Common use of Healthcare Reform Clause in Contracts

Healthcare Reform. e-Health technologies such as remote monitoring and remote diagnosis provide a tangible opportunity to shift the balance of healthcare away from the hospitals and into the community with benefits for patients and the healthcare system as a whole. As part of the European Semester process, Country Specific Recommendations for Ireland issued in June 2014 contain recommendations on a number of issues including reform of the healthcare sector initiated under the Future Health Strategic Framework to increase cost- effectiveness. A key reform in this regard is the increased use of ehealth. eHealth implementation is identified by the Commission as one of the Societal Challenges for the upcoming decades. It covers the ICT-based interaction between patients and health-service providers, institution-to-institution data transmission, peer-to-peer communication between patients or health professionals. It also includes health information networks, electronic health records, and tele-medicine services, including personal wearable and portable communicable systems for monitoring and supporting patients. eHealth is increasingly being seen in the context of new health delivery models outside of traditional hospital computing environments, with a view of patient information extending across the full range of care settings. This will involve building relationships with both the ICT industry and academia, working in tandem with our partners in Europe and progressing the eHealth agenda in line with the EU eHealth Action Plan 2012 – 2020, to maximise the potential for innovation and improvement. A critical component of implementing this strategy is the ubiquitous availability and accessibility of Broadband infrastructure and Next Generation Access. EU/IMF commitments in this regard related to the publication of an eHealth Strategy and the publication of the Health Identifiers Bill. The eHealth Strategy was published in December 2013 and its implementation is underway. The Health Identifiers Bill was also published in December 2013 and is being progressed steadily through the Oireachtas. The Bill provides the legal basis for Individual Health Identifiers for health service users and unique identifiers for health service providers. The identifiers will be used across the health service, both public and private. Individual Health Identifiers are primarily about patient safety and ensuring that the right information is associated with the right individual at the point of care. Individual Health Identifiers will also help in managing the health service more efficiently and will be a building block for health reform initiatives including Money Follows the Patient13. Actions that will be progressed in 2014 include the establishment of an entity called eHealth Ireland, the recruitment of a Chief Information Officer for the health system to lead eHealth Ireland, and the formulation of plans to progress key priority projects. While it is generally acknowledged that eHealth has the potential to transform healthcare delivery systems, Government has also recognised the potential for eHealth for economic development and includes it in the 2014 Action Plan for Jobs as a sectoral opportunity.

Healthcare Reform. e-Health technologies such as remote monitoring and remote diagnosis provide a tangible opportunity to shift the balance of healthcare away from the hospitals and into the community with benefits for patients and the healthcare system as a whole. As part of the European Semester process, Country Specific Recommendations for Ireland issued in June 2014 contain recommendations on a number of issues including reform of the healthcare sector initiated under the Future Health Strategic Framework to increase cost- effectiveness. A key reform in this regard is the increased use of ehealth. eHealth implementation is identified by the Commission as one of the Societal Challenges for the upcoming decades. It covers the ICT-based interaction between patients and health-health- service providers, institution-to-institution data transmission, peer-to-peer communication between patients or health professionals. It also includes health information networks, electronic health records, and tele-medicine services, including personal wearable and portable communicable systems for monitoring and supporting patients. eHealth is increasingly being seen in the context of new health delivery models outside of traditional hospital computing environments, with a view of patient information extending across the full range of care settings. This will involve building relationships with both the ICT industry and academia, working in tandem with our partners in Europe and progressing the eHealth agenda in line with the EU eHealth Action Plan 2012 – 2020, to maximise the potential for innovation and improvement. A critical component of implementing this strategy is the ubiquitous availability and accessibility of Broadband infrastructure and Next Generation Access. EU/IMF commitments in this regard related to the publication of an eHealth Strategy and the publication of the Health Identifiers Bill. The eHealth Strategy was published in December 2013 and its implementation is underway. The Health Identifiers Bill was also published in December 2013 and is being progressed steadily through the Oireachtas. The Bill provides the legal basis for Individual Health Identifiers for health service users and unique identifiers for health service providers. The identifiers will be used across the health service, both public and private. Individual Health Identifiers are primarily about patient safety and ensuring that the right information is associated with the right individual at the point of care. Individual Health Identifiers will also help in managing the health service more efficiently and will be a building block for health reform initiatives including Money Follows the Patient13. Actions that will be progressed in 2014 include the establishment of an entity called eHealth Ireland, the recruitment of a Chief Information Officer for the health system to lead eHealth Ireland, and the formulation of plans to progress key priority projects. While it is generally acknowledged that eHealth has the potential to transform healthcare delivery systems, Government has also recognised the potential for eHealth for economic development and includes it in the 2014 Action Plan for Jobs as a sectoral opportunity.