This progress report describes the main results of a first year of work since the publication of the eHealth Action Plan: activities undertaken by the European Commission and Member States together.
What if it were possible for every European citizen to select the precise place where they can receive that healthcare? What if they were to have the means and the information about Europe's healthcare organisations and healthcare infrastructure so as to ensure absolutely their own continuity of care?
There are a number of examples in the health area on which Member States cannot act alone effectively and where cooperative action at the EU level is indispensable, especially regarding issues with a cross-border dimension or relating to the free movement of persons within the internal EU market. Both existing and emerging disparities in Member States' legislation and case-law concerning healthcare impair the development of cross-border services and produce distortions of competition.
The report analyses the current state of developing electronic patient summaries in European Union Member States and beyond. It highlights the benefits of such summaries and also the difficulties that need to be overcome to make use of patient summaries in different countries.
The European Commission, Directorate General Information Society and Media, supports the eHealth ERA Coordination Action project to contribute to the coordination of Member States' eHealth strategy formulation and implementation as well as eHealth-related research and technology development. The project surveys and analyses eHealth roadmaps and programmes across Europe, identifies common priority issues, and develops suggestions for joint actions. 
This document is a sector study by e-Business W@tch, focusing on Hospital Activities (see section 2 for an introduction to this sector). It describes how hospitals use information and communication technologies (ICT) for conducting business, assesses the impact of this development for hospitals and the health sector as a whole, and indicates possible implications for policy. Analysis is based on literature, interviews, case studies and a survey among decision-makers in European hospitals about the ICT use of their hospital.