HealthManagement, Volume 12 - Issue 2-3, 2012
COCIR, the European trade association for the medical technology industry, on 15 March hosted a meeting with the European Commissioner for Health and Consumer Policy, John Dalli, and senior representatives from hospitals and other healthcare providers. The meeting in Paris showcased how integrated IT and innovative financial partnerships are optimising patient care.
Commissioner Dalli is supporting Member States on national efforts in improving health for millions of patients across Europe. Innovation, technology and smart financial investment are crucial in helping to resolve the increasing financial and demographic pressures common to all healthcare systems in Europe. As part of an ongoing dialogue, Commissioner Dalli accepted COCIR’s invitation to spend some time looking in detail at examples of European best practice, including where EU funding is helping transform healthcare delivery.
“I was pleased to see and discuss innovative technologies from different industrial sectors combining with innovative healthcare models as well as financing solutions to enable better patient care and increased efficiency within this care setting,” said Commissioner Dalli. “I have no doubt that healthcare systems need to use appropriate new technologies and other innovative solutions, if they are to emerge stronger from the current economic challenges,” Dalli added.
Many of Europe’s leading hospitals and healthcare providers have recognised the potential to use smart investment in medical technologies and IT to become ‘healthcare hubs’, forging improved networks with physicians and local clinical services to better manage the needs of patients in local facilities, even in their own homes.
The European healthcare system is in a period of change, driven by demographic change, evolving skill shortages, rising consumer demands for better health and advances in healthcare technology. In the context of financial austerity, more local and regional hospital-centred networks are being developed to provide improved service to an ever more demanding and informed patient. Public and private partnerships and investments in healthcare technologies and research are driving a steady evolution in healthcare, set to benefit the lives of millions of Europeans and contribute to economic prosperity.
“Hospitals of tomorrow, and healthcare professionals and administrators working within the healthcare system, need to have the tools and investment to cope with growing healthcare demand,” said Heinrich von Wulfen, COCIR President. “Today, many leading hospitals will be critical players in an integrated healthcare delivery system which engages the consumer and understands the patient’s disease and patient’s biology in order to stratify the treatment. Such a system is digitally accessible in people’s homes, community clinics and physicians’ offices. This is what we have been showing to Commissioner Dalli with a view to identifying best practices and facilitating their dissemination.”
Please visit www.cocir.org to find out more about the organisation.
