26 - 28 April 2022, Berlin, Germany.The coronavirus pandemic revealed the deficiencies in the digitalisation of the healthcare system, while at the same time emphasising the importance of broadly based, digitally supported healthcare. Innovative solutions for a successful, digitalised healthcare system are also being presented by the seven Gold Partners of the DMEA 2022: from the implementation of the e-prescription to standardised operability for IT applications, and the digital interconnection of different care sectors.
Telekom Healthcare Solutions: "The changing way we deal with health data"
Not only did the coronavirus crisis reveal shortcomings in the digitalisation of healthcare but also, by means of the Corona Warn App amongst others, it also established individual citizens as the main players in digital medical care. There must be no backtracking of this progress, stated Michael Waldbrenner, Chief Executive of Deutsche Telekom Clinical Solutions GmbH. Apart from the involvement of the patients themselves, in Waldbrenner's view a lot of catching up has to be done in the German healthcare system in aspects such as the Cloud, IT security and the digital interconnection of different healthcare sectors. "All the applications must be more effectively interconnected. As a very broadly based supplier it is easier for us, and consequently for our customers too," Waldbrenner explained, and his company has brought a wide range of solutions to the DMEA, from a patient portal to the iMedOne clinical information system, and infrastructure too.
NEXUS AG: A comprehensive interoperability platform meets a standardised interface
Efforts to achieve comprehensive but at the same time user-friendly digitalisation in hospitals require IT applications that are not only technically and semantically interoperable, but use standardised operating systems too. How this is achieved is being demonstrated by NEXUS with its clinical information system NEXUS / KISNG, its IHE repository NEXUS / VNA and a standardised interface, the NG UX platform. VNA plays a central role in this architecture, according to sales director Daniel Heine: "It is our central interoperability layer, which acts as an IHE repository with the attached FHIR store. We not only use it internally but also for external communication. If a clinic wishes to communicate with Medical Services, or if there is a future need to connect with the electronic patient file (EPF), then these applications are activated via the VNA."
Meierhofer AG: Forward-looking hospital digitalisation
This year marks the 35th anniversary of the establishment of Meierhofer AG, an owner-operated, medium-sized healthcare IT company specialising in hospitals. The presentation by Chairman of the Board Matthias Meierhofer at the DMEA 2022 will include a considerably expanded portfolio of managed services: “For many years we have been offering selective managed services, but now there is a new dimension. Very recently the first hospital has entrusted us with the work of monitoring the applications for the hospital information system (HIS) M-KIS. We will be announcing more details during the DMEA.” Other important topics include, in the training sector, the Meierhofer Academy, which combines online learning with events which participants can attend in person, and digital services that are provided via the company’s own teaching platform or via customers’ platforms. The presentation by Meierhofer AG at the DMEA also features the Hospital Future Act (KHZG) and its funding objectives.
medatixx: Promoting the digitalisation of the out-patient sector
As a specialist for software solutions in medical practices and medical care centres, medatixx is focusing on applications for the telematics infrastructure at the DMEA, including an eye-catching application of the electronic prescription. The Chief Executive of medatixx, Jens Naumann, says there has been major progress in the digitalisation of medical practices in Germany, with the imminent completion of the secure and more or less comprehensive system connecting medical practices with the email service KIM. There is a widespread willingness to embrace digitalisation, and this is evident from the interest being shown in the many voluntary, supplementary solutions for various aspects of IT in medical practices, according to Naumann: "Our x archiv software for archiving images and documents, is enjoying growing popularity. Furthermore the installation of x.webtermin, a solution for the online management of appointments, is steadily expanding, and we are also seeing a greater uptake of our video consultation service x.onvid."
ID GmbH & Co. KGaA: Scanning free text with the aid of terminology and FHIR
ID is a company that has been specialising in medical documentation and coding for many years, and is keen to demonstrate that the software-supported derivation of medical classifications such as ICD or OPS from structured medical documentation is no mystery. However, the analysis of free text still presents a challenge, according to Dr. André Sander, Technical Development Director for ID: "At the DMEA we are showing how we analyse the many disparate components of a patient file and make the contents available for further evaluation. In so doing we do not simply derive specific classifications from free text, but make it possible to conduct free evaluations." To achieve this, ID uses not only classifications that are relevant to the accounting process but also such expressive terminologies as SNOMED CT, Wingert nomenclature and LOINC, as well as semantic networks that the company has included as a result of many years of work and which can be used for knowledge-based solutions.
Dedalus HealthCare: Expansion with no compromises
As the German market leader for clinical information systems expands its portfolio it is focusing increasingly on knowledge/based solutions for clinicians and hospital management. The company is represented by no fewer than three stands at the DMEA, which is the result of several takeovers during recent months, including the Laboratory sector, as well as that of Medication, where Dedalus has acquired the specialist Dosing, whose medications are in use in many hospitals. Medication is also one of the highlights of the DMEA, in the opinion of Dedalus HealthCare DACH (Germany, Austria, Switzerland) General Manager Winfried Post: "We are presenting the current version of our medication management system ORBIS Medication. The aim is to fully integrate the Dosing Engine in our clinical information system ORBIS. In this way we can provide our customers with easy-to-use contra-indication and interaction checks, information about medications and dosage functions."
CompuGroup Medical: "We have expanded in all areas"
The Chief Executive Officer of CompuGroup Medical, Dr. Dirk Wössner, intends to utilise the momentum that the pandemic has given to digitalisation in his company's first appearance at the DMEA since 2019, and beyond. For Wössner the Hospital Future Act signalises a new digital age in the German healthcare system: "For me the progress that we have made in expanding our new product CGM CLINICAL is particularly important. We have made functional improvements to this next generation HIS, and in so doing we have attracted many new customers, in particular the University Clinic Hamburg-Eppendorf." CGM will be presenting many new HIS features at the DMEA, and we are also demonstrating how the acquisition of VISUS and KMS, among others, is helping to expand the CGM portfolio. Cross-sectoral pathways are another major topic at the DMEA, and the company is demonstrating their practical implementation in a number of ways, including through the use of the CLICKDOC platform.
About DMEA
DMEA is Europe's leading event for health IT which gathers decision-makers from every area of the healthcare sector - including IT specialists, physicians, hospital and nursing care executives as well as experts from politics, science and research.Every year, the DMEA dedicates a separate program to the central topic of "young talent and careers".
In 2020 and 2021, the DMEA could only take place digitally due the pandemic. In 2021, more than 4.000 participants registered for the digital version of DMEA, and around 2.500 viewers watched the program items every day.
In 2019 a total of 11,000 trade visitors came to DMEA to find out about the latest developments and products, acquire qualifications and establish important industry contacts.
The DMEA is organized by the Bundesverband Gesundheits-IT - bvitg e.V. (Federal Association for Health IT) and is hosted by Messe Berlin GmbH. The DMEA is also organized in cooperation with the industry associations GMDS (German Society for Medical Informatics, Biometry and Epidemiology) e.V., BVMI (Professional Association of Medical Informatics) e.V. and with the content-related participation of KH-IT (Federal Association of Hospital IT Managers) e.V. and CIO-UK (Chief Information Officers - University Hospitals).