Pictures of the Future      Fall 2005

"e-Health Is Playing a Crucial Role in Health Care"

Interview with Gérard Comyn

Dr. Gérard Comyn (59) is Acting Director of the Directorate for Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) for Citizens and Businesses in the Directorate General for Information Society and Media in the European Commission. He is also head of the unit on ICT for Health. Before joining the European Commission, he was managing director of the European Computer Industry Research Center (ECRC) in Munich, and was also a Professor at the University of Lille. Comyn hold a Master’s Degree in Applied Mathematics and a PhD in Computer Science

What role will ICT play in tomorrow’s healthcare systems?

Comyn:Today, Europe’s main concerns in relation to health care are often about increasing costs.But they are also about access to quality care. These challenges could be amplified by the health needs of an aging society. We have to act now to secure good quality and affordable health care tomorrow for all of Europe’s citizens. ICT has a crucial role to play here, as it enhances the safety, efficiency and quality of medical care. ICT also enables the development of innovative new products and services, which will also help to decrease costs, and which will in turn offer huge potential opportunities for European industry.

Which eHealth programs is the European Commission pressing aheadwith?

Comyn: The Directorate General for Information Society and Media has been co-funding R&D projects in the area of eHealth for over 15 years now. Its cumulative funding has totaled over 500 million €, and hundreds of projects have been successfully completed. The eEurope 2005 program—through its 2004 communication and related eHealth action plan—has also made people and governments increasingly aware of the benefits and opportunities of ICT for health. In the context of the new i2010 initiative, we now plan to encourage widespread demonstrator, piloting and multiplier-effect activities that will spread these messages.

What benefits does ICT offer physicians, patients and insurance companies?

Comyn: Doctors can keep abreast of the latest medical news and knowledge. They can work more efficiently and flexibly, with less paper, and benefit from mobile access to electronic health record systems. This leads to enhancements in the quality of health care delivery and a reduction in the number of medical errors. Patients obtain more rapid access to improved medical services and benefit from a shift from hospital-centered care to more self-care, personalized care and home care. Insurance companies can benefit from better quality, speed and savings in the delivery and reimbursement of care. They can also reduce costs and spot new and emerging health trends that are emerging on the scene.

What economic advantages do you see?

Comyn: Today, Europe’s health sector employs 9.3 % of the total workforce of the EU and constitutes over 8.5 % of its gross domestic product. Improvements in efficiency and care can result in tremendous qualitative enhancements and quantitative savings. However, economic advantages, especially cost benefits, are one of the hardest things to prove in terms of a better quality of life. This is why we are now supporting several cost-benefit assessments of eHealth.

Which new technologies are most important in improving health care?

Comyn: Lots of new possibilities are arising at the moment. Biomedical informatics, modeling and simulation of human physiology, knowledge extraction and management systems, molecular imaging, wearable monitoring systems, labs on a chip, broadband and mobile communications, intelligent sensors, decision support, as well as security systems, are some of today’s key technologies. The successful integration of many of these technologies will help us to achieve the vision of ubiquitous, personalized medical are.

Will computer-assisted diagnosis and therapy, which help physicians to manage steadily increasing data volumes, be part of the game?

Comyn: Undoubtedly. As stated in the international Open Clinical report (www.openclinical.org), recent growth in the scientific understanding of diseases and their management has been unprecedented, but it has not been matched by an equivalent ability to apply that knowledge in practice. According to the report, preventable medical errors reportedly cause more deaths than each of the following on their own: car accidents, breast cancer or AIDS. Computer-assisted diagnosis and therapy is indeed a way to make all the relevant knowledge, information and evidence available at the point of care.

What might the hospital of the future look like?

Comyn: The hospital of the future is set to achieve all the exciting and proven possibilities that ICT can offer. First, it will look much friendlier. A lot of cables and instrumentation will disappear, and the patient will be monitored by miniaturized sensors communicating wirelessly with computer systems. Physicians will instantly have access to analyses of the patient’s status. Second, the hospital without walls will not be restricted in its service either by its geographical location or its physical infrastructure. Rather, it will be well connected—via ICT networks—to other hospitals, clinics, primary health centers, patients in care centers and independent citizens. Cross-border collaboration between hospitals, supported by ICT, will be common. A major outcome will be better use of scarce resources and the availability and accessibility of better-quality care. Patients’ movement and mobility throughout Europe will also be enhanced.

Will there be a common European health card containing information for emergency situations—for example, a person’s blood group or possible allergic reactions to specific medications? Or will there possibly even be a card containing a complete patient file?

Comyn: The European health insurance card was introduced on June 1, 2004, and Europe wants to start introducing an electronic version of the card from 2008 on. Nevertheless, there are currently no concrete plans for a single European health card because the European Union’s member states are themselves responsible for providing their own health care systems.

                                                                                  Interview by Ulrike Zechbauer

_{The opinions expressed here are Dr. Comyn’s own and do not necessarily reflect the official viewpoint of the European Commission}