Abstract
In June 2019, WHO and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development convened a meeting to discuss how best to implement digital health for the purpose of transforming health systems, empowering individuals, and improving the delivery of high-quality health care. This meeting followed the April 2018 communication1 from the European Commission on “enabling the digital transformation of health and care in the Digital Single Market; empowering citizens and building a healthier society” (appendix). Such international calls to action have been effective at spreading the message that digital health will bring patient empowerment to health-care policy makers across the globe. Consequently, empowerment plays a prominent role in many national-level policy documents, including National Health Service England's Empower the Person strategy (appendix), the eHealth Strategy for Ireland, and the National eHealth Strategy of Australia.