Electronic medical data exchange used by 91 % of doctors in Denmark, according to recent survey findings

BERLIN, Germany, 2 June 2015: Denmark emerges as the number one country to start an mHealth business according to a survey conducted by research2guidance in partnership with HIMSS Europe. Over 4,000 app developers, healthcare professionals and mHealth practitioners took part in the “European mHealth App Market Ranking” survey, where participants were asked to rank the mHealth App market readiness of the 28 EU member states. The results were recently revealed by Ralf Jahns, Managing Director at research2guidance, during the HIMSS Europe event in Riga, the mHealth Summit, on 12th May 2015.   

The results, which establish Denmark as having the best market pre-requisites needed for an mHealth business, are based on the average of the scores in five categories: eHealth adoption, level of digitalisation, market potential, ease of starting an mHealth business and mHealth regulatory framework. 

Hans Erik Henriksen, CEO of Healthcare Denmark commented on the survey findings: “Denmark has a very digitalised society and is familiar with using technology in healthcare, supported by a regulatory framework. The research2gudiance and HIMSS Europe survey confirms the progress we are making. I sincerely hope that this will inspire the European countries and mHealth community in their efforts to progress mobile solutions, which will make a big difference for our citizens”.

Denmark ranked top country for eHealth adoption being the only country where exchanging patients’ medical data electronically is used amongst 91 % of doctors, whereas the average of other covered countries is only 34%. In terms of market attractiveness and healthcare investments, Denmark is at the top in the mHealth market potential category, together with Austria which also has one of the highest expenditure for health. The ease of starting mHealth business category describes how easy it is to start and maintain a new business based on the number of days needed to start business, the number of necessary start-up procedures to register a business and the taxes level and, in this case, Denmark also ranked extremely high, as the smaller countries – Ireland was also top in this category – tend to support new businesses better compared to larger countries. 

Rainer Herzog, General Manager at HIMSS Europe, added: “This year’s survey has revealed that the market conditions for mHealth which Denmark offers are truly remarkable. This has been the largest global mHealth research study to date and there are different learnings that could be drawn from the EU countries’ mHealth App Market Ranking. Ultimately though, although mHealth is still it is an emerging market, and a number of countries in Europe are currently in the process of defining their mHealth roadmaps, Denmark leads the way in all aspects”.