Quote Of The Year

Timeless Quotes - Sadly The Late Paul Shetler - "Its not Your Health Record it's a Government Record Of Your Health Information"

or

H. L. Mencken - "For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong."

Friday, February 20, 2009

When Do You Think Australian Politicians Will Get It?

Sometimes an article appears that really frustrates and annoys me. This is one!

Europe to double e-health research

19 Feb 2009

Viviane Reding today announced that the European Commission will double funding for e-health research over the next two years.

The European Commissioner for Information Society and Media said that over the next two years the Commission will invest €163m in e-health research. The funding will be channelled through its framework seven funding call.

Speaking by video link to the e- Health 2009 conference in Prague the Commissioner said the current economic crisis facing Europe had not deterred investment in e-health research but “put the long term benefits of e-health into sharp focus”.

More here:

http://ehealtheurope.net/news/4591/europe_to_double_e-health_research

The EU has invested heavily in e-Health research heavily over the last decade and a doubling shows just how it is valued and has apparently contributed to attract the additional funds.

This is quite a lot on money. 1 Euro is $A1.96397 so it is $A320 Million over 2 years. On a proportional basis (based on Nominal GDP) the figure would be $A20M+

I believe Australia would be very lucky to be spending that amount on dedicated e-health research from Government funds.

If so, this is another gap we should address. A doubling of what we are spending would be nice!

David.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

David your country needs to stop relying on your Government to do the things you can do yourselves. I am sure you have heard the saying "if you want to get a job done just do it yourself" The power is in the people, not waiting for the government to figure out an interoperalble sysytem between the GP's and hospitals. This is going to take years and years for them to figure out. You (the consumer) should really start researching PHR Personal Health Record products and take matters in your own hands. The more the patient knows about its health history the more lives will be saved and needless mistakes avoided in the Emergency room.

Also looked at what just happened during the recent fires. People lost everything, wills, trust, insurance paper, mortgage information, on and on. Your vital records and health records should be stored electronically to avoid such mishaps. I am a subscriber of MyMedicaRecord.com.au and I have to say this is the way to go. I have everything my family and I need in these types of situations and I am completely in control of the privacy.

power to the people.

Roger

Dr David G More MB PhD said...

I have a suspicion Roger has a barrow to push here. There are many providers of PHRs other the the one Roger mentions (Myvitals, Google Health and MS Vault spring to mind). It is also hard to see what his comments have to do with e-health research funding.

David.