Towards Accountable E-Health Policies in the Nordic Countries

• Main Authors: Faxvaag, Arild, Reponen, Jarmo, Hardardottir, Gudrun Audur, Vehko, Tuulikki, Viitanen, Johanna, Eriksen, Jeppe, Koch, Sabine, Nøhr, Christian
• Other Authors: Department of Computer Science, Computer Science Professors, Computer Science - Digital Ethics, Society and Policy (Digital-ESP), Computer Science - Software and Service Engineering (SSE), Computer Science - Human-Computer Interaction and Design (HCID), Professorship Viitanen Johanna, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, University of Oulu, Directorate of Health, Iceland, Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL), Aalborg University, Karolinska Institutet, Aalto-yliopisto, Aalto University
• Format: Other/Unknown Material
• Language: English
• Published: 2024
• Subjects: digital healthcare; health policy; Nordic countries; Iceland
• Online Access: https://aaltodoc.aalto.fi/handle/123456789/130768; https://doi.org/10.3233/SHTI240413

The Nordic Countries are seen as forerunners in the field of digital health technologies and national implementation has been guided by sector specific strategies for many years. In the context of new European legislation such as the European Health Data Space (EHDS), a review of the existing strategies is indicated. The objective of this policy analysis is to assess and compare the scope, ambitions and extent of accountability in national-level digital health policies in the Nordic countries. The scope of the policies from the five countries were largely centred around a) empowering and activating citizens; b) a shift towards prevention and digital first; c) supporting health operations; d) doing the groundwork; e) making health data more available in research and innovation workflows and f) supporting health personnel. Finland comes out as the most ambitious country with the aim to transform their health system by means of digitalisation. Both Finland and Iceland work towards prevention and the digital first ambition due to large populations in rural areas. These two countries also present the most accountable policies, meaning that their policy documents are the most transparent as to how they arrived at the conclusions and how they are to evaluate the achievements. Peer reviewed