perform automated tasks without every step in the process having to be programmed explicitly by a human. WHO recognizes that AI holds great promise for the practice of public health and medicine. WHO also recognizes that, to fully reap the benefits of AI, ethical challenges for health care systems, practitioners and beneficiaries of medical and public health services must be addressed. Many of the ethical concerns described in this report predate the advent of AI, although AI itself presents a number of novel concerns.

EU4Health Programme: Regulation (EU) 2021/522 of the European Parliament and of the Council

Thu, 13 May 2021 10:00:00 +0200

The Programme should be a means of promoting actions in areas where there is a Union added value that can be demonstrated. Such actions should include, inter alia, strengthening the exchange of best practices between Member States, supporting networks for the sharing of knowledge or for mutual learning, addressing cross-border threats to health so as to reduce the risks of such threats and to mitigate their consequences, addressing certain issues relating to the internal market in relation to which the Union can achieve Union-wide high-quality solutions, thereby unlocking the potential of innovation in health, and improving efficiency by avoiding the duplication of activities and optimising the use of financial resources.

Proposal for a Regulation Laying Down Harmonised Rules on Artificial Intelligence

Tue, 27 Apr 2021 10:00:00 +0200

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a fast evolving family of technologies that can bring a wide array of economic and societal benefits across the entire spectrum of industries and social activities. By improving prediction, optimising operations and resource allocation, and personalising service delivery, the use of artificial intelligence can support socially and environmentally beneficial outcomes and provide key competitive advantages to companies and the European economy. Such action is especially needed in high-impact sectors, including climate change, environment and health, the public sector, finance, mobility, home affairs and agriculture. However, the same elements and techniques that power the socio-economic benefits of

Artificial Intelligence in MedTech: Delivering on the Promise of Better Healthcare in Europe

Wed, 04 Dec 2019 10:00:00 +0100

The medical technology industry welcomes the new European Commission's priority focus on Artificial Intelligence (AI). Our industry sees enormous potential of AI to make healthcare better and safer, improve access and outcomes, empower patients and citizens with information, and make healthcare delivery more efficient.

There are several challenges that impede the deployment of AI in healthcare. These include a fragmented data landscape that makes access to or sharing of data difficult, a lack of interoperability, and a shortage of incentives for data sharing. Legal, technical and social challenges present additional obstacles for the sharing and aggregation of data.

State of Health in the EU: Companion Report 2019

Fri, 29 Nov 2019 10:00:00 +0100

Europe is a Union of and for citizens. What matters to Europeans matters to the EU. It should come as no surprise that regular surveys and debates across the continent consistently rank health among the top priorities for European citizens. They are right to expect a high level of protection and it is up to all of us - in all the European capitals - to deliver.

Today, Europe is the region of the world with the highest life expectancy. Yet this progress is slowing down, while inequalities between and within countries are widening. Citizens worry that the lives of their children will be more difficult than their own.

What the Radiologist should Know about Artificial Intelligence - An ESR White Paper

Tue, 30 Apr 2019 12:00:00 +0200

This paper aims to provide a review of the basis for application of AI in radiology, to discuss the immediate ethical and professional impact in radiology, and to consider possible future evolution. Even if AI does add significant value to image interpretation, there are implications outside the traditional radiology activities of lesion detection and characterisation. In radiomics, AI can foster the analysis of the features and help in the correlation with other omics data. Imaging biobanks would become a necessary infrastructure to organise and share the image data from which AI models can be trained. AI can be used as an optimising tool to assist the technologist and radiologist in choosing a personalised patient's protocol, tracking the patient's dose parameters, providing an estimate of the radiation risks.

WHO Guideline: Recommendations on Digital Interventions for Health System Strengthening

Fri, 19 Apr 2019 10:00:00 +0200

Digital health, or the use of digital technologies for health, has become a salient field of practice for employing routine and innovative forms of information and communications technology (ICT) to address health needs. The term digital health is rooted in eHealth, which is defined as "the use of information and communications technology in support of health and health-related fields". Mobile health (mHealth) is a subset of eHealth and is defined as "the use of mobile wireless technologies for health". More recently, the term digital health was introduced as "a broad umbrella term encompassing eHealth (which includes mHealth), as well as emerging areas, such as the use of advanced computing sciences in 'big data', genomics and artificial intelligence".

Final Report: Provision of a Market Study on Telemedicine

Thu, 24 Jan 2019 10:00:00 +0100

The aim of the study is to examine the telemedicine market in Europe and to understand the factors that determine its development. The analysis maps telemedicine applications and solutions, and applicable technical standards and guidelines; it also describes market dynamics and potential barriers limiting wider deployment and uptake of telemedicine solutions. Finally, the study assesses the cost-effectiveness of larger-scale deployment of telemedicine under current and future market conditions, to provide policy makers with advice and considerations for wider deployment of telemedicine.