Germany, France, Norway and other European countries, have developed major advances in digital transformation during the pandemic, by innovating and adopting legislation to massify the use of digital health tools.
The European Commission (EC) has proposed the EU4Health program in response to COVID-19, with the intention of investing more than €5 billion in European Union (EU) countries, healthcare organizations and NGOs to promote the digitization and innovation of healthcare systems.
The program includes the creation of a reserve of medical supplies for crisis, medical staff and other experts to respond to a crisis around the EU, increase the surveillance of public health threats, strengthening health systems for future health emergencies, disease prevention, transformation of health systems, development of affordable medical devices, and providing access to healthcare for vulnerable groups.
Germany
Germany, on the other hand, even before the pandemic had strengthened its regulations for the clinical use of mobile and web medical apps by creating the Digital Health Act in 2019. In October last year, two apps were approved for clinical use, the first one for patients with tinnitus discomfort and the second one for patients with anxiety disorder.
However, Digital Health has made its greatest advances in Germany over the last two years, Susanne Ozegowski, head of corporate development and digitalization at a German company and member of the HIMSS advisory board, explained to the specialized Healthcare IT site that, "n Germany, until three years ago, digital health didn't play a big role. There were a few fitness and wellness apps but hardly any digital health applications which had a relevant impact when it came to the diagnosis and treatment of diseases."
Among the advances achieved during the pandemics, he highlights the one achieved at the beginning of 2021, with the electronic registry. As of 2021, all German citizens will have a national electronic patient registry.
France
On the other hand, France has adopted a law passed in 2019, which is based on My Health 2022, a French government project that seeks to accelerate Digital Health in the country. This through the implementation of electronic medical records, interoperability in the health system, leveraging AI in health, establishing a health data center, among others.
In addition, the use of telemedicine in France has increased during the pandemic. Among the latest actions, the government has begun trials for the issuance of a digital vaccine passport.
Norway
As in Germany, Norway is already applying technologies for remote medical care. They have video consultation platforms and electronic medical record systems.
In addition, the Norwegian Center for e-Health Research is developing "a large national digital platform is currently planned and partly operative. This platform will in the future contain interoperability and semantic solutions. FHIR is a national interoperability standard, and SNOMED-CT has been chosen as common terminology," according to Rune Pedersen, patient pathway manager at the center.
