Editorial
Letter from the Secretary General and Editor-in-Chief, HITM
Dear Reader, In several editorials and features over the past years, Healthcare IT Management has advocated the need for a European face to healthcare IT. We have argued that more than industrial policy or simple feel-good, such issues relate to fundamental questions about healthy business, scientific continuity, and the European way of life. The challenge is clear. The creative juices of innov...
HITM News
Italy
Medical Certificates Online in Friuli Venezia Giulia The Italian Autonomous Region of Friuli Venezia Giulia (FVG) represented by its regional agency for health has signed with the Italian Workers' Compensation Authority (Inail) a protocol agreement aimed at implementing the "medical eCertificate service". The latter will enable the direct transmission by electronic means of one's medical certificates to...
France
Connectathon Goes to France The Tenth Annual European interoperability testing event, known as the IHE Connectathon, will be held in Bordeaux, France from April 12th to 16th, 2010 at the Cité Mondiale, a conference centre located in the heart of the city on the banks of the Garonne river. More than 300 information technology engineers from 90 companies are expected for this year's event, an intens...
Spain
eVIA Spanish Technological Platform - General Assembly eVIA is the Spanish Technological Platform for eHealth, eWellness and Social Cohesion. eVIA gathers stakeholders, end-users, associations, public administrations, industry and researchers, intending to promote effective and market oriented R&D. During the General Assembly (9-10 December 2009) new working groups were launched in the areas of...
UK
Health-e-Space Website A new website that provides a platform to enable people to take more responsibility for their health has been launched in Moray, Scotland. “Making e-health real health” and “For the people by the people” The new Health-e-Space website provides local health information, links to recommended...
Mobile and Wireless Healthcare Conference
The World of Health IT Conference and Exhibition is a leading platform for ehealth in Europe, convening major stakeholders from the Healthcare IT community to engage in knowledge sharing, networking with peers and learning about the latest healthcare IT trends, challenges and solutions. In 2010, The World of Health IT Conference & Exhibition (WoHIT) will for the first time be held in conjunction...
WOHIT Conference & Exhibition
Mobile and wireless technologies offer the opportunity to secure the delivery of more patient-centred care. Better access to knowledge at the point of care also increases overall efficiency and reduces costs. This one-day conference will bring together healthcare IT professionals and clinicians alike to explore how to realise the benefits of mobile and wireless technologies both on the ward and in th...
Medica
MEDICA, one of the world’s largest medical trade fairs and congresses saw its fortieth anniversary on 18-21 November in Dusseldorf in Germany. The fair is an opportunity for decision makers from across the world to come and discover the latest technologies and innovations, for professional development, networking and discovery. Over the four days of the event, MEDICA registered almost 138,000 trad...
Healthcaretech 2009
HealthCareTech 2009- a must-attend event for healthcare technology professionals- hosted a prestigious roster of distinguished speakers from all over the globe chosen for their leadership and innovation within their corporation. The European Association of Healthcare IT Managers was a proud Association Partner of this event, which gathered highlevel senior healthcare and healthcare technology executi...
EU News
The Socio-Economic Impact of Interoperable Electronic Health Record (EHR) and
EPrescribing Systems in Europe and Beyond Commissioned by DG INFSO and Media, unit ICT for Health the EHR IMPACT study (EHRI) investigates the socio-economic impact of interoperable Electronic Health Record (EHR) and ePrescribing systems in Europe and beyond. The study comprises of detailed qualitative analyses of 11 good practice cases in Europe, USA and Israel. Nine of these cases also went thro...
Safe and Efficient Healthcare Through E-Health
The Health Council adopted, on 1 December 2009, conclusions on safe and efficient healthcare through ehealth. These conclusions recognise "the need for further political leadership and to integrate e-health into health policy in order to develop e-health services on the basis of public health needs". Therefore the Council "invites" the Member States to conceive and implement initiatives aimed at enabling t...
