Global Experts Share Key Insights and Recommendations from the DHAGE 2024 Digital Health Meeting

The 2024 high-level meeting of the Digital Health Advisory Group for Europe, which focused on analysing economic impact of digital health in healthcare systems, brought together over 35 decision makers and global experts from 11 governments and organizations such as OECD, WHO, the European Observatory and European Commission to discuss the financial and societal impact of digital health on healthcare systems.

DHAGE, a thought leadership platform for key decision-makers in Europe, identifies synergies and nurtures collaborations on digital health policies. Supported by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health of Finland, the Shared Services of the Ministry of Health in Portugal and HIMSS, DHAGE builds on the work of the HIMSS European Conference Advisory Council with the goal of creating policy topics of national relevance for its member countries.

Representatives from six European countries — France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Scotland and Sweden — shared their experiences and strategies in embracing digital health innovations.

Held at HIMSS24 Europe in May, the latest meeting highlighted key aspects such as funding models, the importance of public-private collaboration and how digital solutions could support sustainable healthcare growth.

The eight key recommendations were:

1. Recommendation 1. Government funding is important as an incentive for early adoption of innovative applications that help empower the public and support providers. 
2. Recommendation 2. National governments should use efficient public procurement policies to support scaling, developing and fostering the use of interoperable solutions.  
3. Recommendation 3. The European Commission should actively support Member States in making effective use of European funds for reforming health systems, particularly in the implementation of the European Health Data Space to provide access to quality data for primary and secondary use. 
4. Recommendation 4. The EU should promote the creation of a true European internal market for digital and data solutions in healthcare, grounded in EU regulations, standards and skilled professionals, to shape the digital future of public health across the EU and to bring about competitive, globally successful solutions. 
5. Recommendation 5. National governments and international organisations should design holistic policies that consider different funding options for the range of digital health solutions and have a long-term investment perspective. 
6. Recommendation 6. National governments and the European Commission should agree on a core set of indicators at the European level to measure the impact of digital health projects on health and healthcare, and promote their use in all EU-funded projects. 
7. Recommendation 7. The European Commission and national governments should facilitate the pooling of digital health expertise to learn from and to accelerate decision-making by identifying best-in-class solutions, practices, and successfully implemented use cases. 
8. Recommendation 8. National Governments should develop and promote Health System Performance Assessment (HSPA) with attention to digitalisation in healthcare, and Health Technology Assessment (HTA) of digital solutions to measure adoption, effectiveness, and efficiency of solutions. 

The DHAGE 2024 meeting emphasized the importance of digital health in transforming healthcare systems across Europe.

Read the DHAGE report and the executive summary.