eHealth Week 2012 Opens Focusing on "the Continuum of Care"

The focus of the conference is how to create an optimal patient journey through our healthcare system. This will include successful examples of patient empowerment projects, showcasing how patients can get involved in managing their own treatment.

eHealth Week 2012 consists mainly of two large events:

• The High Level eHealth Conference organized jointly by the EU Commission and the Danish EU Presidency of the Council of Europe, including workshops and a one-day conference with EU health ministers and their top officials.
• WoHIT (World of Health IT Conference & Exhibition) organized by HIMSS Europe (Healthcare Information and Management Systems Services Europe) - the world's largest nonprofit member organization in the health IT sector. The exhibition includes 98 Danish and international IT and Medical Device Companies.

The Patient at the Centre
EU Commission Vice-President and Commissioner for the Digital Agenda Neelie Kroes said in relation to the opening: "It has always been an ambition of the healthcare leadership to deliver better healthcare solutions, keeping the patient and their needs at the center. In the past we have seen solutions that have been driven from good intentions but have failed to deliver due to different systems and stakeholders, not being coordinated or simply too much diversity in the different regions. However, today's healthcare technology is so advanced that nobody can any longer avoid putting the patients and optimal healthcare delivery, at the center. If we want, we can now for example, give patients a secure online connection to their own patient record, which will streamline the health care system and reduce the risk of malpractice. Digital technologies are a real revolution in health. They are the way for us to make our systems sustainable as the population gets older."

H. Stephen Lieber, President and CEO of HIMSS (Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society) said at the opening: "European hospitals and governments are currently faced with huge healthcare challenges. Decisions needs to be made now to ensure that optimal healthcare systems can be in place within the next ten years. There is simply no time to loose, which is why we are seeing the conference growing every year with new partners and audiences. I am delighted that eHealth Week can be the platform for good dialogue between industry, hospitals, the regions, municipalities and all those stakeholders who are involved when creating a holistic healthcare journey."

PatientVille
On the eHealth week exhibition floor, 98 health IT exhibitors show what technology of today is capable of. One of the exhibition attractions is PatientVille. A cooperation between the Danish Regions, Medcom, Danish Industry, Danish IT Industry, the Danish Biomedical Industry and Falck. Inspired by Lars von Trier, the showcase demonstrates a patient's journey through the Danish health care system as well as the cross-border ePrescription service put in place by epSOS, all from an eHealth perspective.

Danish Christina Roosen, Executive Director for HIMSS Europe said about PatientVille: "From the early planning of eHealth Week, the European Commission emphasized the importance of visualizing how the Danish healthcare system works. This resulted in the development of "Patient Ville", and we are looking forward to showcasing how individual organizations' expertise, using increasingly sophisticated and integrated healthcare technology solutions, can interact as a whole, whilst delivering the highest level of healthcare, keeping the patient at the centre."

For further information, please visit:
http://www.ehealthweek.org

Related news articles:

• The World of Health IT Conference & Exhibition's Profile