Editorial
A Health Economy as Opposed to a Health System
An ongoing debate on the future direction of healthcare is becoming ever more intense in almost every country in Europe. Now that health systems have assumed a special role in social and political development, the question repeatedly being asked is whether the State should assume greater control or market mechanisms should be given free reign. More often than not, these debates are couched in the “either...
News
EAHM
EAHM Advocates More Influence for Health Service Managers The EAHM has responded to the European Commission’s health and consumer protection programme 2007-2013. The Community action programme in the area of health and consumer protection, which will run from 1 January 2007 until 31 December 2013, replaces the current programme in the area of health and consumer policy. The primary purpose of the...
Congress Prelude
The 21st Congress of the European Association of Hospital Managers will be held in the historic setting of Trinity College – in the heart of the city of Dublin – the oldest university in Ireland. It was founded in 1592. The Congress is being hosted by the Health Management Institute of Ireland. Its President, Michael Lyons, said “Delegations from Austria, Belgium, Germany, Lithuania, Poland and Swit...
Europe
ECJ Judgement on Hospital Treatment The European Court of Justice (ECJ) recently issued a judgement in the Yvonne Watts versus Bedford Primary Care Trust case. It announced that the “obligation to assume the costs of hospital treatment in another Member State is equally valid for a national health service which freely offers a similar treatment”. Yvonne Watts, a British woman suffering from arthritis...
Members
France Hôpital Expo Hôpital Expo-Intermedica was held in Paris in May 2006. This exhibition- forum was once again the occasion for 2,500 hospital professionals to meet, compare their experiences and learn of developments in the sector. Among the numerous presentations, seminars and discussion groups organised during this event, an entire morning was dedicated to the use of DRGs and activity-bas...
Personnel Management
Collective Intelligence
Author: Françoise Bacq Consultant in Change Accompaniment, Certified Coach “Coach &Teams” CT ® E-mail: [email protected] www.sherpa-international.be We must Learn to Learn Faced with the unpredictability, dynamic complexity and plentiful information resulting from new technologies and globalisation, new methods of management are emerging, stemming from the theory of �...
Conflict Management
Author: Dr Tim Porter-O'Grady is a medical mediator and consultant who works with health systems throughout the world, assisting them with major cultural change and systemwide conflict resolution. He can be contacted at [email protected] A more extensive version of this article was originally published in Healthcare Management Review All conflict is normative. Conflict is fundamental to the...
Risk Management
Risk Management in Practice
Author: Professor Matthias Schrappe Deacon of the Faculty of Medicine,University of Witten-Herdecke Alfred Herrhausen Str. 50 58448 Witten, Germany [email protected] German Coalition for Patient Safety Founded on 11 April 2005, the coalition’s headquarters are located in Marburg. It can be contacted at the following address: c/o University of Witten-Herdecke, Alfred...
Patient Safety
Author: Professor René Amalberti, Head Doctor, Head of the Department of Cognitive Sciences, Institut de Médecine Aérospatiale du Service de Santé des Armées, IMASSA, Bretigny-sur-Orge, France E-mail: [email protected] Medical safety has recently become an essential central theme of health policy. The United States has been a driving force with the publication of the report “to err...
The London Protocol
Author Dr Charles Vincent PhD, Professor of Clinical Safety Research, Department of Surgical Oncology and Technology, Imperial College School of Science, Technology and Medicine, London E-mail: [email protected] Dr Sally Adams PhD, Sally Adams & Associates, Honorary Lecturer at Imperial College E-mail: [email protected] www.sallyadams.org In most high-risk industries learn...
Architecture
Combatting Legionella in Hospitals
Author: Matt Freije President of HC Information Resources, Inc. E-mail: [email protected] Legionella is a bacterium which can cause Legionnaires’ disease, a deadly pneumonia. Domestic (potable) water systems and cooling towers provide good habitats for Legionella growth, as well as a means of transmitting the bacteria from water to people. Patients who are elderly or have weakened immune systems are mo...
