The socio-economic impact of interoperable electronic health record (EHR) and ePrescribing systems in Europe and beyond

Interoperable electronic health record (EHR) and ePrescribing systems are already high on the political agenda in Europe and beyond.

The goal of the EHR IMPACT study is to support ongoing initiatives and implementation work by the European Commission, Member States governments, private investors, and other actors. The study aims to improve awareness of the benefits and provide new empirical evidence on the socio-economic impact and lessons learnt from successfully implemented systems.

In pursuit of these goals, the study focuses on:

* Defining a conceptual framework and analysing differences in emphasis and functionalities of various kinds of EHR and ePrescribing systems, as well as levels and degrees of interoperability;

* Developing further the state-of-the-art socio-economic impact evaluation methodologies and applying these to interoperable EHR and ePrescribing systems;

* Identifying cases of good practice in terms of overall performance and particularly in economic terms, of implemented, interoperable EHR and ePrescribing systems;

* Evaluating the economic impact of ten implemented solutions from across the healthcare value system, as well as across the EU Member States;

* Presenting and disseminating the gained empirical knowledge to the wider public, to address the need to improve awareness of the benefits of interoperable EHR and ePrescribing systems.

The EHR IMPACT study is commissioned by DG INFSO and Media, unit ICT for Health.

Download The Socio-Economic Impact of Interoperable Electronic Health Record (EHR) and ePrescribing Systems in Europe and Beyond - Final Report


Sources

http://www.ehr-impact.eu/index.htm

http://www.ehealthnews.eu

Connectathon goes to France

The Tenth Annual European interoperability testing event, known as the IHE Connectathon, will be held in Bordeaux, France from April 12th to 16th, 2010 at the Cité Mondiale, a conference center located in the heart of the city on the banks of the Garonne river.

More than 300 information technology engineers from 90 companies are expected for this year's event, an intensive, five-day 'connectivity marathon' for testing the interoperability of applications used in health information systems.

In parallel with these testing activities, Connectathon 2010 will offer two full-day conference programs, one focused on the progress towards interoperability in European health IT programs and one focused on developments in France.

At the IHE Connectathon all companies implementing IHE Technical Framework specifications in their products have a unique opportunity to test their applications with systems and products from other vendors in a real-time interoperability environment.

According to vendors who have participated in previous Connectathons, "the cost of identifying and solving a bug during a Connectathon is about 10 times less than the cost of a bug identified on site."

The results of the Connectathon will be published on the IHE-Europe website and application vendors may refer to the IHE Integration Statements to show compliance of their product with IHE Integration Profiles. This is a clear benefit to vendors when responding to Requests for Proposals from users.

For more information on IHE-Europe please visit: www.ihe-europe.net. Also available on the IHE-Europe website are Success Stories about IHE implementations in Europe, as well as FAQs about Connectathon and IHE frameworks and specifications.

Sources

http://www.ehealthnews.eu/events/1832-connectathon-goes-to-france

http://www.ihe-europe.net/content/connectathon_2010.htm