The 'State of Health in the EU' cycle, an initiative by the European Commission, supports Member States in enhancing citizen health and healthcare system performance. This initiative, through the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies and the OECD, has developed Country Health Profiles for all 27 EU Member States, emphasising the digitalisation of healthcare as a key priority.
The Country Health Profiles of Belgium, Denmark, France, and Germany, countries represented in the ACE project, underscore the importance of digital health investments. The ACE project aligns with these priorities, viewing digitalisation as a key to addressing many of the challenges within Europe's homecare ecosystem.
With the ageing population on the rise, care providers face increasing pressure to deliver high-quality, long-term care amidst a notable shortage of skilled professionals. This situation presents formidable obstacles to the sector's sustainability and efficiency.
Despite the differences in the scale and specific focus areas of their investments, Belgium, France, Denmark, and Germany share several common strategies in the digitalisation of healthcare:
- Belgium has allocated approximately €40 million towards digital health under its Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP), focusing on nuclear medicine and aiming for a sustainable, smart, and inclusive economy. Belgium's health spending patterns highlight the need for digitalisation to improve healthcare accessibility, quality, and resilience.
Read more: https://eurohealthobservatory.who.int/publications/m/belgium-country-health-profile-2023
- Denmark allocates €33 million to health investments, with €14 million for digital health solutions. This investment focuses on emergency management, critical medical supply monitoring, and COVID-19 vaccine effects, demonstrating Denmark's commitment to leveraging technology for health system improvement.
Read more: https://eurohealthobservatory.who.int/publications/m/denmark-country-health-profile-2023
- France commits €4.5 billion to healthcare modernisation in its RRP, with €2 billion dedicated to healthcare digitalisation. This includes developing national infrastructure, digital medical records, and secure data exchange, aiming to enhance care coordination and modernise long-term care.
Read more: https://eurohealthobservatory.who.int/publications/m/france-country-health-profile-2023
- Germany dedicates 16% of its RRP funding to healthcare, with significant investments in digital public health services and hospital modernisation. Germany's strategy emphasises digitalisation's role in creating a pandemic-resilient health system and improving service accessibility and quality.
Read more: https://eurohealthobservatory.who.int/publications/m/germany-country-health-profile-2023
These countries’ investments in digital infrastructure, healthcare service modernisation, and the focus on accessibility and quality enhancement, reflect a collective European movement towards more efficient, resilient healthcare systems.
It is reassuring for the ACE consortium to see these efforts align with the project's objectives to integrate innovative technologies in homecare - a pivotal component of the entire healthcare system - and, of course, to support care providers in adapting to technological advancements.