Med Tech
Patient Safety
Authors: Johan Hellings, General Director Ward Schrooten, M.D., M.Sc., Ph.D., Risk Manager Solange Indenkleef, Nursing Director Tilly Postelmans, Quality Manager Hubert Vandeput, M.D, Medical Director Ziekenhuis Oost-Limburg, Genk, Belgium E-mail: [email protected] Ziekenhuis Oost-Limburg (ZOL) of Genk (Belgium) took the first place at the second prize-giving ceremony of the Tyco Healthc...
Management of Anaesthetic Risk
Author: Professor Dominique Grimaud Département d’Anesthésie Réanimation Est, Hôpital Saint Roch, Nice, France E-mail: [email protected] In 20 years, in France, the number of interventional procedures practiced under anaesthesia has increased from three million to eight million, public and private activities combined. If the profile of surgery has changed little, the gravity of pati...
Reorganising Patient Transportation
Authors: Kobe Naesens Centre for Industrial Management, Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium E-mail: [email protected] Prof. Ludo Gelders Centre for Industrial Management, Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium E-mail: [email protected] The University Hospital Gasthuisberg (Leuven,Belgium) is a major hospital complex with approximately 1,900 beds, 8,200 staff mem...
IT
eHealth 2006
The eHealth 2006 High Level Conference, held in Malága (Spain) on 10, 11 and 12 May has allowed more than 900 high level politicians and IT and health experts from all over Europe, including some US and Canadian representatives, to share and exchange ideas and initiatives in the eHealth field. The designation of Málaga as the headquarters for eHealth 2006 implied an acknowledgement of the Andalucian Publ...
Country Focus:Finland
The Finnish Association of Hospital Economy
Author: Seppo Tuomola Leading Consultant, VIA Group E-mail: [email protected] A Co-operation Body for Administrative, Financial and Service Employees in Healthcare Units The Finnish Association of Hospital Economy was founded in 1928. The Association has 1,100 members employed in the healthcare sector and also includes a number of regional associations and affiliated units. The Associatio...
The Finnish EU Presidency
Author: Alpo Rajaniemi Accounting Manager, Hospital District of South West Finland and country correspondent for Hospital E-mail: [email protected] Sources: Local and Regional Government of Finland Further information: ht tp://www.government . f i /eu/suomi-jaeu/2006/en.jsp Source: Speeches of The Minister of Social Affairs and Health, Liisa Hyssälä Finland’s six-month E...
The Finnish Healthcare System
Author: Alpo Rajaniemi Accounting Manager, Hospital District of South West Finland, correspondent for Hospital E-mail: [email protected] Healthcare services in Finland are defined by law. Health Services are divided into primary and special care and are provided mainly by the municipalities. The municipalities have set up joint authorities to provide healthcare services. To establish joint aut...
The Finnish Hospital System
Author: Heikki Punnonen Development Chief Local and Regional Government Finland E-mail: [email protected] Finnish patients with acute illnesses are usually taken to a municipal hospital or go there by themselves. If the illness cannot be diagnosed during an examination carried out by a health centre physician, a company doctor or a private physician, the patient will be referred to hos...
The New T-Hospital
Author: Heikki Korvenranta Project leader for the Future Hospital, Hospital District of South West Finland E-mail: [email protected] We are facing enormous challenges to provide healthcare services while fulfilling the quality requirements of care made possible by medical innovations and the need among an increasingly ageing population. Many kinds of healthcare reforms are being conducted...
Outlook
Josef Hradsky
Author: Josef Hradsky Federal Conference of Austrian Hospital Managers (BUKO) and Karl Landsteiner Institute of Hospital Organsiation2 E-mail: [email protected] 1 From the German version of Wikipedia - the free encyclopaedia. 2 This article is not the official position of these organsiations but reflects the personal opinions of the author. The cover of Hospital 5/2005 posed the questi...