Cover Story
e-Health/EHR and Clinical Research
Author Günther Gell, is at the Institute for Medical Informatics, Statistics and Documentation, Medical University of Graz Conceptually the Electronic Health Record (EHR) will be a lifelong collection of health-relevant data for a (consenting) person. The main purpose of the EHR is to assist medical care by providing health professionals with the information for diagnosis and therapy where, wh...
Product Comparison
Patient ID Systems
Identifies the most important specifications to consider when comparing models ECRI Institute, a non-profit organisation, de dicates itself to bringing the discipline of applied scientific research in healthcare to uncover the best approaches to improving patient care. As pioneers in this science for nearly 40 years, ECRI Institute marries ex perience and independence with the objectivity of evidenceba...
Management
Managing Healthcare from the Desktop
Author Christopher Bain, is a Health Informatician, and Chair HISA health-mic SIG It’s hopefully a very non-controversial statement to a healthcare audience to state that healthcare internationally – especially what is often highly specialised and costly hospital care – is progressing at a rapid rate, arguably at an exponential rate. The dimensions of that progress include its technical...
Innovation Management in Healthcare IT
Author Miroslav Madjaric, is Chief Information Officer and Advisor to the CEO at University Hospital Centre, Zagreb Innovation is, without doubt, one of the central challenges faced both by healthcare IT professionals, and senior management. Its benefits are often, but not always, clear – depending on the yardsticks chosen to measure them. In addition, the pathways to innovation are rarely stra...
Spotlight
Keynote Speech on Globalisation and the Challenge for European Healthcare IT
Author Christian Marolt, Secretary General, European Association for Healthcare IT Managers, Brussels, October 29, 2009. Ladies and Gentleman, They say the world is globalising. One may like this, or one may not. But it is clear that our world is fast becoming borderless – whether it is in terms of goods and services, innovation, travel and television, or even money. It may seem a bit o...
IT @ 2009 Trophy: Winners and Runners-Up
On October 30, a French team led by Dr. Pierre Biron from the Centre Léon Bérard in Lyon won the IT @ 2009 Trophy at Europe’s top event for healthcare IT innovation. Dr. Biron’s team showcased their SISRA Health Information System and DPPR Shared and Distributed Patient Record, which has been implemented in the Rhône- Alpes region of France (see page 6 and 7 for more details). The two runners-...
Features
Dutch Health System Remains Europe’s Top Ranked
Author Tosh Sheshabalaya, For the second year in a row, the Netherlands has been judged to have Europe’s best healthcare system, according to the annual Euro Health Consumer Index. With a strong performance across all evaluation categories, the Dutch scored an even larger margin than the previous year (when 3-5 countries were clustered close to it at the top). Denmark, edged out of top slot in 2008...
A Glimpse of Healthcare's Sustainable Future
Author Paul Whaley, is Communications Coordinator for Health Care Without Harm Europe, and Editor of Health & Environment Sustainability concepts are taking root in healthcare, the subject of more and more discussion as the spectre of climate change looms larger. The pressure to reduce environmental impact is being felt all the way through healthcare operations, in purchasing, waste managemen...
Fire Prevention in i-Hospitals 2.0
Author Lars Holbein, is a Research Assistant at the Universität Kassel Technische Informatik, Germany. Active risk management starts before a crisis occurs. In spite of precautions, fire accidents occur often in hospitals. Even large-scale operation of rescue teams cannot always save lives. Preventive fire protection is a matter of importance to avoid fire accidents, especially in big public b...
Country Focus: Germany
The Healthcare System in Germany
Reunification in 1990 transformed Germany, by a significant margin, into Europe’s largest country, with 16 states (Länder) and an area of over 350,000 square kilometers. With 83 million people, Germany has Europe’s largest population and its biggest economy. The country lies in the heartland of the European landmass, bordering the Baltic Sea and the North Sea. Its western neighbours are Belgium, Franc...
Healthcare IT in Germany
In spite of being over two years behind schedule, Germany’s national healthcare IT infrastructure project is inching forward to a roll-out. Still, some hurdles lie ahead. In the near future, what is likely is akin to the kaleidoscopic effects of an electronic salad bowl. Hospitals and physicians will continue to use local electronic medical records for day-to-day practice. These local systems...