320 results
What is value in healthcare?
When one of the defining minds of business education in recent years turns his attention to healthcare then people would be wise to sit up and listen. Harvard Business School guru Michael Porter first entered the impenetrable world of health policy in 2006 in a book with colleague Elizabeth Teisberg entitled ‘Redefining health care: creating […]
Posted on 08.12.2010
The potential role of home monitoring devices in active and healthy ageing
As one of the baby boomers and firmly fingered with responsibility for both the healthcare funding and pensions crises, it is with a very personal interest that I look at emerging trends in care of the chronically sick and ageing. Age unfortunately means collecting co-morbidities, hopefully minor ones, and dealing with them in a way […]
An often heard but seldom fully-understood story…
A new report by the OECD makes sobering reading as it makes the point that continued expansion of spending in developed countries is unsustainable. Reading the reported highlights, a couple of statements jumped out at me. “Healthcare costs are escalating rapidly, driven by population aging, rising relative prices and costly developments in medical technology. Public […]
Posted on 19.11.2010
Throwing the baby out with the bathwater
Health and Consumer Affairs Commissioner, John Dalli, made a typically balanced speech about his vision for health on the European agenda at a meeting organised by Friends of Europe. The high-level summit entitled ‘An Innovative Healthcare Agenda for Europe’, was held this week in the magnificent setting of the Bibliotheque Solvay, in the heart of […]
There’s a good future in (DG) Research
In a time when much health industry focus is on the European Commission’s Health Directorate, DG SANCO, EU Commissioner for Research Máire Geoghegan-Quinn chose Covidien’s 20 year celebration of their Galway, Ireland, facility (congratulations to all at Covidien) to emphasise again the value of the Medical Technology industry to Europe and the huge policy and funding support that she and her Directorate, DG Research, provide to the sector.
Posted on 22.10.2010
Doors of opportunity open for medtech
The build up to last week’s MedTech Forum in Brussels was frenetic for the Eucomed team and left us all exhausted for the weekend. The new week brings time for reflection and some satisfaction at a job well done. It was always our objective to generate a high level of informed debate and bring stakeholders together from different perspectives.
Fall leaves are dropping and hopes of reform too?
A year on and the mood music in Washington is very different. My return to this beautiful city, where fall colours are emerging in their full majesty, has seen a very different atmosphere from a year ago when the Obama health reforms were on their way and universal coverage seemed a very real probability. The […]
Can we move global harmonisation to the next level?
Proponents of greater regulatory harmonisation and cooperation will have been heartened by FDA chief Peggy Hamburg’s comments at the Advamed 2010 conference on Wednesday 20 October. She was quick to acknowledge that, in a changing world with vastly increased trade, the FDA could not continue to operate on an old-fashioned model designed for a time […]
Posted on 23.09.2010
More EU needed to ride the Chinese wave
The occasion of the annual visit of the European Chamber of Commerce in Europe afforded me the rare opportunity to meet both a group of senior industry leaders from China and the Chinese ambassador to the EU, and his trade officials. What was clear from this excellent opportunity to gain first hand insights on the […]