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When health and technology go hand in hand, safe, efficient and cost-effective solutions are often the result. Realising the immense potential that these two fields possess if they are well attuned to one another, the Commission is focussing a lot of its attention on eHealth and the benefits that these exciting technologies can bring. But not only the Commission is showing increased interest – people are talking about it, thinking about it or working with eHealth technologies.

AdvaMed and Eucomed are co-organizing the upcoming International Medical Device Industry Compliance Conference, taking place on 18-20 May in London. Both AdvaMed and Eucomed worked closely with our member companies to identify the hottest issues in medical device industry compliance today to shape a truly global, industry specific event. We also worked together to invite accomplished discussion leaders and moderators, and panel participants representing North American and European perspectives and experiences.

Medicine became evidence-based a long time ago and rightfully so. So why is it that policy decisions are, still today, far from evidence-based in Europe? Why are healthcare managers and decision makers still relying upon short-term cost containment objectives when it comes to access, regulation and evaluation of new technologies?

Chairing a two day conference on e-health and presenting at a groundbreaking Innovation in Healthcare conference put on by DG Research has further fuelled my enthusiasm for telling the story about the power of technology to enable massive changes to the way that populations are cared for, whilst simultaneously improving outcomes, the patient experience and cost. If all this seems too good to be true just look at what the alternatives might be.

Having been involved with the medical devices industry for many years, I’ve seen how the industry has evolved using innovative solutions and has constantly embraced technological developments. Recently however I had a friend on the receiving end of this technology and I hope you find his ‘patient case report’ below of interest – do note he also works in the medtech industry hence his knowledge on this subject…

Everybody who has anything to do with electrical medical devices has been watching with interest the progress of the WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive) and RoHS (Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive) Directives through the European political process. RoHS, which should soon be published in the Official Journal of the European Union, has been especially important as the latest iteration of the Directive will see medical devices falling within its scope from about April/May 2014.

Recent events in Brussels are pointing to a fresh, healthy airing of views and more robust debate on the Recast. (By the way, I’ve noticed that everybody says ‘Recast’ but not too many people know what a ‘Recast’ is. So for all those legal and regulatory ‘techies’ among you, click here, all others steer clear!). […]

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 […]

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 […]