Horizons and Perspectives eHealth

EHealth platform represents the combined use of IT technologies and electronic communications in the health field, using data (electronically transmitted, stored and accessed) with a clinical, educational and administrative purpose, both locally and distantly. eHealth has the significant capability to increase the movement in the direction of services centered towards citizens, improving the quality of the medical act, integrating the application of Medical Informatics (Medical IT), Telemedicine, Health Telematics, Telehealth, Biomedical engineering and Bioinformatics. Supporting the creation, development and recognition of a specific eHealth zone, the European Union policies develop through its programs FP6 and FP7, European-scale projects in the medical information technologies (the electronic health cards, online medical care, medical web portals, trans-European nets for medical information, biotechnology, generic instruments and medical technologies for health, ICT mobile systems for remote monitoring). The medical applications like electronic health cards ePrescription, eServices, medical eLearning, eSupervision, eAdministration are integral part of what is the new medical branch-eHealth, being in a continuous expansion due to the support from the global political, financial and medical organizations; the degree of implementation of the eHealth platform varying according to the development level of the communication infrastructure, allocated funds, intensive political priorities and governmental organizations opened to the new IT challenges.eHealth, telemedicine, telehealth, bioinformatics, telematics

What do we know from the literature on public e-services?.

Public e-services are a broad and growing research field in which scholars and practitioners from different domains are involved. However, the increasing attention devoted to public e-services only partially captures the extreme variety of aspects and implications of the diffusion of information and communication technologies at all levels of public administrations. The paper aims to develop a meta-analysis of the literature on the delivery, diffusion, adoption and impact of public e-services and examines current research trends in terms of differences in methodologies, approaches and key indicators across five service platforms: eGovernment, eEducation, eHealth, Infomobility and eProcurement. We examined 751 articles appeared in 2000-2010 in the top international academic journals listed in the Social Science Citation Index (SSCI) of the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI), as classified in the following fields: Communication, Economics, Education, Environmental Studies, Geography, Health Policy & Services, Information Science & Library Science, Law, Management, Planning & Development, Public Administration, Transportation and Urban Studies. We highlight a significant heterogeneity in scientific production across service domains, countries covered by empirical analyses, indicators used, and affiliation of authors. We also show an increasing diffusion of quantitative methods applied to different research fields which still appears to be constrained by data limitations. The overall picture emerging from the analysis is one characterized by largely unexplored service domains as well as scarcely analyzed issues both across and within individual service platforms (e.g. front vs. back office issues). Thus many research opportunities seem to emerge and need to be exploited from different disciplinary perspectives in this field of analysis.eGovernment, eEducation, eHealth, Infomobility, eProcurement, Bibliometrics, Metaanalysis, Innovation in services, Public e-services

Commercialisation of eHealth Innovations in the Market of UK Healthcare Sector: A Framework for Sustainable Business Model.

This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Festus Oluseyi Oderanti, and Feng Li, ‘Commercialization of eHealth innovations in the market of the UK healthcare sector: A framework for a sustainable business model’, Psychology & Marketing, Vol. 35 (2): 120-137, February 2018, which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1002/mar.21074. Under embargo until 10 January 2020. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving.Demographic trends with extended life expectancy are placing increasing pressures on the UK state-funded healthcare budgets. eHealth innovations are expected to facilitate new avenues for cost-effective and safe methods of care, for enabling elderly people to live independently at their own homes and for assisting governments to cope with the demographic challenges. However, despite heavy investment in these innovations, large-scale deployment of eHealth continues to face significant obstacles, and lack of sustainable business models (BMs) is widely regarded as part of the greatest barriers. Through various empirical methods that include facilitated workshops, case studies of relevant organizations, and user groups, this paper investigates the reasons the private market of eHealth innovations has proved difficult to establish, and therefore it develops a framework for sustainable BMs that could elimiesnate barriers of eHealth innovation commercialization. Results of the study suggest that to achieve sustainable commercialization, BM frameworks and innovation diffusion characteristics should be considered complements but not substitutes.Peer reviewe

eHEALTH DIGITAL SETUP BENEFITS DURING COVID-19: MCDM PERSPECTIVE

Digitalization of health organizations implies implementing and enforcing the eHealth concept as an integral part of health information systems. During the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic health organizations of the European Union, member states faced certain restrictions and limitations in the provision of health services through the usual physical healthcare system infrastructure. The accelerated need to provide real-time health services while monitoring the performance of a large number of patients’ health parameters has led to the widespread use of digital health solutions. Virtual health services enabled more efficient allocation of health organization resources in emergencies during COVID-19, which includes gathering, processing, and analyzing health big data and on that basis virtual monitoring of infected patients, virtual health assessment, and video-teleconferencing between health organization stakeholders. Accelerated online reporting on patient status, sharing results via smart health applications, and using electronic health record instruments have enabled more efficient responses by healthcare professionals. Also, eHealth’s “digital toolbox” have been reduced operating costs, data redundancy, and significantly increased interoperability in compliance with Internet security protocols. Digital data transmission in virtual health communities has provided strong support for making the right real-time decisions when providing health services during a pandemic. Accordingly, this study aims to determine the ranking among EU member states in the digital health services utilization during the COVID-19 pandemic, conducting a multi-criteria decision-making analysis. Utilizing the multi-criteria decision-making method- PROMETHEE I, EU countries will be ranked based on values of the following analyzed indicators from the Eurostat Database for 2020: Making an appointment with a practitioner via the website, Seeking health information using the Internet, Accessing personal health records online and Internet use for other health services via a website or app instead of having to go to the hospital or visit a doctor. In this way, PROMETHEE benchmarks development disparities in healthcare digitalization among EU countries to find EU leaders in the eHealth digital setup

