One of the objectives of the Digital Agenda for Europe is to achieve greater implementation of telemedicine services by 2020.
Online healthcare technology can improve the quality of care, facilitate and make patients’ access to treatment and their personal medical information safer, reduce the risk of medical error and contribute to the early detection of health problems. It can also facilitate the continuity of medical care across national borders.
EU directive 2011/24/UE regarding the rights of patients to cross-border healthcare makes clear the right of patients to receive cross-border healthcare and even remote care via telemedicine.
Telemedicine improves access to specialized medical care in areas where there are not enough specialists or there are problems with access. It is not a new medical field and does not attempt to replace the traditional methods of healthcare provision such as face to face consults. Rather it represents a new way of providing healthcare services that can complement and potentially improve the quality and efficiency of traditional methods, as was recently recognized by EU Directive 2011/24/UE on the rights of patients to cross-border healthcare.
Telemedicine involves the safe transfer of medical data and information by text, sound, images and any other method needed for prevention, diagnosis and patient monitoring and so professional ethical rules regarding the provision of this kind of services are especially important.
It includes a wide variety of services such as teleradiology, telepathology, teledermatology, teleconsults, telemonitoring, telesurgery and telophtalmology.
Telemonitoring can improve the quality of life of chronic patients and reduce hospital stays. For example, telemonitoring in the homes of cardiac patients can improve survival rates by 15%.
Services such as teleradiology and teleconsults can help to cut waiting lists, optimize the use of resources and make it possible to improve productivity.
The Member states are responsible for the organization, administration and financing of their healthcare systems and thus also for making telemedicine services a reality for their citizens.
Source: Médicos y pacientes
