environment

Let’s share the future of health

Digital
24 Nov 2016
Revolutionising and reinventing Medicine We are currently experiencing a great period of particularly stimulating technological breakthroughs. A great deal of progress is expected in practically all areas of our daily life: health, home, work, consumption, the environment… In the health sector alone, there are plenty of new inventions: you can manage your diabetes with a mobile application, make a prosthesis with a 3D printer, continuously monitor your own statistics and there are new techniques for predictive analysis . These inventions are gradually transforming our approach to health and the relationship between hospitals and patients. As these innovative technologies become more and more widespread, the patient becomes more active in monitoring his own state of health and the hospital’s role is changing: we spend less time in hospital, there’s greater comfort for the patient, and the costs for our social security system are reduced. So, in the long run, medical innovation may improve both the quality of healthcare for the patient and the performance of our health system. At this time of medical innovation, surgical robotics is a particularly promising area. A sign of its potential: surgical robotics alone represents a world market which should reach over 20 billion dollars by 2020! This is mainly due to the boom in minimally invasive surgery, which is a way of operating patients via very small incisions. I created Medtech because I was convinced that this trend was inevitable and positive both for patients and the medical world. By democratising the access to minimally invasive surgery, this technology facilitates and considerably improves the surgical act - serving patients and practitioners - and contributes to the performance of hospital facilities. Let’s transmit and connect these innovations! As innovations are only meaningful when they are shared, surgical robotics also aims to make modern surgery accessible to...

How Public Procurement can Drive More Sustainable Healthcare

Access
21 Sep 2016
This blog is part 8 of a series on the MEAT value-based procurement project, an initiative that advocates towards a shift from price-based procurement towards value-based procurement. It does so by defining a Most Economically Advantageous Tendering (MEAT) framework that includes the value of medical technologies, services and solutions in procurement processes across Europe. Read part 1 , part 2 , part 3 , part 4 , part 5 , part 6 and part 7 . Who looks after human health – surgeon or public procurement official? The answer should be: both. The concept of Value Based Procurement helps us to explore the link between purchasing decisions and health. Implementation of the new Public Procurement Directive spurred discussion in the healthcare sector on how to define the best value of purchasing goods and services. While we are moving away from price-only criteria and there is some more emphasis on the overall cost of care delivery, we are still far away from obtaining most economically advantageous outcomes. Besides additional direct cost impacts driven by energy-use, cost of spare parts or disposal, one needs to quantify and take into account the savings derived from reduced patient’s length of stay, rate of readmissions, etc. This however does not capture all cost the society bears. What is also explicitly addressed by the new Public Procurement Directive, but often overlooked in these debates, are the environmental and social aspects of delivering patient care. Meanwhile, Sustainability issues such as clean air and water, and fair working conditions are fundamental contributors to population’s health and are valued by our society. This approach should be not only reflected in the delivery of care but also in purchasing practices. Such vision of health positions sustainability as an important policy objective and challenges a narrow scope of healthcare focusing solely...

The medical device industry: keeping face with patients

Value
5 Jun 2014
For a 3rd year in a row PatientView has published its study on “The corporate reputation of the medical device industry – from the patient perspective”. As in the past the reputation of the medical device industry and specific companies are measured by hundreds of patient groups from all over the world. In the latest survey, conducted in March-April 2014, we gathered the views of 428 patient groups, with diverse specialties, from 54 countries. Also, as in previous years, there was strong European representation among these groups in latest study—86% come from Europe. The bias is intentional, but also reflects the fact that the patient movement is rapidly expanding in that region. The good news For the very first time, the medical device industry ranks as the most respected of all healthcare sectors, outstripping even retail pharmacy, which came first last year. With 60% of respondents saying that the medical device industry has a “good” or “excellent” reputation in 2013-2014, that places the medical devices ahead of retail pharmacists, private healthcare services, biotechnology companies, generic drug manufacturers, multinational pharma companies, and insurers (not-for-profit and for-profit) —from the patient perspective. Reputation of the medical device industry—compared with other healthcare sectors How do you think your organisation’s members (or the people you represent) would rate the corporate reputation of the following healthcare industries in 2013-2014? Percentage of respondents stating “Excellent” or “Good” The other piece of good news for the medical device industry is the continued perception by the great majority of patients that manufacturers of medical devices continue to remain strongly innovative, producing high-quality products, while at the same time ensuring patient safety. Not such good news after all But despite this positive feedback there are signals that not all is well in the medical device world. When asked an entirely...

2013: 5 MedTech Europe activities that will impact our industry for the years to come

Value
19 Dec 2013
The year is nearing its end and as I look at the christmas tree being put up, the smell of pinewood slowly filling our office’s reception area, I cannot help but think that 2013 was a crucial year for patients, healthcare systems and Europe as a whole. This past year was dominated by one topic of mastodont proportions, but other actions, activities and achievements have been just as important to us.
Syringe

Always read the small print…on the ENVI proposal for the reprocessing of single-use medical devices

Regulation
16 Oct 2013
Caveat Emptor, or ‘Buyer Beware’, is a commercial rule favouring the seller, now largely extinct due to modern consumer legislation. But the European Parliament’s ENVI Committee, in its amendment on the reprocessing of single-use medical devices, has unwittingly slipped something similar back in again. Given the complex and highly technical nature of the Medical Devices Directives, I can see where busy MEPs would struggle to understand the details and consequences of this amendment, so I think it is essential that we take a moment to read the fine print.
12 months

My first twelve months at EDMA and Eucomed

Value
20 Aug 2013
While enjoying my holidays I was reminiscing a bit about my time in Brussels and thought I‘d share my reflections with you. A little over a year ago, on 16 July 2012 to be precise, I joined EDMA and Eucomed. As such, this “fait divers” is not that important, but since then a lot has changed that will impact our industries and associations.