Study rationale:

Fostering the development and implementation of national eHealth policies and strategies has been a key goal of the European Union (EU) eHealth Action Plan of 2004. To review progress made and analyse the results so far obtained by EU Member States, the European Commission has awarded a study to empirica. The work in this project builds upon earlier EC-funded projects, chief of which is the eHealth ERA project, which mapped for the first time Member States eHealth and RTD activities.

Study objectives:

The study describes, measures and assesses:

• national eHealth policies, strategies and implementation measures
• progress achieved, focusing on selected eHealth Action Plan priorities
• European and national actions which may support the further realisation of the eHealth Action Plan.

Outputs:

At the end of the project, a summary European level progress report will be published. It will include

• main findings and an assessment of progress made by Member States and other European countries towards realising key objectives of the eHealth Action Plan,
• lessons learned in this context and good practice cases from national eHealth programme planning and implementation,
• recommendations on areas where EC support as well as further coordination and collaboration among Member States may be warranted.