Europe and US sign joint agreement on e-health

A Europe-US memorandum of understanding will help to promote the interoperability of electronic health records

Europe and the US have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) promoting a common approach to the interoperability of electronic health records and education programmes for IT within health.

Vice president of the European Commission, Neelie Kroes, and US Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), Kathleen Sebelius, signed the agreement on Friday in Washington.

The MOU aims to create new markets within the eHealth sector in both the EU and US, and aims to boost the procurement of European e-health services within the US, as well as see more EU companies providing services to the US.

Following the statement, Kroes said: "Nothing makes more difference to people's lives than good health. [The agreement] is an excellent basis for the Commission and the US authorities to expand our promotion of e-health for the benefit of patients, health systems and companies."

The MOU will allow the exchange of information on ongoing activities carried out by the Commission and the HHS, as well as the exchange of delegations and specialists.

It will also see joint working groups set up to identify specific strategies for achieving shared goals.

According to reports, the US plans to invest approximately $20bn (£12.9bn) between now and 2014 in interoperable health records for physicians, as the takeup in the US of e-health records outside hospitals is currently four times lower than in Europe.

Promoting the use of e-health technologies is a key objective of the Digital Agenda for Europe.