19 - 21 April 2016, Berlin, Germany.The digital transition in the healthcare system has made it possible to generate and process enormous amounts of data. This is where 'big data' comes into play, data that is too large or too complex to be evaluated using simple data processing methods.
Technological progress has resulted in new processing systems capable of handling such quantities, and this paves the way for gaining a wealth of new knowledge. It also brings smart data into the equation which, besides handling vast amounts of information, implies results-oriented and meaningful evaluation of large volumes of data. There are already many potential areas for employing big data applications: assisting decision-making, planning health care, developing new treatment and analysing preventive measures, for example. At this year's conhIT - Connecting Healthcare IT, Europe's largest event for the health IT industry, numerous Congress and Networking Events and a special workshop will examine the opportunities and risks involved in collecting, processing and evaluating data.
Ekkehard Mittelstaedt, managing director of the German Association of Health IT Vendors (bvitg), the organisers of conhIT, describes the issue of big data thus: "Big data has the potential to improve health care in Germany. Appropriate use of health data can enable early detection of illnesses and facilitate direct treatment, thereby ensuring long-term and even better quality medical care. All the same, there remains a tendency among many healthcare players to avoid this topic. In the 2016 bvitg survey which examined the importance of health IT, out of all the possible IT solutions big data applications were ranked lowest by resident practitioners. In contrast, hospitals forecast a big future for big data, although even with them it still has a low priority on their agenda. With regard to the industry offering users qualified advice there remains much to be done. At the same time the focus should also be on the sensitive topic of protecting health data. Today's biggest challenge is to create an overall future framework that ensures compliance with uniform data communication standards and security rules."
At the Industrial Fair companies will be showing how important collecting and processing electronic data is in health care, for example in hygiene management. "The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Krankenhaushygiene estimates that annually 1.2 million infections occur during a stay or treatment in a hospital or care institution, of which 30,000 result in death. The German Infection Protection Law requires that all cases of infection be documented, assessed and precautionary measures be taken. The KaPITO HMS hygiene management system provides hygiene staff with an early indication of unusual occurrences, thus enabling a rapid response. By recognising complications early and avoiding them a hospital can save on unnecessary costs and provide the patient with quality care“, says Britta Hanley, head of Customer Sales at Cerner, a Gold Partner of conhIT 2016.
Analysing electronic data is indispensable in the context of Business Intelligence (BI) as well. "BI solutions enable hospitals to optimise their operational and medical processes. These have become key applications. Their use will increase as systems become more and more complex as a result of new invoicing systems and regulations, for example. BI continues to evolve. Up to now the focus has been on descriptive analysis, whereas it will be more predictive in the future. Attention will be given to controlling planning and to simulating medical and administrative processes," says Wilfried Post, general manager and managing director of Agfa HealthCare DACH - a Gold Partner of conhIT.
Accordingly, collecting and processing internal data within the company has already become essential for health care. The next challenge is to handle large amounts of data. In addition to the many other providers who will be presenting their solutions at the Industrial Fair, visitors to conhIT 2016 can find out more about this topic at various sessions and specialist events.
For further information, please visit:
http://www.conhit.de/en/
About conhIT - Connecting Healthcare IT
conhIT targets decision-makers in IT departments, management, in the medical profession, nursing, doctors, doctors' networks and medical care centres who need to find out about the latest developments in IT and healthcare, meet members of the industry and make use of opportunities for high-level advanced training. As an integrated event, over a period of three days conhIT combines an Industrial Fair, a Congress and Networking Events that are of particular interest to this sector. Launched in 2008 by the German Association of Healthcare IT Vendors (bvitg) as the meeting place for the healthcare IT industry and organised by Messe Berlin, this event recorded 388 exhibitors and around 7,500 visitors in 2015 and has now become Europe's leading event for the healthcare IT sector.
conhIT is organised in cooperation with the following industry associations: the German Association of Healthcare IT Vendors (bvitg), the German Association for Medical Informatics, Biometry and Epidemiology (GMDS), the German Association of Medical Computer Scientists (BVMI). The National Association of Hospital IT Managers (KH-IT) and the Chief Information Officers of University Hospitals (CIO-UK) have provided contributions to the subject matter.