08 Feb Hub Talk #1 – Integration of mHealth into health systems

Last 28th January, the European Innovation and Knowledge mHealth Hub launched the series Hub Talks 2021, a dialogue organised together with WHO, ITU and the European Commission, to discuss on different mHealth aspects.

This first webinar focussed on the integration of mHealth into health systems, with the participation of experts from different countries, like Estonia, Germany and Austria, that shared diverse experiences. The event was well received by the public and more than 90 people attended and participated in the discussion generated.

The session was opened by Belén Sotillos, member of the European mHealth Hub’s Team, to present the advances developed by the Hub on one of their Knowledges Tool, KT3, which gathers national or regional experiences in Europe aimed at integrating and scaling up mHealth into health systems.

The session went on with the experience shared by Dr Dan Bogdanov, from Cybernetica, Estonia, who explained the development of the national coronavirus app, HOIA, providing good insights about topics like interoperability, reusability, or secure digital identity, key in Estonia’s  advanced position in digital health nowadays.

To follow, Dr Niklas Kramer and Dr Lars Hunze, from the Ministry of Health in Germany, shared their reimbursement model on digital health applications.

The talks were closed by Dr Alexander Degelsegger-Márquez, from Gesundheit Österreich GmbH, Austria, who offered an interesting comparative view on different health apps reimbursement frameworks in countries such as Belgium, France, England and Germany.

These presentations were followed by some time for discussion, where, lead by Dr Dipak Kalra, president of the European Institute for Innovation through Health Data (i~HD), the speakers shared their views on some cross-cutting topics, such as who invests the time and effort necessary for the patient education and empowerment required for a successful digital health intervention; are countries ready to harmonise how to integrate mHealth into health systems, to provide European citizens with a proper cross-border experience regarding mHealth services, or do we still need fragmented experiments.

To wrap-up the webinar, Hani Eskandar, Senior Coordinator of Digital Services at the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) and Birgit Morlion, mHealth officer at the European Commission, summarized the main points addressed during the session and delivered some take-home messages.

The presentations can be downloaded here:

• The integration of mHealth into health systems as work area for the European mHealth Hub, by Belén Sotillos
• Secure identity and data infrastructures for powering mHealth applications, by Dr Dan Bogdanov
• App on prescription – Reimbursement model for digital health applications, by Dr Niklas Kramer and Dr Lars Hunze.
• Comparative view on reimbursement frameworks, by Dr Alexander Degelsegger-Márquez.