More public and private eHealth initiatives on an international level

Marijke van Hees (1961) graduated at the Twente University in Public Administration in 1990 and works as an entrepreneur since 2002. In close cooperation with several public and private stakeholders she organizes innovation programs in the public domain, health care and public security in particular.
 

eHealth
Van Hees is also Track Leader for the WCIT 2010 Track eHealth. “I was involved in the implementation of regional Electronic Health Record in the Netherlands and in a large health care innovation program (IZIT), subsidized by the Province of Overijssel, the insurance company Menzis and the Ministery of Health in the Netherlands. As a member of the Dutch Health care Innovation Platform and eHealthNu, I support the implementation of ehealth solutions for elderly people and in the treatment of chronic illnesses like diabetes, COPD and chronic heart failure.”
 

Goal
“Trustfully use of ‘care on distance’ will contribute to a higher efficiency and more sustainable use of available resources of doctors and nurses, and will contribute to quality of life for elderly or sick people. We should see these opportunities in health care as a chance to contribute to economic growth instead of being a threat to the economy. I hope that insight will contribute to more public and private initiatives and working together on this agenda on an international level. The meeting of the delegates at the eHealth Track at WCIT 2010 is a relevant step in further developing this cooperation.”
 

Better business models and cooperation
Van Hees foresees two true breakthroughs in eHealth in the coming future. “On the short run: better business models for the use of ehealth services into the process of care. This will have effect in two years. On the long run: more cooperation on the research agenda in the use of health care data for improving treatments on population based information and development of better epidemiology via technology. The use of the available medical data in combination with genetic and biomedical data gives a much better basis for scientific research with the use of methods like data mining to the causes of diseases.”