The Nordic Committee of Senior Officials for Health and Social Affairs (ÄK-S) of the Nordic Council of Ministers (NCM) established the eHealth group (the Nordic Council of Ministers’ eHealth group) in 2011 to ensure knowledge transfer between the Nordic countries, and help to strengthen the global leadership position of the region in the eHealth area. The NCM e-health group supports a Nordic e-Health Standardization group and the Nordic e-health Research Network (NeRN). The mandate of NeRN is to work on eHealth indicators in order to advance the eHealth monitoring activities and systems in the Nordic countries. As of 2025, the Nordic countries rank among the foremost in taking e-health / digital health solutions into use.
In this report we have analysed national-level e-health policies and found what these have in common. We have also analysed the 2021 NCM Action plan: “The Nordic Region – towards Being the Most Sustainable and Integrated Region in the World : Action Plan for 2021 to 2024”.
The policy analysis shows that the Nordic countries have begun to leverage their installed base of health-related information systems by putting them front and center in their healthcare reforms. The national-level policies are wider in scope in that they now seek to engage, empower and activate the patient / citizen to take a greater responsibility for their health. This includes preventive measures. The policies are also wider in scope in that they now encompass research and innovation workflows. Now that health information systems are in use across the entire sector, there is greater concern of the impact of IT-systems on the worklife of the health professionals.
Compared to earlier e-health policies, the current e-health policies hints towards a deeper concern for research and innovation as well as for professional development and the work-life of healthcare professionals. To reflect this we have used a system-theoretic approach in the development of areas for indicator development. Another principle is that healthcare information systems shall be evaluated as to how they contribute to value-creation. We describe healthcare systems and health ecosystems and their value chains. In addition to the healthcare value chain, we relate the areas of indicator development to the research and innovation value chain and to education and training of health professionals.
This report ends with a description of the suggested areas for indicator development which again is to be used to propose new indicators and refine indicators that already are in use. The suggested indicator development areas are meant as a contribution towards a more comprehensive assessment of the outcomes of e-health / digital health policies in the Nordic countries. Given the ongoing development of many powerful generic technologies (e.g. machine learning, large language models and other forms of artificial intelligence) it is our belief that monitoring the effects and side effects of digital health policies will become even more important in the years to come.