The European Commission's Directorate General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology (DG CONNECT) and HHS have agreed on the roadmap to strengthen cooperation in eHealth and Health information technologies (IT). This builds on a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), signed in 2010 under the auspices of the Transatlantic Economic Council. The goal of the transatlantic partnership and the shared roadmap to strengthen the use of health information technologies (Health IT/eHealth) to improve patient engagement, health and care. 

The EU-US cooperation in eHealth/Health IT is strengthened by the jointly developed EC-HHS roadmap, which focuses on two high priority areas, the Standards and the Workforce Development. The Standards Development action plan is aimed at identifying common vocabularies, message structures and tools suitable for the international exchange of electronic health records. The goal of the Workforce Development action plan is to identify eHealth competencies and create a draft joint curriculum that can be used in both the US and Europe to help enhance healthcare and related professional workforces.

DG CONNECT and the HHS are holding an EU-US eHealth/Health IT Cooperation Assembly on May 15 during the EU's annual eHealth Week which this year is hosted by the Irish Presidency and takes place in Dublin Ireland from 13 to 15 May 2013.  

The objective of this event is to present and discuss current and future perspectives of EU and UScooperation on eHealth/Health IT. It will provide an opportunity to review collaborations and cooperative action plans of public- and private-sector entities, including those developed in the context of the (MoU) on cooperation surrounding health related information and communication technologies.

If you wish to attend any other sessions of the eHealth week, please register for the conference on http://worldofhealthit.org/2013/