Denmark is the number one country for mHealth companies, according to a survey conducted by research2guidance in partnership with HIMSS Europe. The survey that involved more than 5,000 app developers, healthcare professionals and mHealth practitioners asked participants to rank the mHealth app market readiness of the 28 EU member states.
The results, which have crowned Denmark as a place with 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 digitalization, market potential, ease of starting an mHealth business and mHealth regulatory framework.
“Denmark has a very digitalized society and is familiar with using technology in healthcare, supported by a regulatory framework,” said Hans Erik Henriksen, CEO of Healthcare Denmark. “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.”
In Denmark, 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 expenditures for health. When it comes to the ease of starting mHealth business, Denmark also ranked extremely high, as the smaller countries (like Ireland) tend to support new businesses better compared to larger countries.
“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,” commented Rainer Herzog, General Manager at HIMSS Europe. “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”.