A cross-national analysis of eHealth in the European Union: Some policy and research directions

Wendy Currie (1) , Jonathan J.M. Seddon (1)

1 Audencia Recherche

This study analyzes the relationship among eHealth profiles across 27 European Union Member States. It builds on prior research that uses multivariate statistical methods to provide a cross-country analysis on two dimensions: ICT penetration and availability compared with eHealth access and usage among health professionals. Based on the quantitative indicators/metrics used in our study, our results reveal that four distinct country groupings emerge as frontrunners, followers, leapfroggers and laggards. Frontrunners combine a strong ICT infrastructure with relatively high adoption of eHealth technologies. Our study suggests that a one-size-fits-all approach to health IT is not recommended for EU Member States because policy-makers at the national level need to develop an eHealth roadmap that reflects national, regional and local conditions that go beyond technical imperatives.

Domains: Humanities and Social Sciences; Business administration

Wendy Currie, Jonathan J.M. Seddon. A cross-national analysis of eHealth in the European Union: Some policy and research directions. Information and Management, 2014, 51 (6), pp.783-797. ⟨10.1016/j.im.2014.04.004⟩. ⟨hal-01069994⟩