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Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - EHW17 (High Level eHealth Conference 2017)

Teaser

Summary

The main objective was for the Maltese Presidency was to organise a High-Level eHealth Conference, continuing the long-established pattern for first-semester Presidencies. The Conference aimed to bring together high-level policymakers from all EU Member States (MS) and other key stakeholders to discuss the most important current issues of common interest regarding the effective, safe and economic application of ICT to the planning, delivery and evaluation of health services.

The Presidency co-located this Conference with a Health IT conference & exhibition organised by HIMSS Europe. The aim of partnering with HIMSS was to help reach a wider and more diverse audience, including key stakeholders from the health IT industry, allowing the communication of EU eHealth policies and the outcome of relevant EU-funded research and innovation to a wider audience. The co-located events were known collectively as â€œeHealth Week 2017â€ (EHW17).

A principal objective was to design an eHealth Conference programme that would be both diverse and comprehensive, highlighting developments taking place in various aspects of eHealth such as legal, organisational, semantic and technical. An overarching theme was set for eHealth Week 2017: â€œData for Health: the key to personalised sustainable careâ€. A programme was designed that included 5 plenary sessions and 27 parallel sessions, covering all current hot topics in eHealth.

An objective of EHW17 was the organisation of a High-Level Informal Working Lunch, as in some previous editions of the Conference, to foster eHealth policy discussion among the highest-level delegates.

Another objective was for both the Presidency and the Commission to have stands on the exhibition floor at the eHealth Week Exhibition as vehicles for dissemination of information to the conference delegates.

Work performed

eHealth Week 2017 was successfully organised, according to plan, from 10th to 12th May 2017. Around 1000 participants took part, 250 of whom were high-level delegates invited by the Presidency and the Commission.

High-level delegates from 25 EU member states, as well from Switzerland, Norway and the USA, accepted the Maltese Presidencyâ€™s invitation to attend the High Level eHealth Conference.

The organising parties were the Maltese Presidency, the Ministry for Health, the European Commission and HIMSS Europe. WHO/Europe was a collaborating partner in the planning and implementation of the event.

The High Level eHealth Conference has been an established annual appointment in the European calendar for more than 10 years. The 2017 Conference in Malta once again attracted a large number of senior policy makers from the field of eHealth, as well as from the health and IT sectors in general, from almost all the EU member states, providing an important opportunity to advance the EUâ€™s eHealth agenda.

The conference programme succeeded in covering as many currently relevant issues in the fields of eHealth and related disciplines as was possible within the three days of the conference. There was emphasis on subjects that are of specific interest in the European Union, including the growth of the digital health economy, cross-border exchange of personal health data, and the implementation and health impact of the General Data Protection Regulation and the Network and Information Security Directive.

The High-Level Informal Working Lunch was held as planned on 10th May 2017. The highest level delegates were invited to this closed meeting. The participants discussed the health-related aspects of the mid-term review of the Digital Single Market, on the basis of a paper prepared by the Commission.

The Presidency and Commission exhibition stands on the eHealth Week Exhibition floor were designed, built, furnished and manned according to plan. They both served the intended purpose of engaging with conference delegates and providing information on the eHealth related activities of the Ministry for Health and the Commission.

The Malta session during the conference proved to be a valuable opportunity to present the work done on a Digital Health Strategy for Malta (2017-2021), the new â€œNext Generationâ€ version of the myHealth portal and integrated nationwide eHealth deployments. The demonstrations carried out on the Malta stand at the exhibition were also well received by many conference delegates. A significant degree of interest was generated in Ministry of Health activity related to eHealth and digital health.

Thirty delegates took up the Ministry of Healthâ€™s offer of a visit to Mater Dei Hospital on 11th May 2017 to see Maltese eHealth systems in action in their natural context.

WHO/Europeâ€™s participation helped to attract a wider range of eHealth policy makers. WHO highlighted the importance of public health, and the need to take a population view of health informatics and digital health at the same time as reaping the benefits of personalised medicine.

The co-location of the HIMSS Europe conference and exhibition had clear benefits, as in the past. HIMSS attracted stakeholders from industry and healthcare delivery who would normally not attend policy-oriented events. There were around three times as many participants who registered through the HIMSS registration system (circa 750) than those who registered through the Presidency system (250).

Dissemination took place through the five conference plenary sessions, the twenty seven conference parallel sessions, the High-Level Informal Working Lunch, the Speakersâ€™ Corner, the Exhibition and the visit to Mater Dei Hospital. Informal dissemination also took place through delegate networking throughout the three days.
Information on the topics discussed at the conference was published on the eHealth Week 2017 website, as well as on the Maltese Presidency websit