- At least €16 billion of EU money was planned for healthcare digitalisation over 14 years.
- EU support met member states’ needs, but EU funds were difficult to use due to the number of different rules.
- There is no comprehensive overview of EU money used.
It is difficult to establish how much EU money has been used to help member states to digitalise their healthcare systems. This finding emerges from a new report by the European Court of Auditors. During the 2014-2020 and 2021-2027 programming periods, €2.4 billion was planned through Cohesion Policy and an additional €13.6 billion through the COVID-19 pandemic recovery and resilience facility (RRF), with additional funding also available through other programmes. However, some member states encountered difficulties applying for and using EU support due to the complexity of accessing various funding programmes.
The COVID-19 pandemic significantly boosted the need for digital technology to deliver health care (“eHealth”) across the EU. The pandemic also increased the need for coordination and better flows of health data across the bloc. Although responsibility for health policies and organising and delivering health services and medical care remains with the member states, it is the EU’s role to support these actions.
“EU funds for healthcare digitalisation were provided through various programmes managed by different European Commission departments, with specific rules and different management arrangements”, said Joëlle Elvinger, the ECA Member in charge of the audit. “This made it difficult for some member states to identify the EU funds available, and created obstacles for them when applying for funds”.
The auditors found that the Commission provided effective support and guidance overall, and that the audited projects in the selected countries (Spain, Malta and Poland) contributed to the digitalisation of healthcare. For example, one project focused on improving remote monitoring for chronic diseases, while another helped to create a national electronic health platform, and to digitalise hospitals and connect them to the national platform.
The audit report highlights several issues, however. Member states faced obstacles when using EU funds, such as a complex range of funding options, insufficient administrative capacity, and difficulties in securing national co-financing. The auditors also found that neither the Commission nor most member states have a comprehensive overview of the EU funds used for healthcare digitalisation projects.
The Commission has tracked progress in healthcare digitalisation under the 2030 Digital Decade Policy Programme through the eGovernment Benchmark (since 2022) and the Digital Decade eHealth indicator (since 2023). These indicators use different methodologies and have different purposes, although they cover similar aspects of access to electronic health records. The audit revealed some shortcomings in this regard, for example concerning the accuracy of information and the methodology used for scoring.
The auditors recommend that the Commission should improve not only the accuracy of the information it provides to stakeholders, but also its reporting on the use of EU funds for healthcare digitalisation across the various financing programmes by 2026.
Background information
The EU has been promoting the digitalisation of healthcare for more than 20 years,mainly through ‘soft’ measures, such as recommending actions or setting non-binding objectives. The COVID-19 crisis led to the EU policy framework in this area being strengthened through the adoption of binding decisions and regulations.
In 2021, the European Commission launched a public consultation on an EU initiative for a European Health Data Space. The right to access one’s health data in electronic format was considered important by 88 % of respondents. According to the Eurobarometer on the Digital Decade published in 2023, a significant majority of those polled (76 %) expect that digital technologies will have a crucial impact on accessing or receiving healthcare services (e.g. telemedicine and artificial intelligence for diagnosing diseases) by 2030, including in EU countries where patients are not actually resident.
Special report 25/2024, “Digitalisation of healthcare: EU support for member states effective overall, but difficulties in using EU funds”, is available on the ECA website. This follows the findings of the European Court of Auditors’ 2019 special report on EU actions for cross-border healthcare, which noted that despite the progress made on providing EU citizens with information on cross-border healthcare, this information was still difficult to access in some areas.
Read the Auditors’ Report
Read the EU Commission’s replies