The overall goal of the ARGOS eHealth Pilot Project is to contribute to establishing a "Transatlantic Observatory for Meeting Global Health Policy Challenges through ICT-Enabled Solutions" in order to develop and promote "Common Methods for Responding to Global eHealth Challenges in the EU and the US". EU and US care about the global challenges because (a) citizens travel and migrate globally and there is a wish to foster good healthcare everywhere (b) the EU and US wish to refine their products to better penetrate global markets (c) experiences and lessons learned globally are useful in Europe and the US.

The Observatory will promote mutual understanding and learning among EU and US policy researchers and policy makers on the following general challenges with global dimension:

•   Improving health and well-being of citizens through accelerating eHealth strategy development and through supporting large scale eHealth infrastructure implementations;
• Supporting R&D in eHealth to promote the benefits from the pursuit of consistent strategies.

In the ARGOS eHealth project, the following specific target areas will be addressed:

• Interoperability in eHealth and certification of Electronic Health Record systems (EHRs);
•   Definition of a common, consistent approach and identification of indicators and tools for measuring the adoption, usage and benefits of eHealth;
• Modelling and simulation of human physiology and diseases with a focus on the Virtual Physiological Human (VPH) and the use of such solutions to support the diagnosis and treatment of rare diseases.

Key outputs for each of the three topics are:

• a comparative analysis of current US and EU approaches;
• workshops in the US and the EU involving the different stakeholder groups;
• interim reports and publications (Policy Briefs: one per target area, three separate brochures) documenting the sub-projects' findings and recommendations (in web- and printed version);
• the "ARGOS project finale" global conference.

All of the above will target different types of stakeholders: policymakers and opinion formers, industry and users. Results will be translated into recommendations in order to support coordinated actions.

For further information, please visit:
http://argos.eurorec.org

As part of the activities of ARGOS, a public presentation which will be held on 15th of March 2010, from 16.00pm to 17.00pm, in conjunction with the beginning of the World of Health IT. The presentation will take place at the CCIB Convention Centre -meeting room 125, Barcelona, Spain.