BRUSSELS – 30 June 2020
COCIR has today published its new report entitled “mHealth: COCIR Recommendations for an effective deployment”. This contains a series of recommendations for the European Commission, Member States and other key stakeholders we believe will accelerate the uptake of mHealth in Europe and increase the benefits for patients.
Mobile devices and applications in health are having an increasing influence on the growing trend towards digitisation in various healthcare domains. They are also playing a growing role in the exchange of data between different stakeholders, providing rapid access to real-world data and reporting on outcomes. Patients can take active control of their health data and share it with others as they wish.
The current COVID-19 crisis has highlighted the huge potential of mHealth in public health delivery, providing low-level access to healthcare and ensuring safe and remote continuity of care. Standards-based interoperability is the key to ensuring effective deployment of mHealth in supporting patient-centred care.
COCIR Secretary General Nicole Denjoy says, “We believe that mHealth can bring about the digital transformation of health and care, which is why we fully support the Commission in its ambitions. Through deploying these recommendations, we can help accelerate the uptake of mHealth-centric projects by reducing the risks and cost of uncoordinated approaches to interoperability. Nicole Denjoy adds “If mHealth is to deliver true genuine clinical value and support a patient-centred care model, the core applications must be able to communicate with the full range of systems used in day-to-day medical practice. Interoperability is the key. The recent coronavirus crisis has underlined the need for urgency; it should act as a reminder of the importance of long-term planning and integrating interoperability by design from the outset.”.
In its recent communication on “A Europe fit for the digital age”, the European Commission has already identified interoperability as a key element of the European data strategy and an important enabler to build a European Health Data Space.
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About COCIR
COCIR is the European Trade Association representing the medical imaging, radiotherapy, health ICT and electromedical industries. Founded in 1959, COCIR is a non-profit association headquartered in Brussels (Belgium) with a China Desk based in Beijing since 2007. COCIR is unique as it brings together the healthcare, IT and telecommunications industries.
For more information, contact:
Nicole Denjoy
COCIR Secretary General
Tel: +32 (0)2 706 8961
Colin Mackay
COCIR Communications Senior Advisor
Tel: +32 (0) 473 43 07 52