WRITTEN QUESTION E-1242/01 by Juan Naranjo Escobar (PPE-DE) to the Commission. Telemedicine in Europe.
Date: 2001-04-26
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: EU research policy, diffusion of innovations, health policy, medical computing, medical device, medical research, telemedicine

C 40 E/28

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

14.2.2002

The risk of fraud and abuse is constantly borne in mind when drafting Community legislation and
implementing rules. All regulations setting up aid schemes define the products or beneficiaries eligible for
aid and stipulate the type and frequency of controls to be carried out by Member States. A balance always
has to be struck between a scheme(cid:146)s estimated risk and the control provisions to be laid down. In some
instances 100 % control rates may be justified, and these are in fact occasionally imposed. This would
clearly not be justified as a general rule, however, as the cost would far outweigh the benefit.

Under the common agricultural policy (CAP),
legislation (cid:129) including control provisions (cid:129) has been
improved over time to reduce the risk of fraud and abuse. Control rates are clearly defined and some
schemes (such as aid for liquid skimmed milk used in feed and consumption aid for olive oil) have been
abolished inter alia because of their inherent risk. It should be pointed out that there are instances in
which the outcome of negotiations at the Council has been to alter the initial Commission proposal such
that the legislation finally adopted is more open to abuse than if the Commission proposal had been left
unchanged.

The radical shift in the CAP towards far more direct aid to farmers and far less aid through market
measures has also made it possible to set up the highly effective Integrated Administration and Control
System (IACS).

The above points demonstrate how the Commission takes fraud prevention into account and, where
necessary, proposes the requisite legal and administrative measures. Although the Commission does not
share the Honourable Members(cid:146) view that there is an urgent need to take further measures, it continues to
pay close attention to preventing fraud and product adulteration.

(1) OJ L 67, 14.3.1991.
(2) OJ L 145, 29.6.1995.
(3) OJ L 102, 25.4.1996.

(2002/C 40 E/026)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1242/01

by Juan Naranjo Escobar (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(26 April 2001)

Subject: Telemedicine in Europe

The application of the technology of the information society to medicine was the theme of the first
International Congress on Telemedicine held in Madrid recently.
Initial results show that the use of
teleconsulting via videoconference reduces visits to hospital for appointments by 75 %, and visits to
emergency departments by up to 90 %.

Since 1999 an experiment has been conducted at the Severo Ochoa Hospital
in Madrid, with the
participation of a group on bioengineering and telemedicine from the city(cid:146)s Complutense University, on
telemedicine and home dialysis, as part of the Attract project financed by the European Union. This
experiment is the first of its kind in Europe, although countries such as the United States and Canada
frequently use telemedicine in a wide range of areas.

What are the Commission(cid:146)s views on the use of telemedicine in Europe to date? How does it intend to
encourage more widespread use of telemedicine, to enable Europe to catch up with North America?

Answer given by Mr Liikanen on behalf of the Commission

(3 September 2001)

Analysis of the state of play of the (civil) implementation of cost-effective telemedicine services in North
American countries and in Europe leads the Commission services to the conclusion that the European
position in this domain is encouraging as compared to that in North America.

14.2.2002

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 40 E/29

Commission-funded research (notably since the third Framework Programme for research and tech-
nological development (RTD)) has played a clearly identifiable role: some project products have already
been commercialised in Member States and beyond. For the care of the older populations and those
suffering from chronic illnesses, the use of telemedicine is a very important tool.

Applications for telepathology and teleradiology allowing the options of remote consultation and requests
of second opinion have been commercialised and the company which commercialises these tools will also
commercialise them in the United States. An application developed for electronic management of clinical
trials has been intensively validated (six thousand cardiology patients) and is in use in pharmaceutical
companies for world-wide clinical research. This product is a market leader in its field. The company
involved in its commercialisation has grown from a start-up after an initial Commission-funded project to
a company with thirty staff members today. A third company was founded in follow-up to the
development of a web-enabled patient record system.
It should be noted that the three companies
mentioned above have collaborated in order to have a competitive critical mass. As a consequence, the
three above-mentioned products are integrated and will soon be commercialised as an integrated line of
products. Validation of this integration has just been finalised: the three above-mentioned products work in
an integrated fashion in the transplantation portal used for donor (cid:129) recipient matching in kidney and, to a
lesser extent, liver transplantation in some Western and Eastern European countries.

The above forms just an example, summarising successful Community-funded research in the area of
telemedicine.

In addition, there is a continuous exchange between researchers in North American countries and Europe.
European projects regularly participate to international telemedicine conferences.

The Commission is, moreover,
in the process of identifying bottlenecks towards a more widespread
implementation of the products for which the results have been successfully validated. One potential
initiative is the organisation of a co-ordinated Commission approach towards major user groups such as
organisations of health professionals and pharmaceutical companies in order to ensure that, besides cost-
effectiveness, medical benefits are fully validated and exploited.

The results of such an action would create the necessary data and arguments allowing Member States to
adapt their implementation strategies. In this context, the Commission has already set up, since the fourth
Framework Programme (1994-1998) for RTD, a working group of representatives of the Member States
Health(cid:146)s Ministries (called Health Working Party). The national delegates have been asked to formulate
existing national strategic plans for implementation of health Telematics,
in
Europe.

including telemedicine,

A copy of the Telemedicine Glossary working document, third edition, which summarises, among others,
results by projects will be sent direct to the Honourable Member and to the Parliament(cid:146)s Secretariat.

(2002/C 40 E/027)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-1251/01

by Carmen Cerdeira Morterero (PSE) to the Commission

(10 April 2001)

Subject: Aid to Namibia and fundamental rights

Namibia is a country which benefits from European funds, being allocated a sum of € 52 million over the
period 1996-2000. The second priority of the agreement between the European Union and the Namibian
government is the development and consolidation of democracy and the rule of law, as well as respect for
human rights and fundamental freedoms.