Across Europe, public health systems are facing shrinking budgets and increased demand. Health and social care systems are strained by demographic change, an ageing population, increasing incidence of chronic diseases and financial pressures.  With health being one of the highest resource-consuming sectors of the economy, EU member states are under pressure to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of their healthcare systems and processes. E-Health, a relatively recent term for healthcare practice supported by electronic processes and communication, is seen as an enabler of healthcare systems reform, in order to improve the quality of life and unlock innovation in health markets, while at the same time, seeking to empower both patients and health workers.

In broad terms, e-Health can encompass a range of services or systems that are at the edge of medicine/healthcare and information technology, including electronic health records, ePrescribing, telemedicine, health knowledge management, Virtual healthcare teams, mHealth (i.e. the use of mobile devices in collecting aggregate and patient level health data, providing healthcare information to practitioners, researchers, and patients, real-time monitoring of patient vitals, and direct provision of care (via mobile telemedicine), medical research using grids (powerful computing and data management capabilities to handle large amounts of heterogeneous data) and healthcare information systems.

According to a 2010 OECD report (“Improving Health Sector Efficiency: the role of information and communication technologies”), the benefits that can result from ICT implementation are broadly classified into 4 areas: increasing quality of care and efficiency; reducing operating costs of clinical services; reducing administrative costs; and enabling entirely new modes of care. The EU has realized that e-Health has the potential to become an enabler of such transformations. This is why, the Europe 2020 strategy includes in its supporting Digital Agenda a specialized component on health, called eHealth Action Plan 2012-2020.

The Αction Plan aims at addressing and removing barriers such as the lack of awareness of, and confidence in eHealth solutions, lack of interoperability between eHealth solutions, lack of legal clarity or fragmented legal frameworks for eHealth services (especially concerning personal data retention and exchange), regional differences in accessing ICT services, limited access in deprived areas. It therefore aims to clarify the policy domain and outline the vision for eHealth in Europe, present and consolidate actions to deliver the opportunities that eHealth can offer, describe the EU's role and encourage Member States and stakeholders to work together.

The Greek presidency seeks to advance deliberations in the field, by probing  into how member states can work together in the EU to better exploit the potential of e-Health as an enabler for the much needed transformation of today’s health systems. For this reason e-Health will be on the agenda of the Informal EPSCO (Health) Council in Athens, on 28-29 April. In addition, a three-day E-Health Forum 2014, will take place in Athens on 12-15 May, at Megaron Athens Concert Hall. The Forum will include industry sessions, networking opportunities, parallel and plenary sessions of technical and scientific interest, aspiring to become a true forum for the exchange of experience, mutual support, best practices and synergies.