Consumer and Innovations in E-health Services: Examples of European Countries

Innovations in e-health can significantly enhance healthcare accessibility, efficiency and patient safety.

The advancements, such as telemedicine and electronic health records, facilitate remote access to healthcare services, reducing geographical barriers and addressing the urgent needs of patients. Moreover, they enable healthcare providers to deliver more personalized and accurate healthcare services thanks to integrating technologies like artificial intelligence. Ehealth optimizes healthcare costs, addresses current, pressing needs of individuals, communities and societies and adapts to the changing landscape of healthcare, making it a crucial and highly relevant topic in today’s world. This book discusses critical aspects associated with the implementation of technological innovations in the e-health market. The authors have identified the technological innovations introduced in the e-health sector during the last decade of the twenty- first century and explored how patients are adapting to and managing these technological advancements. The authors conducted research in four selected European countries: Poland, Finland, Estonia and Spain, with a focus on understanding the extent to which these new technological solutions have been embraced by demand- side actors, that is, recipients/users of e-health services. The resulting book aims to address the following questions: What barriers do new technological solutions encounter in their implementation? Do the e-health services and solutions contribute to improving health and extending life expectancy in individual European countries? The book offers a comprehensive overview of innovations in digital health services, concentrating on this sector as evaluated by the institutions responsible for their functioning and the development of the supply side of e-health services. Additionally, the book provides an in- depth analysis of patients’ attitudes toward technological advancements in medical services, focusing on their interaction with digital healthcare solutions and assessing the willingness of e-patients to incorporate cutting-edge e-health services into their health- related behaviors. Finally, the book presents an analysis and assessment of using technological solutions to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of the healthcare system in Europe.

It provides practical insights and a comprehensive view of innovations and e-services in healthcare, catering to a diverse audience, including practitioners and managers of healthcare entities, patients, tech start- ups, researchers and students.

Prof. Dr. Hab. Anna Dąbrowska is the Head of Department of Consumer Behavioral Research, Institute of Management, Warsaw School of Economics. She has been employed at universities in Poland since 1997. Her area of specialization is service marketing, consumer behavior, consumer protection and education, e-services and consumer social responsibility. She is an author and co-author of numerous scientific and popular science books and articles. She organizes and coordinates conferences focusing on holistic consumer market safety. She cooperates with the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection (Urząd Ochrony Konkurencji i Konsumentów, UOKiK) and other consumer organizations. She has worked for many years at the Institute for Market, Consumption and Business Cycles Research and was Deputy Director for Scientific Affairs from 2016 to 2018 for the institution.

Alicja Fandrejewska is the Department of Management Information Systems, Faculty of Management, University of Warsaw. Dr Alicja Fandrejewska has worked at Kozminski University and the University of Warsaw. She has a PhD in Social Sciences (Management) awarded by the Warsaw School of Economics and a PhD in Humanities (English Philology) obtained from the University of Gdańsk. Her research focuses on the development of ICT technologies, examining their usability for consumers and their role in enhancing the efficiency and competitiveness of businesses in a globally interconnected, knowledge-based economy. She is also an author and co-author of publications in the areas of cross-country comparisons of acceptance of technological innovations, including e-health, cultural differences, business communication, ICT and management.

Elżbieta Stańczyk, University of Wrocław and at the Statistical Office in Wrocław – Dolnośląskie Centre for Regional Surveys. She has worked at the University of Wrocław and at the Statistical Office in Wrocław – Dolnośląskie Centre for Regional Surveys. She is a doctor of economic sciences. Her research interests cover mainly methods of spatial analysis in terms of the diversification of socio-economic development, measurement of the competitiveness and innovation of regions, eco-innovation of enterprises, energy innovations in households and use of advanced statistical methods to predict consumer behaviour. The results of her research and development work are numerous publications in scientific journals, including 4 peer-reviewed book publications, as well as analytical reports for local government.

Katarzyna Szalonka, University of Wrocław, a consultant and a member of the working team for the Ministry of Health for the pilot implementation of pharmaceutical care. Prof. UWr Dr. hab. Katarzyna Szalonka has been employed at universities in Poland since 2000. She deals with marketing in healthcare mainly in the pharmaceutical market. She publishes books and papers on pharmaceutical care, marketing in commerce, and health-promoting behavior. She specializes in issues related to healthcare, innovations in the health sector, and pharmaceutical care and she organizes periodic conferences on pro-healthy lifestyles. She was a member of the teams at the Ministry of Health for the pilot implementation of pharmaceutical care.