On January 21st, the European Justice Forum (EJF) brought together different stakeholders to discuss the effects of digitalization in the process of dispute resolution in the health care sector. EJF presented a comprehensive process of dispute resolution ranging from detection/capturing to out-of-court settlement until in-court settlement and political challenges. The discussion with Ombudsmen, eHealth Startups and Business experts focused in a second step on core elements of learning culture and opportunities for process improvements in the out-of-court settlement through digitalization. As eHealth companies have learning from data and user friendliness in their “DNA” this allows mutual learning from and for modern dispute resolution mechanism as the ombudsmen. Besides the remaining challenges of high fragmentation in the health sector, the exchange built on the approach of learning from best practice. Examples of digitalization in private/administrative dispute resolution from different EU Member States had been presented, showing e.g. easy consumer access on websites for disputes, transparency of sectorial data, electronic consumer advice, automated and guided procedures as well as new learning opportunities for business. As further activity it was agreed to link into different associations in Berlin to further spread the opportunities of digitalization for fair and effective alternative dispute resolution including early prevention through data sharing.
The roundtable was kindly hosted by Johnson & Johnson at their Representative Office in Berlin.
