Currently, EU patients spend €1.4bn (about £1.2bn) every year on unnecessary medical images alone.
To address this issue, the European Commission has outlined a plan to make health data easier to access for patients, medics, regulators and researchers. The new European health data space is expected to improve the efficiency of existing healthcare services as well as boost medical research, according to an EU document obtained by Reuters.
An estimated one in 10 X-rays or ultrasound tests taken by EU patients are actually duplications of existing valid images. This proliferation of unneeded tests is caused by data silos as well as strict restrictions regulating the accessibility of patients' data, to the point of keeping patients from being able to access their own records.
Widening the use of accessible electronic prescriptions is expected to lead to large savings by reducing errors in dispensing medicines. EU health commissioner Stella Kyriakides...