eHealth 2003: the economic and user perspective

People's desire is quite simple: They want to stay as healthy as possible. The aim of healthcare is to help make this desire a reality. Innovations have substantially supported healthcare providers' in their efforts to increase the quality of care. To continue to make significant improvements--even under difficult socio-economic circumstances--healthcare must now become more process-oriented throughout the complete care process, i.e. from early detection to cure. Modern information and communication technology, i.e. eHealth, is the key to optimize processes within the entire healthcare system and to provide higher quality care at less cost. Quantifiable proven outcomes that clearly demonstrate the efficiency of eHealth are being realized. Action and co-operation between all healthcare players is necessary to structure and enable healthcare in a way that allows all people to benefit from the tremendous potential for progress that information technology offers to healthcare.