Modeling Facebook users' behavior towards the use of pages related to healthy diet and sport activities

Purpose: In this article we aim to model social media users’ behavior in relation with the use of specified Facebook pages and groups, related to eHealth, specifically to healthy diet and sport activities. The study represents to the best of our knowledge the first region-focused on a specific geographical area research. Methods: The users’ personality is measured through the well-known Big Five model and the behavior is predicted with the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB). Structural Equation Modeling is used in order to statistically control the associations among the diverse observed and latent variables. Results: The results suggest an extended theory of planned behavior in combination with personality traits, on eHealth field. Openness and Extraversion do not seem to have positive effect on Attitude. Users’ attitude can be affected positively from Agreeableness and Subjective Norms, guiding to finally positive affection of users’ actual behavior. Agreeableness cannot influence behavior, directly, nor through SN, since the hypothesis path A-SN is not verified, but it can through Attitude. Neuroticism was negatively correlated to PBC but this hypothesis was not, also, confirmed in the proposed model. Implications: While literature confirms all of our hypotheses, in our study only 8 in 12 are finally confirmed. The difference between the present model and literature findings can be located on the different cultural dimensions among the different studies. The present survey is focused on the Greek region with all the participants to be Greeks. This location-based limitation could be surpassed by conducting the same research on different geographical regions and then confront the outcomes

Opportunities And Challenges of E-Health and Telemedicine Via Satelite

The introduction of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in the health scenario is instrumental for the development of sustainable services of direct benefit for the European citizen. The setting up of satellite based applications will enhance rapidly the decentralisation and the enrichment of the European territory driving it towards a homogenous environment for healthcare

How new technologies can promote an active and healthy city. Digital platform to identify areas of informal sport practise in the city of Malaga

La investigación realizada se ha llevado a cabo en el marco de la Cátedra Tecnologías Emergentes para la Ciudadanía, Red de Cátedras Estratégicas del Vicerrectorado de Proyectos Estratégicos, Universidad de Málaga, y el Polo Digital, Ayuntamiento de Málaga.In recent years the urban public space has become the largest casual sports infrastructure in cities and suburbs. WHO establishes a direct relationship between the Active Healthy City, social cohesion of communities and public space. This approach provides a framework for research and work on the design of the city and urban space as support for this sport practice. Moreover, new technologies provide an opportunity to promote the sport in the city. “Malaga Activa” digital platform project is an initiative that wants to promote the informal sport practice on the urban public space (outside the regulated sports facilities) and healthy living in the neighborhoods of the city of Malaga. This paper presents the results of the first phase of the project identifying the active sport areas -those in which physical and casual sport activities take place-. It also includes a methodology and a performance test of the created digital platform, as well as an assessment of the experience and possible improvements to be incorporated in the successive phases of the project.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Asia in the ageing century: part III - healthcare

With total health spending in the region worth over a trillion dollars in 2010 and demand for healthcare continuing to grow, Asian governments will have a tremendous challenge meeting and funding this demand.Summary• This is the third research brief in a three-part series that looks at Asia in the ageing century, with a particular focus on the countries of East and South-East Asia.• The context is outlined in the first brief, which describes population, urbanisation and social trends in the region. Specifically, it notes that population ageing in East and South-East Asia is happening faster and at a lower level of economic development than in the West. Many Asian countries now have a decade or so to prepare for the final stages of demographic transition. Parts II and III of the series focus on two areas of economic activity which are both pertinent to population ageing and have enormous scale: provision of retirement income (covered in Part II) and of healthcare (outlined in the present brief).• As Asian societies become wealthier and older they will demand more of their health systems. This translates to extending health insurance coverage to a broader cross- section of the population, and offering reimbursement for a greater proportion of costs on a larger package of benefits. China has enrolled 1.2 billion people into the health insurance system within the last decade but in some provinces benefit packages are lacking. Malaysia achieved universal health coverage in the 1980s, but in 2004 key medicines were only available in a quarter of public health facilities.• East and South-East Asian governments currently have the fiscal capacity to keep expanding health systems, but to avoid the excessive cost growth seen in the West they will need to employ various micro, macro and demand-side measures – heeding the successes and failures of reforms within the region and elsewhere.• An important area for healthcare is the epidemiological transition that comes with ageing societies, where the relative prevalence of non-communicable diseases increases. Health packages in Asia are yet to take a full account of this change.• Health spending in the region was worth over US$1 trillion in 2010. On the financing side, private health insurance is still a niche market making up US$50 billion of spending, but recent growth has been high (e.g. 100% p.a. in China). On the provider side, the size and growth of the market will result in opportunities for pharmaceutical, medical device manufacturing and consumer health companies, as well as for operators of hospitals and specialised facilities. Some of that demand will spill over into the growing medical tourism market.• At the level of the macro-economy, stronger welfare provision offers an opportunity to rebalance growth in the region by reducing excessive precautionary savings. So far, East and South-East Asian countries have been taking this opportunity but much remains to be done for healthcare systems to be fully ready for an ageing population.&nbsp